I made that awful mistake last week, Checked the pressure, tread but couldnt find a date on them.
Everything looked fine for our trip from the West
Midlands to Looe and 15 miles from Exeter, BANG. The trye blew through the floor of our van taking the contents of the cupboards under the sink and cooker. The most frightening thing i saw was the fire extinguisher flying across the hard shoulder. Imagine overtaking??
A woman behind us saw us and stopped. Thankyou so much. They called the highway agency and we put on the spare.
As we were nearer our destination than home we continued.
I had a mobile tyre fitter come to our site recommended by the site, and he made us safe for our return yesterday.
While there , due to the tyre hitting under the cooker and sink, we had no water as the taps were smashed and as the cooker was hit i didnt trust the gas. Had to use the van as a bedroom only and buy new portable stoves.
Through my stupidity it cost dear but could have been alot lot worse.
I cant afford another van for about 18 months and the first thing i shall do is change the tyres regardless of look or age.
I hope this helps others before this mistake happens again to anyone.
If you couldn't find a date on the tyres then its possible they were fitted last century when date coding was different. If you can diy I would claim on insurance & if written off buy back caravan off insurer for a few quid & repair it yourself.
I had a new roof on my swift a couple of years ago after something fell from a tree on site and punctured the skin. We must have been out at the time and as it was good weather we didn't notice it until I visited the van in storage a couple of weeks later and it was raining.
I was concerned that a three grand repair might write my caravan off at the time even though the repair was less than half the value.
Apparently caravan insurance isn't like car insurance where they will only go to a certain percentage value of the car before they write it off. I am with the Caravan Club and they told me that they will repair up to the value of the caravan. So if for example you have a £7500 caravan they will repair it up to a cost of £6499.
In some ways mine came as a bit of a bonus because it was seven years old and for the cost of my excess (£200) I got a virtually fully resealed caravan which should be good for many more years.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Dont assume
