Caravan insurance can be a complicated matter, if you don’t take out enough or the right type you could find yourself out of pocket in event of a claim. Caravans are a valuable asset, and should be treated as such when the time comes to set up or renew your insurance. When considering caravan insurance you need to be clear on precisely what your needs are: cover for what, and for how much?

Your caravan insurance needs depend on what you do with your caravan, do you take it touring, or perhaps rent it out on site? When choosing caravan insurance you have the choice between third party fire and theft, and fully comprehensive insurance. Cheapest and best are often two entirely different things, so don’t buy insurance based on price alone, base it on coverage.

Being vacant for at least some of the year, a static caravan should be covered for both break-in and of course vandalism. Installing good window and door locks, a good alarm system and a few smoke alarms will help to pair down the cost of your insurance. Storing a static caravan at a secure site is a very good idea both for security risks and for reducing your premiums.

If your caravan is a touring caravan and you like to take it overseas to Europe, avoid any nasty surprises by making sure that you are covered to do so. Although some insurance policies do not, most will cover your touring caravan in Europe for a set number of days. Europe is a great (and popular) destination for caravanners with touring caravans make sure you do it properly.

You should always read the small print of any policy before you take it out, to prevent any nasty surprises down the road. Limits for paying out on items can vary quite widely between providers, so make sure you know you have everything adequately covered. As with buying anything, it always pays to shop around and compare between what each of the providers has to offer.

In these testing economic times, caravan holidays are becoming an ever popular way of getting a value for holiday. Younger families are uncovering the fun (and savings) that a caravan holiday can provide. Caravans are now the king of holidays, replacing Spain as the top holiday spot for us Brits.

Carl Way is a founder of Caravan Insurance Cover, the UK’s premier website for static caravan insurance.

If you own a touring caravan you may be interested to know what makes up the main elements of a touring caravan insurance policy. The main elements are: Damage and Loss; Contents; Liability to the public; continental use; Excess; general exclusions. This article will give you an overview of each of these different parts of the policy.

Damage and Loss - this covers the caravan, normally up to its full value, for damage to or loss of the caravan. If you have a caravan normally up to 5 years old you can get new for old cover, which will provide you with a new caravan. Older caravans require Market Value cover, which means that if it needs replacing, it will be to the going value of your old caravan.

You often have to pay extra for contents and personal effects cover, and beware that it is normally limited in the things it covers. You will often find the following excluded: valuables; credit cards; bikes; photographic equipment; computers; phones; valuables. Policies also differ in whether they cover theft from trailer and toilet tents, and from awnings, and will only cover theft from forcible entry.

The policy will also cover injury or loss to a member of the general public from your use of the caravan. This cover will normally extend to people who have borrowed the caravan, as long as it is not hired to them, and they are not using it for business purposes. Normally the coverage is between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000, and sometimes includes costs, but not always.

You must make sure you have continental use coverage if you are going to mainland Europe, as this doesn’t always come as a standard. Some policies will also offer repatriation of the caravan (up to its insured value) and roadside assistance (up to a maximum amount). A number of the former Soviet block states are not covered, among them Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

Excess is the amount of a claim that you must pay yourself, before the insurance company will stump up any cash. For instance, if you had an excess of 100 and made a 300 claim, you would get 200 from the insurance company. Increasing the amount of excess on your policy is one way you can save money on premiums.

General exclusions are a feature of all policies, and are generally very exceptional circumstances, however you should still be aware of them. Terrorism, pressure waves from supersonic aircraft, and hostilities to name a few, but be aware that use other than social, domestic and pleasure is excluded also. Often the general exclusions are fairly consistent between the different available caravan insurance policies.

Carl Way is a founder of Caravan Insurance Cover, the UK’s premier website for insurance for touring caravan.

Touring caravan owners should know what the elements are that make up any insurance policy they take out. The elements of a policy are Contents, Continental use, Damage and Loss, general exclusions, Excess, and Liability to the public. It is my intention to offer an insight into the policies different parts in this article.

Damage and Loss not surprisingly relates to the damage to or loss of the caravan, and normally covers up to the full value. Newer caravans can get new for old cover, this means that if it needs replacing, it will be with a new caravan. Market value is the other type of cover, which will pay you the market value of your old caravan should it need replacing.

You often have to pay extra for contents and personal effects cover, and beware that it is normally limited in the things it covers. You will often find the following excluded: valuables; credit cards; bikes; photographic equipment; computers; phones; valuables. Policies also differ in whether they cover theft from trailer and toilet tents, and from awnings, and will only cover theft from forcible entry.

Liability to the public is to protect the owner in the case of injury or loss to the general public resulting from use of the caravan. This will often cover people the caravan is leant to, as long as it is not for business purposes or hired to them. The level of cover is normally between 1 and 2 million pounds, sometimes including costs, sometimes plus costs.

If you plan to travel to the continent, you will need to ensure you have continental use included in the policy. You will find that some policies also include roadside assistance and/or repatriation of the caravan. You will find that many of the former Communist countries (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic) are excluded from continental use.

The amount of any claim you must pay yourself before the insurance company are willing to part with any money is called the excess. To illustrate, if you made a claim for 500 and your excess was 200, then you would get 300 from the insurance company. If you up the amount of excess that you have on your policy, you will find that your policy will get cheaper.

You should be aware of the general exclusions of a policy, despite the fact that many of them are exceptional events. Pressure waves from supersonic aeroplanes, terrorism and hostilities are several of these, but importantly so is use other than social, domestic or pleasure. The many different caravan insurance policies generally offer the same general exclusions as each other.