Caravan Insurance - General Info

On this page we will deal with some of the general issues of caravan insurance and try to answer questions like, why is static caravan insurance cheaper than touring caravan insurance.

Am I required to have caravan insurance?

There is no legal requirement for you to have your caravan separately insured in the UK.

For touring caravans and folding campers, unless it is specifically excluded your car insurance should cover you for third party only risks associated with towing a trailer (including a trailer). Your car insurance will almost certainly not cover you for the cost of damage to your caravan. Because you are obliged to have a minimum of third party insurance to tow on UK roads and because this is almost always already provided by you car insurance most caravan insurers specifically exclude a third party cover whilst the caravan is attached to the towing vehicle.

For example: If you have an accident while towing and it is your fault, and your caravan is damaged and some one else's car is damaged by your car. In this case your car insurance would be claimed against for the damage to the third party vehicle and unless you had caravan insurance you would have to pay for the damage to your own caravan. If you do have caravan insurance then there would still be a claim by the third party against you car insurance but you could also make a claim against your caravan insurance for the damage to the caravan. There would therefore be two excesses to pay.

For static caravans there may be a requirement by the site owner for you to have third party cover, some sites may require you to have comprehensive cover to ensure that you can afford to have your own caravan repaired or replaced in the event of damage. You would be in breach of contract if you signed an agreement to this effect and then neglected to maintain insurance. Most sites insist on holding a copy of your insurance and they may charge you a reasonable fee to check that it complies with their requirements. They cannot force you to buy insurance through them.

Why is touring caravan insurance more expensive than static caravan insurance?

Insurance companies base their premiums on historical experience and/or anticipated claims. In other words they know from experience how much they will probably have to pay out in claims and charge a premium which they expect will cover these losses and leave them a reasonable profit. Some years they get it wrong and pay out far more than they take in and in other years it balances out. Because the main risk to static caravans is storm and flood damage the insurance underwriter would expect that for most years their claims would amount to less than the premiums, they need to have these good years to make up for major events like the floods of 2007.

Touring caravans have a more regular annual claims pattern. Theft of caravans is a major problem, they are difficult to trace and even with security devices are relatively easy to steal. There are very few recoveries and the thieves are seldom caught. A large chunk of your annual premium goes to pay claims for this. Accidental damage is also very expensive with average claims for even minor bumps and scrapes being well in excess of £1000.

In short the aggregated claims for static caravans is considerably lower than for touring caravans and the insurance companies can therefore afford to set their premiums lower for statics. If adverse weather conditions become more common, as is predicted, then it may become ever more expensive to insure a static caravan.

More caravan insurance guides and information on this site.

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Don't leave reading the small print until you need to make a claim. If you do it may be too late if you find that you have not complied with a specific requirement of the policy......................

General Caravan Insurance tips

* Before you buy a static caravan or tourer ask for quotes for your caravan insurance.
* For static caravans check what your site requires from your insurance.
*Check with your car insurer that third party cover is included to allow you to legally tow a caravan or folding camper on UK roads.
* Check that your car insurance also covers you to tow abroad.