Nobody doubts that anything claiming to be low cost or cheap has a tendency to catch the eye. There’s no reason to suspect that you as a caravan owner are any more immune to that when you see those great ads for cheap caravan insurance.

However, this may be something of a distraction from what may be really important – you getting the cover your circumstances require.

In fact, some questions need to be asked of any advertisement for cheap caravan insurance, including perhaps:

• given that what’s cheap for someone may not be cheap for someone else in a different caravan situation – who does the ‘cheap’ refer to;
• just what exactly is being provided for the money;
• how can something be considered as cheap unless you have been able to compare it in detail to an exactly identical product (and few insurance policies will ever be identical in terms of the cover they provide)?

There is no intention here to dispute sales language but rather to try and focus attention back to what may be really critical – making sure that there’s a good match between your situation and the protection the insurance is providing.

This is one of those things that may be better illustrated with examples:

• if you sometimes take your tourer abroad then cheap touring caravan insurance that doesn’t include European cover may not be of much use to you and paying extra for it may destroy any cost savings you thought you’d achieved;
• if the cheap policy doesn’t provide new-for-old cover on contents, then you may find yourself spending a lot of extra money if you ever have to replace them in the event of them being damaged or stolen;
• does the cheap policy cover as standard, the average annual mileage you may be doing?

Nothing of this is meant to imply that a bold advertisement for cheaper caravan cover should simply be ignored. What is important though is that its sales proposition is examined in detail and reviewed critically in line with your needs.

If you don’t, you may end up with cheap caravan insurance – or so it will seem until you need to make a claim!

The phrase cheap caravan insurance sounds intuitively attractive – but what does it really mean?

Is it referring to:

• the lowest cost caravan insurance policy you can possibly find;
• the one that gives you the most suitable cover providing that you find it to be cheap at the price;
• the policy that gives you the most for a specified amount of money you have in mind;
• caravan cover that’s lower cost than your current policy;
• etc?

The trouble is, these are all different things and may give you a different result if you’re searching for cheap caravan insurance. To put it another way, what’s cheap for someone else may not be cheap for you and vice-versa.

Essentially, the start point for any search for caravan insurance should typically be the nature of your caravan, how you’re using it and the level of the cover you require.

Matching that against the facilities offered by a caravan insurance policy will then give you a feeling of what your real options are.

How do these things affect the price?

Let’s take a theoretical situation where you’re planning to take your touring caravan out of the country regularly.

Not all insurers will see the risks of that in the same way and one may offer a more attractive rate than another.

To take another example – let’s assume you have a static caravan that’s equipped to a very high level of comfort and which contains many of your contents. In the event of a problem, some policies may replace those items on a market value basis but that may mean that you effectively can’t replace your belongings.

The fact that the policy may have been cheaper may not seem quite so important to you at that stage.

You need to take into account also the extent to which a policy may offer you price reductions in the form of discounts for certain behaviours or actions. That may make a policy that doesn’t immediately seem to be cheap caravan insurance, appear far more attractive in the totality.

Typically all insurers like to encourage risk-reduction measures and some will go as far as to offer incentives. This typically includes taking steps such as:

• fitting enhanced security features (some forms may, in fact, be mandatory on some policies such as hitchlocks and wheel clamps with tourers etc);
• avoiding younger drivers;
• only using registered and secure camping sites etc.

To summarise, you may find that you end up with more suitable and perhaps even cost-effective caravan insurance cover if you start off by looking for a match against your requirements rather than exclusively on price.

It may be a better approach than simply looking for what appears to be cheap caravan insurance.

Looking for cheap caravan insurance is an individual thing based on your expectations. What may be cheap caravan cover for you may not be for someone else. For example, you can get cheap caravan insurance policies that are cheap because they offer the bare minimum of cover. Or, you may define cheap insurance for your caravan as being a policy that has all the bells and whistles attached and is at what you consider to be a good price!

Either way, the price and what the caravan insurance cover entails will typically be the major influencing factors on which caravan insurance policy you buy.

Is the price right?

If you have a static caravan, insurers may decide a price for your policy based on the address and claims history of the site where the caravan is based. So if your caravan is parked on a site that has a history of flooding and has had problems with crime, the premiums you get quoted may not be as low as for a caravan on a less troubled site.

By the same token the postcode of where you keep a touring caravan or motorhome may also have an effect on the price of the caravan insurance quote.

Whilst you may not be able to move the caravan this season if location is a problem, cheaper caravan insurance may still be within your reach if you have access to the following discounts:

• lower prices for members of caravanning clubs. Such clubs typically have the bargaining power and clout to negotiate significant discounts on the headline prices that insurers offer;
• security. For touring caravans, hitchlocks are typically an insurer’s minimum requirement for doing your bit to keep the caravan safe and secure. However, for both touring and static caravans, stepping up your security campaign may have the dual benefit of reducing the risk of theft and bringing down your insurance costs.

What about the cover?

Cheap caravan insurance may sometimes still be comprehensive caravan cover, as long as the risks that you would typically expect to be mentioned are included in the insured perils specified. Caravan insurers may typically cover the costs of damage from all or some of the following:

• storm;
• fire;
• earthquake;
• flood;
• theft;
• malicious damage; and
• accidental damage.

The small print

An important part of buying cheap caravan insurance involves reading the small print, as it would be unfortunate if you were prevented from being able to make a claim due to a failure to adhere to the terms and conditions. Accordingly, it makes sense to ensure that you have complied with any maintenance and security obligations the insurer has set.

As the owner of a caravan, you may wonder from time to time whether there is such a thing as cheap caravan insurance and if there is, where can you buy it.

What you pay for cheap caravan insurance depends on a number of factors.

Obviously if you have a touring caravan, typically the risks you face are significantly different to those for a static caravan and they are different again to the risks for a motorhome or even a park home. So using a specialist in caravan insurance that understands completely the ins and outs of the business may make very good sense.

Comparing the policies they offer may help you achieve savings without compromising on the right level of cover for your particular circumstances.

What’s right for you

The starting off point to find cheap caravan insurance may be to spend a couple of minutes working out just what your usage requirements are. You may then be able to decide what you need and what you don’t need as a minimum level of cover. There may be other elements of cover that would be nice to have if the price was right.

Typically, different policies provide different levels of caravan cover. For example, some may include unlimited continental travel cover as part of the standard price. This may be an advantage for you if you take your caravan abroad a lot but may be something you do not need if you intend to stick to the UK for your holiday breaks.

Similarly if you know that you are the only person to tow or drive your caravan then paying for a multi driver policy may not be a sensible use of your money.

What discounts are available?

Some insurance providers may offer reduced premiums if you show that you are a responsible and security minded caravan owner. Keeping a look out for these may be worthwhile.

So, for example, discounts may be available if you:

• are a member of a recognised caravan club;
• fit security alarms;
• use only registered and flood safe sites;
• use wheel clamps and hitchlocks (though with some policies these types of security measures may be mandatory);
• use a secure off-season storage site;
• accept an excess on your policy etc.

Cheap or cheapest

A final point that may be worth remembering is that it may be possible to find cheap caravan insurance for your caravan if you sacrifice levels of cover. While this may be tempting from a premium point of view, you may find it expensive in the longer term if you end up having to pay out yourself following a problem.

Of course, while all of us want cheap caravan insurance, sometimes the cheapest is not always the most suitable cover. However, there are ways to ensure that you get competitively priced cover that does the job! So follow these 5 steps to help you look for the caravan cover that fits the bill!

Step 1 – collect all of your information
Whether you are looking for a quote for touring caravan cover, static holiday home insurance or camper van insurance, providers will need the same information from you to assess your circumstances. Aside from your personal details, insurers need to know the age, make and model of your caravan, together with information about where it is kept (including the postcode). The more information you can give the better.

Step 2 – compare prices
If you are looking for cheap caravan insurance then low prices are among your top priorities. Make a note of all the quotes that you get, and rank them in price order.

Step 3 – compare service and cover
While getting a good price is important, getting a fair price for good cover is the real issue at stake. So whilst it may be tempting to automatically go for the policy that costs the least without further investigation, look past the price to the extent of the cover. Does it extend to all of the risks that you would expect to see? Are there dedicated claims handlers on the team that you have access to? These elements of customer service could be worth paying for if you are unfortunate enough to have to make a claim.

Step 4 – seek discounts
Are you a member of a caravanning club? Do you have extra security measures fitted to your caravan? Is your caravan kept in a park that is well known to be safe and secure? If you can answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, your responsible caravan ownership will pay off, as many providers may offer significant discounts for these things.

Step 5 – enjoy the peace of mind good cover brings
Once you chosen a suitable provider and put the policy on risk, you can relax and enjoy your holidays in the knowledge that your cheap caravan insurance (which in the end may not be the cheapest cover available but gives you the protection you need) it is always there to call on, should you need it.