caravan insurance 'write off' ideas?

[(RIP) PLANK]

We have had an offer from the insurance company for our 'write off' caravan. Any tips before I start negotiating? Cheers

[Sweety]

Never owned a caravan so wouldn't really know, the only thing I can say is maybe start negotiating like you would with a car ie body & inside was in fantastic condition for age, you'll be hard pushed to find another one as good etc

[Lazy-Ferret]

Good Luck,

We turned down the first offer, and sent some links to other caravan going for over 2 times what they had offered us, they went back to the assessor, and several weeks later, upped the offer by £400..., offering us £2300 for a caravan insured with them for £3800, and going for between £4000, and £5000, for a lower spec, year older vans... We can't find our exact van for sale anywhere.

All I can say is good luck, as 3 months on, and we are dealing with their complaints procedure, and getting nowhere..

[geoffdown]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

Good Luck,

We turned down the first offer, and sent some links to other caravan going for over 2 times what they had offered us, they went back to the assessor, and several weeks later, upped the offer by £400..., offering us £2300 for a caravan insured with them for £3800, and going for between £4000, and £5000, for a lower spec, year older vans... We can't find our exact van for sale anywhere.

All I can say is good luck, as 3 months on, and we are dealing with their complaints procedure, and getting nowhere..

If u don't mind me asking who was that with

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by geoffdown

If u don't mind me asking who was that with

If it stops anyone making the same mistake as we did, and helps them decide to go elsewhere, I will only to willingly say it is "ClubCare" The Camping and Caravan Clubs insurance....

Did you know that putting £60 of food in a fridge/freezer, driving just under a mile down the road with that food, then 5 hours later, removing the thawed, squashed food off of the caravan floor halves it perceived value...

Upon asking them 3 times how this could be, here was their answer...

The issue pertaining to food items clearly need further explaining.

Our liability to you, under a market value policy, is the actual value of the items. Not what you had paid for them and not what they would cost to replace. This is often difficult to establish but it is usual to imagine what might be the second hand price. Even unused, food items could not be resold for their purchase price hence the offer made based on their likely depreciation.

[geoffdown]

Originally Posted by Lazy-Ferret

If it stops anyone making the same mistake as we did, and helps them decide to go elsewhere, I will only to willingly say it is "ClubCare" The Camping and Caravan Clubs insurance....

Did you know that putting £60 of food in a fridge/freezer, driving just under a mile down the road with that food, then 5 hours later, removing the thawed, squashed food off of the caravan floor halves it perceived value...

Upon asking them 3 times how this could be, here was their answer...

Ok thanks for that. By the sound's of that we are lucky as we're with caravan club insurance but never claimed so they might end up being as bad

[rustic]

Following on from the value of the food, imagine if they insured houses, Could this be the scenario..? "... well Sir I know your house has burnt down, but look at it after the incident, it is no longer worth £250 k it's ony worth £50 k now, that's all we are prepared to pay"

Surely the point of insurance is to pay out what it takes to get the item back to the condition it was before the incident.
I am no expert, so I haven't read the small print, but I think we should all be reading the small print on everything.

If the food was fine before the acccident and worth nothing after, they are liable to pay the difference to get it back to how it was.

This is something that I woud discuss on the Martin Lewis Website. Tell them this is what you will do, and take expert advice from the very public domain.

If it is facts that you are quoting, not opinions, then there can be no "liable" issue... Can there?

Insurance... you can only tell how good it is, when something goes wrong.

[(RIP) PLANK]

The thing is despite the CC perception that it it somehow better than the CCC (I always get small sense of that from the CC. Neither actualy have an insurance company and are just brokering your policy to their chosen insurers. I ha on claim, many years ago, with the CCC insurance and they laid out promptly and fairly this insurance is with them again. And I have to say that their offer is fairly good, I will try to push them a little before excepting and see how it goes.

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by PLANK

The thing is despite the CC perception that it it somehow better than the CCC (I always get small sense of that from the CC. Neither actualy have an insurance company and are just brokering your policy to their chosen insurers. I ha on claim, many years ago, with the CCC insurance and they laid out promptly and fairly this insurance is with them again. And I have to say that their offer is fairly good, I will try to push them a little before excepting and see how it goes.

I really do wish you the best of luck...

I do not understand what has made our one so difficult for them, other than it being an older van, so it is not on their "Black Book". What they do not seem to realise is, whether they like it or not, there is a point where caravans stop depreciating due to their age, but maintain a value due to their good condition, functionality, re-sellability (I made that word up!) and desire for other people to own them (Just like the T2 is more expensive up north, than down south). I did think we proved that, by finding 8 vans of give or take a year in age, and of the lower spec than ours, that had sold on Ebay, or were in dealerships, for over twice the price they were offering us, and would have been the vans we would have replaced ours with.

The food excuse really is diabolical, but then it is only £30, but basically, it is like they have just gone through, and halved or worse the value of everything.

The TV in the van, it was £199 in a sale (We have the receipt), 2 years ago, because it is in a caravan, it does not get a great deal of use, so was basically as good as new. They say it is now only worth £75 if we were to sell it, but we did not want to sell it, and never had any intention of doing so. We can not find one in the same condition for sale at £75. The problem is, instead of TV's going down in price, they tend to keep adding new features, which keeps the prices about the same when you buy new, and to find a 12v LED TV, with DVD, and Satellite input, that is small enough to fit in the space provided second hand at £75, is a tall order, and very time consuming.

The worst part is, if it accident was our fault, I could have taken it on the chin, but to be 100% blame free (which we have in writing from her insurers), and it is only the lack of provable evidence that stops her from being done for careless or dangerous driving, and still to have lost out so much financially is awful. I was genuinely naive enough to think that the 3rd party was not supposed to be "out of pocket" by someone else's actions.

Ironically, we would probably have been better off, not being insured on the caravan, and using our uninsured losses to claim directly from her insurance.

Still, Sorry to winge, as I say, good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[(RIP) PLANK]

This is going to sound mean by comparison, but the figure we have is pretty good, I'm just trying to squeeze the buggers do a bit more

[Lazy-Ferret]

Originally Posted by PLANK

This is going to sound mean by comparison, but the figure we have is pretty good, I'm just trying to squeeze the buggers do a bit more

What happened to yours?

[(RIP) PLANK]

A truck clipped it on a motorway junction. He was in the middle lane and wanted to turn left, I don't think he made allowance for the caravan behind me and pulled into my lane as I pulled away. The damage doesn't look like much but we have had quotes of around £14k to fix it so it has been classed as beyond economic repair. I have told them the offer isn't high enough they are calling me back today apparently

[(RIP) PLANK]

They have asked for examples of the same or similar caravans for sale at the moment, I have emailed links so we will see how it goes