Went out looking at Caravans today!

[Lazy-Ferret]

So we decided to go out and have a look at what sort of caravan we can pick up with the £1900 our insurers offered us...

Talk about gutting... I feel so depressed now, I can not believe that through someone else's stupidity, we can end up loosing so much.

The first place we went, their cheapest van was £8999... Lovely vans, but a bit out of our price range!

From there we went to a place called Michael Jordan. This place is huge, and has tons of vans... we walked and walked and walked, looking at the prices as we went, and finally ended up in what was labelled the "Bargain Basement" and still struggled to find any down at the price we were thinking.... As we walked around the 20 or so caravans we only found one that was close to our budget, £1999, and it was no good for us as completely the wrong layout (Not to mention Minging).

We carried on looking round, to get an idea of how much we will need to try and save up, so we can actually get one that is an equivalent to what we had. We finally came to the only one in their "Bargain Basement" with the right layout... £3999!!! The out side was scratched, and had ingrained dirt, with loads of crazing on the yellowing discoloured plastic panels. We went inside to have a look and almost cried... I think our crashed caravan was still in better condition, the whole front inside wall of the caravan was hanging off, and the shelf mounted on it was 6" lower on one side. The floor was de-laminated, and felt like you were walking on the moon. Every cupboard door stay was snapped, and many of the doors were loose. The carpet stuck to your feet as you walked, and there were stains on the cushions, and this one was still better than the £1999 one!!!

With our tails between our legs, we left and went on to 2 more caravan places, and apart from the odd caravan that Noah used to stay in while building the ark, and they actually looked like he also left behind for the flood, none were anywhere near our budget, or as nice as our van

I know our van was not perfect, but what we saw today, there was nothing under £6k, that was anything like as nice as ours. Not only that, but out of that £1900, we will also need to get an awning, as most of the vans did not come with one, and ours may not fit.

I am off to cry myself to sleep now...

[solarman216]

that is so depressing Clive, are you sure you have done all you can to get the insurance Co replace your van like for like, as that to my mind is what you are entitled to, not only that they should be paying for the hire of a van that you have not got should you want to go away this week end for instance, insurance has always been a set up, Rick

[clivvy]

would you find better deals privately on eBay and Gumtree perhaps?

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by clivvy

would you find better deals privately on eBay and Gumtree perhaps?

We will probably do that in reality, but basically, they should be paying us a market value that allows us to buy with the safety of a dealers back up, so we have some sort if come back if the van is not fit for purpose or stolen...

I can't remember what it is now, but there was some part of the policy that Suz was reading out, and it stated that it only applied if you purchased the caravan from a responsible dealer... what ever that is... So if they want us to do that, then they should be paying out dealer prices.

The problem with Ebay, is it is so dodgy, usually you can't see the van before you buy, and many of the "better" priced ones are not in the South East, so we would need to travel a long way just to check them out. There are also several warnings out about scams at the moment as well.

It's a minefield... and what makes it worse is we had no intentions of looking or changing our van, so should not need to be having this stress in the first place.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by solarman216

that is so depressing Clive, are you sure you have done all you can to get the insurance Co replace your van like for like, as that to my mind is what you are entitled to, not only that they should be paying for the hire of a van that you have not got should you want to go away this week end for instance, insurance has always been a set up, Rick

As things stand, they will not budge... we are still waiting for a reply to our last letter, they are dragging their feet, but they basically say that £1900 is it, take it or leave it. I sent them 4 or so links to other caravan, all of which were actually older than ours, but the same layout and make, that the cheapest was £3500, and one was actually £4995. They say it is not their job to replace the caravan, just to pay us it's market value based on what the assessor says, and he says £1900.

The next job is to take it up a level, but it is all stress and work we do not really need at the moment, and is just delaying us getting a replacement for longer and longer. We had a break booked for the week after next, which we had paid a non-refundable deposit on, and have now cancelled and lost.

Not only that, but we have done 140 miles today driving round the 4 places we visited, so that is costing us in wear and tear and diesel.

I have now placed Insurance people on my list along side Bankers as the lowliest people in the world.

[solarman216]

if you have legal cover on your insurance I would be engaging a solicitor, this is so much crap it is untrue, fight them all the way, Rick

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by solarman216

if you have legal cover on your insurance I would be engaging a solicitor, this is so much crap it is untrue, fight them all the way, Rick

The legal cover is doing the uninsured loses, like the car bumper, towbar and the damaged items in the car and caravan not covered under the caravan insurance, like our insurance excess, the wall mounted TV that faired pretty badly, Battery vacuum cleaner that was destroyed, and stuff like that. I am not sure how I can get them to fight my own insurance company as well.

[solarman216]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

The legal cover is doing the uninsured loses, like the car bumper, towbar and the damaged items in the car and caravan not covered under the caravan insurance, like our insurance excess, the wall mounted TV that faired pretty badly, Battery vacuum cleaner that was destroyed, and stuff like that. I am not sure how I can get them to fight my own insurance company as well.

ERRRM your own insurance company, Bull whatsit, it is her insurance Co you should be pursuing nothing more, nothing less, get your legal beagles on to it, you do not have to accept this thing that insurance Co's have about knock for knock, it does not apply in this case, Her Co is responsible for the whole deal, you are completely innocent, they are giving you the run round, give em stick, they are working the old get out routine, Rick