Who is your caravan insurance with?

Boothy · Veteran Member

Who is your caravan insurance with?

Craig1 · Guru

C I L, maybe not cheapest, but agreed value, reasonable excess, I think you can nominate a " lay up period " as well to lessen the pain.

Possum3 · Guru

Expect to pay 10% to 15% of agreed value if registered to NSW Address - if you have clean driving and Insurance claims record. CIL are better to deal with than other insurers when it comes time to make a claim.

Bicyclecamper · Guru

Swann Insurance, woolworths, and Budget, but I don't like Bu dget, their fine print has some serious outs.

DMaxer · Guru

Not 10% to 15% Possum. I pay 3% of the agreed value with an excess of $200 with NRMA. A mate with a van insured for $85K pays $1500 per year with a $500 excess with the same mob.

Possum3 · Guru

Put the decimal point in the wrong place didn't I? (Should be about 1% to 1.5 - NRMA Gold Member, 65% No Claim, Zero Demerits, $200 excess)

Dick0 · Guru

RACV.

DMaxer · Guru

For a moment I thought you must be insured by an insurance company owned and run by lawyers Possum. biggrin biggrin biggrin

-- Edited by DMaxer on Thursday 20th of July 2023 04:33:46 PM

RedProw · Member

My advice is don't base your decision on premium alone, cheapest is not always best. Take the time to read the PDS to make sure you are being covered for what you think. We are also with RACV.

rmoor · Senior Member

A good friend has traded her Jayco in on a new 90K Millard after much research and it is due for delivery in September.
She rang me last week with a major shock of quotes hitting 3 grand.
Eventually she found CIL for I think about $1,543 or something?
She has also been researching caravan movers (parking and positioning units) and found a firm in W.A. does them with a good name evident.
I pay very little on my modest old Roadstar with the NRMA.
Though I have a few policies with them and a massive no claim bonus.
Insurance is an unwelcome but necessary part of life and caravanning is it not.

Are We Lost · Guru

RedProw wrote:
My advice is don't base your decision on premium alone, cheapest is not always best. Take the time to read the PDS to make sure you are being covered for what you think. We are also with RACV..

I agree with what you wrote, but highlighted the first part because I think most focus exclusively on price.

The Product Review site has some useful statistics. Of course it only shows people who post there and there will be a larger percent of dissatisfied people, however when there is a large enough number of reviews some comparisons between insurers can be made.

For example, some useful statistics (only shown when there are plenty of reviews):

Time taken to resolve claim
Approved vs denied

Caravan insurance does not have as many reviewers as car insurance, so you may need to make an assessment based on the car insurance reports. For example you could just type in the name of your insurer or search for Insurance, then select Car, then sort by rating.

Product Review

Possum3 · Guru

rmoor wrote:
A good friend has traded her Jayco in on a new 90K Millard after much research and it is due for delivery in September.

She has also been researching caravan movers (parking and positioning units) and found a firm in W.A. does them with a good name evident.

Did she tell you the Name of the unit/dealer?

rmoor · Senior Member

Yeah, thanks for the question Possum.
She rang me not long ago re the arrangements for our upcoming Beechworth visit.
The van moving unit she has been looking at I believe to be a Tug (made in W.A.) V4 I believe.
It will need to move a 17' Millard, with a slight incline and bump.....

Possum3 · Guru

Found them; australianmade.com.au/licensees/bc-mover/tug-v4-caravan-mover

Greg 1 · Guru

RACWA. Cheapest quote and best coverage I could find this time around.

Boothy · Veteran Member

Thanks everyone. Previously we had a little 14ft jayco and insurance was nothing to worry about but the lotus will be a bit different I need to prepare myself. So the premium is a percentage of the agreed value? Is that how it works?

Are We Lost · Guru

Boothy wrote:
So the premium is a percentage of the agreed value? Is that how it works?

It's the primary factor. Location would probably be next along with storage method (street, driveway, garage, etc), security devices and type, age and brand. Then comes driving and towing experience, claims history, demerit points etc.

Boothy · Veteran Member

Does it help if youve done at caravan towing course? Hubby drives heavy machinery for a living but was just wondering if you had done a caravan towing course whether this would help with your premiums I might actually do one myself I think I probably need it LOL

Possum3 · Guru

Boothy wrote:
Does it help if youve done at caravan towing course? Hubby drives heavy machinery for a living but was just wondering if you had done a caravan towing course whether this would help with your premiums I might actually do one myself I think I probably need it LOL

Unfortunately it doesn't - although it is a course that is well worth the effort.

Are We Lost · Guru

Boothy wrote:
Does it help if youve done at caravan towing course?

I have never been asked. Just "How many years have you been licensed? How many years towing?". Some ask more questions, some ask less. Some will insist on security devices, others may not, or may increase the premium.

I just swapped companies for mine and because of age and value of cover they had to seek approval from the underwriters. They came back with a question I have never been asked before. "Why is the van not stored at your home?" Maybe if yours is a borderline case, mentioning the towing course may help.

But I think you just need to find those answers by calling them. You will likely get wildly different quotations.

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Friday 28th of July 2023 03:13:15 PM

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

I've had no issues with RACQ - they paid for damage that I caused when I backed into a corner on our then Jayco Eagle.
Our current Discovery is insured for an "agreed" value.

I'm not certain if they would cover a van that was taken off a "made road, track" & you hit a big stump or something similar - you'd have to ask the insurer at the time of taking out the policy.

darjak · Senior Member

NRMA agreed value, covered Australia Wide even off road.

Warren, RACQ read the fine print Agree value or Market value whichever is the lessor.

Darjak

Bicyclecamper · Guru

RACQ - terrible to make a claim with, they find any reason to deny a claim, and don't expect to be refunded your premium, just don't go there.

The Belmont Bear · Guru

Boothy wrote:
We will be taking possession of our caravan next year. Just interested to hear who people insure with and if youre happy? What sort of $$ can we expect to pay on an off road van with all the bells and whistles? Can you pay more when using and less when storing?

When we bought our previous van we initially insured it with CIL the renewal notice came around we swapped it over to NRMA because they were cheaper. We also had all of our other insurance policies with NRMA and had been with them for 40 odd years (never making a claim). While doing 95kph the trailing axle turned at 45deg. causing a wheel to go through the stairwell. We made a claim, NRMA eventually got around to sending out an assessor about 2 months later to inspect the damage. The assessor said no problem in his experience this is just a formality it will go straight through. I told him I had no idea why the bolts failed whether it was the result of hitting a pothole or maybe something else on the road, but I did know that the inner wall of the cheap Chinese brand tyre had blown out. I knew that because I had asked the tyre repairer when I took it in to replace the damaged tyre if the damage was a result of the accident or a failure..he said no it wasnt torn it was a definately a huge blowout. To our surprise we recieved a phone call a few days later telling us that they would not be accepting the claim because in their opinion it had been the result of a mechanical failure. They said that in the PDF it states that damage caused by structural, mechanical or electrical failures is not covered. I argued that there was no evidence that the bolt failure was the primary cause but to no avail they just said you can appeal if you want but we are not paying. Being $8K out of pocket I immediatley cancelled every policy that we had with NRMA and reinsured with someone else. For the van we went back to a specialist caravan insurer i.e CIL even if they did cost us a bit more. If the same thing happened would we be any better off with CIL who knows but at least it made me feel better telling NRMA we would never be doing business with them again. (I find the pain is less by paying it monthly).

BB

Are We Lost · Guru

From your description I am not surprised the claim was rejected. Had you said it WAS the result from hitting a pothole or some object on the road, then it becomes definite accident damage rather than maybe a mechanical or tyre failure. If you couldn't prove it, you may still end up fighting them. But the difference is accident damage is a covered event while mechanical or tyre failure is not. I think you will find all the common insurers' PDS will have similar.

Have a read of my first post in this thread with a link to Product Review. You may need to look for their car insurance reviews to get a meaningful number of reviews. NRMA does not do well with statistics on claim approvals ... percentage approved and claim resolution time. (These stats are only shown when there are plenty of reviews). Like you, I have been an NRMA client for many years with several policies, but those statistics combined with premium increase were the prime reason I just renewed with another insurer. I chose National Seniors Insurance. Not many reviews but those small number have much better stats than NRMA. Saved about $100 in premium as well. CIL scores the same as NRMA but with only a small number of reviewers, less meaningful. Youi scores the best in reviews but in my case the premium was more than double NRMA.

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Thursday 3rd of August 2023 01:49:37 PM

The Belmont Bear · Guru

No doubt Are we Lost that I was was guilty on 2 fronts 1) I thought that when you paid lots of $$$ every year for comprehensive insurance you would be covered for damage that was the result of something that was not your fault 2) I didnt read every line of the PDF enough to clearly understand exactly what we were covered for. The fact that we had our claim rejected was just something we had to accept - giving the NRMA the flick probably didnt make much difference to them but it did make me feel a bit better..

BB

Brodie Allen · Guru

Just did a comparison quote with CIL and my current insurers :

Over TWO TIMES current costs and off road is considered as unsealed!

Lookout!!!

B

dogbox · Guru

been with NRMA for decades any claims I have had have been dealt with without any hassles. when I do a ring around to compare premiums so i'm not paying a lazy tax they are competitive if not cheaper with all the discounts I get.

Mein · Senior Member

National Seniors Australia Ltd arranges insurance as agent for Allianz Australia Insurance Limited. National Seniors Australia Ltd receives a commission which is a percentage of the premium.

CIL Insurance is a trading division of AAI Limited. AAI Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Suncorp Group Limited.

NRMA Insurance is owned by Insurance Australia Group.

Swann Insurance is owned by Insurance Australia Group.

RACQ Insurance is owned by The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Ltd who are currently in discussion to sell the insurance operations to Insurance Australia Group.

RACV Insurance is a joint venture which is owned 70% by Insurance Australia Group and 30% by RACV.

Namyl01 · Newbie

Just getting quotes for my new van. I usually go with Youi as they have saved me heaps in the past, but NRMA (surprise) was over $760 cheaper, with basic excess reduced from $750 to $200. Both offer new replacement for first 24 months (plus a whole lot of similar additives). I asked Youi to rework their figures but they couldn't come close. Go NRMA, you good thing ;)