Just bought our 1st touring van and looking for advice please, I have experience of towing as a ex LGV artic driver for 45 years.
A) recommendations for insurance, best quote I have got so far is from Caravan and Motorhome club.
B) best club to join? Or join both?
C) is it worth fitting a solar panel?
D) is it worth fitting an alarm? If so which type? Van will be stored at a CoSSOA site with owner living on site.
E) van is only 12 month old and getting its 1st service and damp check next week and we will be making change of ownership to continue warrenty. Who do you use for breakdown insurance I am not sure if Elddis cover or I need separate breakdown insurance. I will check with Volvo if my Volvo assistance will cover it.
Your advice will be appreciated.
I am sure I will have more questions
Hi.
My caravan is at the other end of the age spectrum, but the best quote I get is from ClubCare from the C&CC.
Best club to join? Personal preference I feel, but we are C&CC members through choice.
It probably is worth fitting a solar panel but I have no personal experience.
With our caravan an alarm would probably be worth more that the van.
I use Start Rescue. Much better value than the 2 big companies in my opinion, although I have only ever had to call them out once.
Caravan guard beats both clubs insurance every time I ever get quotes.Tried clubs quotes many times as been caravaning for 49 years. If you are over 60 C&CC site pitch fees cheaper than Caravan & Motor home club. and we also have C&CC Arrival breakdown cover.
We are with the CAMC. Be aware that to continue with warranty you need to contact Elddis to have the warranty transferred into your name so you will have about 5 years damp ingress warranty.
We have a Phantom Tracker and alarm in our caravan and we think it is worth every penny. We can Online and see the location of our caravan at any time. We can see the mileage done every month and also the status of the battery.
Volvo assist will not cover the caravan. Better to join one of the Clubs. We have Mayday breakdown with the CAMC as we get Onward journey. If you break down on the way to holiday they will recover you, take caravan to site and car to garage. If car cannot be fixed after your holiday, they will collect the car and the caravan and take both back home. Cost us about £120 for top level cover on two cars. RAC Arrival charge a lot lot more for the same cover.
Thanks all CAMC have given good quote Caravan guard was over £1000.Mayday looks good as van is stored at CoSSOA site I will choose Road and Recovery option.
I did get quote from Eversure that included 180 day European cover for same price as CAMC giving simular cover.
There is a tracker but never fitted he is going to pass to me. I may wait till show to join CCC and join CAMC for insurance and use both clubs for 1 year as the over 60 discount sounds interesting.
Join both Clubs & see which one you use, especially if you prefer the quieter Certificated Sites (CSs - C&CC) and Certificated Locations (CLs - CAMC). Renew either, neither or both. It’s only 4 nights to cover the difference between member & non member fees. CAMC is far cheaper mid week, but no age concession ; C&CC concession doesn’t operate high season? (though I may be wrong).
Most of our stays are at independent sites, and UKCS has a tremendous directory for these (and reviews), far more than either club handbook has, and located in areas we prefer where there are no club sites. So you don’t have to join any club at all.
Quote: Originally posted by birdman101 on 09/2/2022
Caravan guard beats both clubs insurance every time I ever get quotes.Tried clubs quotes many times as been caravaning for 49 years. If you are over 60 C&CC site pitch fees cheaper than Caravan & Motor home club. and we also have C&CC Arrival breakdown cover.
Post last edited on 09/02/2022 08:48:54
Caravan Guard insist you fit a tracker if your van is over a certain value, you don't find this out until you have went all through the quote process, grrr.
Fitting it still made them well dearer than the CAMC.
------------- XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
A) As with any insurance, cover versus cost versus service comes into play, probably impossible to give a definitive answers as to 'best'. CAMC insurance consistently gets best in class awards, can be quite widely 'tailored' to your needs, and seems to meet with approval on good claims handling. It's who I'm with, and whilst not necessarily the cheapest, seems reasonable value when all factors considered.
B) Both clubs perform the same roll in a very similar way, but with subtle differences that make one more appealing to some than others, for example CCC give discounts to OAPs, whilst CAMC does midweek discounts on many site fees, you pays your money and takes your choice! What both offer is substantial discounts on pitch fees for members AND member only access to the small CL/CS sites which are often cheaper than big sites, taking advantage of that can mean you have recouped your membership fee in a single one week stay. Has to be said, I think everyone agrees that the CAMC online site booking is hugely superior to the CCC equivalent which is more limited and a bit clunky! At around £1/week for each club, its not a big deal to join both, and it opens up option for a lot more sites, some areas seem better served by one club's sites than the other's. If you don't like one club or never 'use' it, don't renew next year.
C) Very much depends on your use, if only on EHU sites, virtually redundant and pointless, if 'off grid' (non-EHU), depending on panel size and your power use can extend potential leisure battery use indefinitely (well, summer months anyway! Solar panels in UK tend to be pretty ineffective in the overcast gloom of winter!). Can have the benefit of providing trickle charge to keep leisure battery in good order during storage. Worth remembering, in reality they only output about 50-60% of stated output (that's derived from ideal laboratory conditions!) and only work for max 8-9 hours a day whilst sun is high in the sky, so only really 'working' at half power for a third of the day, and only 9 months of the year! They certainly can be worth it, but you do need to factor in the realities not just the basic theories.
D) Every possibility van is fitted with at least a basic alarm as standard, many are. Many insurers will give you a premium discount for PROFESSIONALLY/OEM fitted alarm, but not necessarily a DIY or aftermarket one, check. Is it a worthwhile anti-theft device?, I doubt it, no one pays much attention to alarms going off, and many are easily quickly silenced/disabled by knowledgeable thieves, a strategically rammed spike from outside would silence my factory fitted one before it even triggered!
A tracker may be far more effective for at least recovering your van if stolen, but many say they don't actually want their van back after it's been 'soiled' by intrusion of a certain notoriously light-fingered community with a penchant for other people's caravans!
Since 2016 all UK CRIS scheme registered vans have what is called a 'VIN CHIP' which is a RFID Chip (same tech as stores use to stop theft of high value items, triggers scanner/alarm at exits - the tag they remove/cancel at the till) hidden somewhere in van and readable by a (Police) scanner from outside the van, it duplicates the CRIS window sticker/chassis VIN number and can be checked on the CRIS database for registered owner and if logged as stolen. Technically a passing Police car can scan the chip whilst on the road, don't hold your breath it's a routine thing though, but a suspect van should be traceable back to you even if window security stickers tampered with/removed. You need to register your ownership with CRIS.
E) I've stuck with AA cover that I've had for nearly 40 years and prior to getting caravan, it does cover caravan recovery, but think some of the other caravan specific recoveries give better cover/options. Personally have a deep seated dislike of RAC and wouldn't touch them, after they on a couple of unrelated incidents left friends (fully paid up legit members!) stranded on roadside and refused to recover/fix their cars, one an elderly lone female with multiple dogs on board (her own dogs) who had a smaller than A4 removable (one of those magnetic ones!) dog rescue charity sticker on her personal car, they claimed it was a 'commercial sign written vehicle' and in breach of her membership, just left her there in the dark in tears, she got a friend to come and tow her in the end, formal complaint made to Head Office but NOT upheld, RAC lost a lot of members after they heard about that and will never get my business!
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Topic: Newbie looking for advice please
via mobile 08/2/2022 at 6:40pm
