Club Caravan Insurance
About to test how good it is. 6 month old van stolen from secure storage site.
Anyone any experience of the painful (or painless) experience I’m about to go through?
Neil
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Stored at The Storage Team site in St. Helens. About 20 caravans stored with ours the only one taken. It isn't a Gold site but it looked like a pretty secure site with cctv, security guards and two security gates. I know better now although I don't have a Gold site reasonably close.
Angle-grinder taken to the Alko Hitchlock and Alko Wheel locks. Got through them in a couple of minutes which was disappointing.
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I have not had a caravan stolen, but our claim following an accident some years back was dealt with very well. I think they do however want to wait six weeks to see if the caravan is recovered. This to me from my experience handling insurance claims is excessive, and three is enough. After that the chances of recovery drop from minimal to virtually non existent.
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CC insurance has worked well for me in the past on damage claims and for others I know. No experience with a stolen caravan. I have no reason to doubt that it would be any different for you Nemo. Hope it gets resolved quickly for you.
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We had our caravan stolen 5 years ago from where we stored it - a friend's farm, not a secure compound. We learnt the hard way. It was a double axle and having taken a wheel off to get to the second wheel lock the thieves did not put the wheel back on securely and it came off 10 miles away so the caravan was abandoned in a field. First we knew was when the police called us. Anyway, we were insured with the club and had no problems with the claim. We actually bought a new 'van and traded the recovered stolen one as we didn't fancy it after it had been abused. Our dealer was fine about taking it from us as they were going to do the repairs anyway so just gave us the usual trade in price against a new 'van.
Hope your claim gets sorted OK.
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I have to say, the CAMC Caravan Insurance worked well for us when we had our caravan stolen several years ago now. We found the claim was dealt with sensitively, efficiently and fairly. We chose the particular caravan we wanted as a replacement and there were only two dealers in the country we could find who had access to the van we wanted withine our time scale. The Club sorted out payment with the company and they sent us a cheque for the contents. All went very smoothly.
I have heard some horror stories from folk who have been insured elsewhere....
I would have no hesitation in recommending the Club's Caravan Insurance.
David
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Really sorry to hear that you have suffered this loss and I hope your Policy reimburses you with a new van and all the contents were covered.
If you took the Policy out recently, you will be insured “with” the caravan club Ltd as opposed the being insured “through” the club.
I do hope you have a good outcome on this.
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That's certainly what it said in my recent renewal docs and also what it states on the web site.
Caravan Cover is protection for your caravan against theft, loss or damage, and operates in a similar way to caravan insurance. However, with Caravan Cover, you're protected directly by the Club, which means we deal with your claims from start to finish. We pay out on valid claims without you having to deal with the fuss of an insurer. So whether you're at home or on the road, get cover for your caravan from the Caravan and Motorhome Club (previously The Caravan Club).
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I have never claimed, however I thought you dealt with them about a claim, rather than the insurance company, before this change.
I certainly took their statement to mean they were covering it. If that is not the case, I would say their advertising is somewhat misleading.
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The club is not an authorised insurer and cannot insure you other than as an intermediary for which it is authorised. This would not prevent it having been given the power to deal with claims by the insurer although I do not know if it is.
Where an introducer has a large volume of business, it is fairly common for insurers to give them claims handling power within specified limits.
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Thanks for the comments – it’s good to hear people’s experiences of claiming have been positive.
Below is some information on how the Club operates the caravan cover, which hopefully removes some of the understandable confusion that has arisen.
The Club used to provide caravan insurance. This was sold and serviced by the Club but was underwritten (in other words the risk carried by) an insurer. The claims were handled on behalf of the insurer by Devitt.
Last year a change was made and the caravan cover was brought completely in-house – from 1 March this year, all our members with caravan cover will have been moved onto the cover provided by the Club. The key point here is that claims made under the caravan cover are being paid by the Club out of the contributions paid by members for the cover.
As some have correctly highlighted, the Club is not an insurer. To set up as an insurer would be hugely costly and not financially viable. However, as a membership organisation we were able to set up what is called a Discretionary Mutual. These are not unusual but not as common as insurers; other discretionary mutual organisations include for example: The Military Mutual, Benenden, and the Fire and Rescue Indemnity Company.
Part of the benefit of the discretionary mutual model is that the cover provided does not equate to an insurance contract and as a result isn’t subject to the same level of regulation as insurance. This is because one of the facets of a discretionary mutual is that claims are paid at the discretion of the organisation. That means that the payment of claims is not contractually guaranteed, but as you’d expect with mutual organisations owned by the members, claimants can expect a fair and reasonable response to claims made.
To reassure our members, the Club has taken out a group insurance policy, which is referenced in the cover wording. This protects you should we not have sufficient funds to pay claims.
As regards claim handling, this is provided on our behalf by Devitt. Using outsourced claims handlers is not unusual in financial services although often the fact that this is happening won’t be visible. The Club remains responsible for the Caravan Cover claims and we have ongoing review and monitoring processes to make sure Devitt service our members as we’d expect, and Devitt refer to us for a decision on whether to pay or decline claims when necessary.
The Club itself remains authorised and regulated by the FCA given we continue to provide other regulated insurance products.
I hope this has explained the situation a bit more clearly.
Jacci
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Part of the benefit of the discretionary mutual model is that the cover provided does not equate to an insurance contract and as a result isn’t subject to the same level of regulation as insurance. This is because one of the facets of a discretionary mutual is that claims are paid at the discretion of the organisation. That means that the payment of claims is not contractually guaranteed, but as you’d expect with mutual organisations owned by the members, claimants can expect a fair and reasonable response to claims made.
And this benefits the insured how?? Not sure that I want an 'insurance' that is not subject to the same level of regulation as insurance and where the payment of claims is not contractually guaranteed.
Maybe look elsewhere at renewal !!
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Can somebody please report my post and ask for an explanation of how the new , less regulated, discretionary payout 'insurance' benefits members ..... if at all.
'And this benefits the insured how?? Not sure that I want an 'insurance' that is not subject to the same level of regulation as insurance and where the payment of claims is not contractually guaranteed.
Maybe look elsewhere at renewal !!'
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Caravan Cover is protection for your caravan against theft, loss or damage, and operates in a similar way to caravan insurance.
Next renewal I think I will go elsewhere Steve. I can only assume that the CC is glad to relinquish its 'insurance business'. I don't want a product that operates in a similar way to caravan insurance and is apparently less regulated..
Let me see maybe C&CC for RV cover, Breakdown, Home and Overseas the way it is heading. I wonder what other cunning plans CC have up their sleeves to reduce business?
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I read the details and wonder if CAMC insurance needs to come back on here and explain things in a better way. Otherwise they have managed to reduce confidence in their product by the previous statement?
It wouldn't inspire me at all but maybe the statement needs some further clarification. I appreciate Jacci's efforts but perhaps a bit more information is needed.
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Well I reckon that thus far based on their statement up thread they will have lost several longstanding insurances policies. No idea if this has been echoed on facebook but if it has that well be more policies lost. I have not yet spoken to three neighbours who insure with CC
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So where was the big explanation made?
The Magazine? The AGM? The CMC Website? The CMC Facebook Page?
I've not seen it before. For something this fundamentally different the club appear to be just relying on documentation sent out with renewal documents. Glad I don't insure our caravan with CMC.
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