Hello Guys, my names is Alan and I'm a newbie to this site although I have to say I'm liking what I'm seeing.
Gents I have a issue that is worrying me sick, I have a Elddis Crusader Storm Caravan. It's insured and stored on a storage site throughout the year.
Last week I took a visit up to the caravan and to my horror it had been broken into and the little s***s had caused petty damage inside to many areas. Furthermore I noticed hail storm damage.
I rung my insurance up and they said I was covered on all the above and sent me out a claim form to claim. I've filled it all in and returned it along with supporting documentation (CRis Registration cert / police ref No and also 2 quotes for repairs.
I've done all this and am now waiting for an assessor at the insurance to update me on liability etc
Here's the problem, this is a absolute genuine mistake and I'm worried sick. When I insured the caravan last year I said it was a 2008 model but in fact today when I'm going through paperwork it's a Dec 2006 model. When I took insurance out I complete the CRiS reg no etc it was asking for
Will this affect my claim you guys think, it's a genuine mistake but I think they look for any reason to void a policy / claim ???
Best idea is to keep quiet about it. Assessors are busy people so may not notice the age disrepency. Hail damage to caravan roof is usually a write off so expect caravan to be written off. You could buy the salvage off them though & fix it yourself & probably be in pocket.
Hail damage does not affect integrity of caravan though. It just looks unsightly. Most caravans with hail damaged roofs are written off because roof replacement is not viable. Nothing wrong with caravan though. They are sold off by insurer & go back on the road.
Just been checking it's actually. 2007 model and I've said it's a 2008
I'm worried sick over this as I keep thinking insurance companies try anything to get out of a pay up. Annoying thing is I've just annonomosly obtained a quote from them with the correct 2007 year this time and it's exactly the same price.
I'm surprised that they didn't pick this up from the CRIS number when you insured it as I had exactly the same issue when I bought a caravan I thought was a 2008 but when I gave them the CRIS number they could see immediately that it was a 2007. The chances are that they already know it's 2007 but, as said before, I would keep quiet unless they raise it. If they do, point out that the CRIS number should have identified it to them as 2007.
Welcome to the site - oh, and a lot of us are not gents but ladies!
Yes I did think that. £109 excess each time. I've submitted them 3 quotes to get it fixed although they only asked for 2. Each quote is in excess of 11k so caravan was valued at 8k so I'm confident they will write off as long as they don't throw the 'Void' card into the game cause I'm a year out on manufacturing date.
My defence will be it's a
A) Typo on my part
B) The CRiS Registration wouldnof told them it's a 2007 and not 2008 when I started policy
C) The Crusader Storm was non manufactured from 2008 onwards so the caravan couldn't of been a 2008.
Do you have a bill of sale from when you purchased it? There are thousands of caravans which are not sold until the year after they are built (the `model year` seems to start in the previous August, which is just stupid) so you may well have an `07 which wasn`t sold until `08, and like cars, many people class the date when they buy the van as its age date.
If you buy a 2017 manufactured car and it isn`t registered until 2018, you would call it a 2018. Caravans seem to be treated differently.
As pointed out. What you do is nothing & hope they do not notice. Have you checked the date code on the Cris number? Google for info on how to do that.
Firstly don't panic. I work for an insurer and contrary to popular belief we don't try anything to get out of paying. If information is wrong then yes we can refuse the claim but 99% of the time we don't unless we believe that wrong facts have been given on purpose to try and mislead us to keep the premium down.
In this case you have declared the caravan as newer than it is, not enough to make a big difference to the value for pay out purposes and if anything you would have put your premium up by doing this not kept it down.
Therefore I would be surprised if pay out was refused. I have seen us pay out on cars when a change to a private plate wasn't declared and even once where a car had been modified before the new owner bought it and she didn't know (although we wouldn't cover afterwards as cover would have been refused initially if that modification was known). There is even a chance your van may have been sat in a dealer's over a year, perhaps as a display model before it was initially purchased in 2008.
As the others have advised do nothing for the moment. If the insurer wants to query it, they will contact you fairly quickly after the assessment has been done, and you can advise them then that it was a genuine mistake.
------------- Good cakes aren't cheap. Cheap cakes aren't good
Thank you, that's put my mind at ease a little, I am literly feeling so sick with worry. To be told my caravan is not insured after mindless thugs have broken in and caused much damage along with also Hail storm damage all on the nearside.
My insurers only asked for 2 quotes for repair but I have submitted them 3 from certified repair centres. All 3 quotes come in at the 12k mark and the caravan is only insured for 8k so I'm sure their decision would be to write it off.
Latest Update. Assessor emailed me today from insurance company and said they will write the caravan off, asked me to provide proof of reciept which I have sent on via email to him.
Quote: Originally posted by Aij615 on 24/8/2017
Should get a settlement soon, so relieved
That sounds like good news, I hope you get the cash and can replace your caravan. (unless you are buying it back and repairing it yourself)
------------- We camped for years. In 2019 we bought an Elddis Avante 454. We like it as it is short (6.9m) and fits in our driveway and has a fixed bed.
We had 127 nights away in the caravan in 2023.
Update: Guys it's all gone through. E&L have emailed me to offer full market value £8000 plus £1000 for awning. Going to add 3k to it and get a 2009 Suoer Sorocco = Happy days
Quote: Originally posted by Aij615 on 14/9/2017
Update: Guys it's all gone through. E&L have emailed me to offer full market value £8000 plus £1000 for awning. Going to add 3k to it and get a 2009 Suoer Sorocco = Happy days
Great News, I'm pleased for you
------------- We camped for years. In 2019 we bought an Elddis Avante 454. We like it as it is short (6.9m) and fits in our driveway and has a fixed bed.
We had 127 nights away in the caravan in 2023.
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: Need Urgent Advice re insurance claim
