Motorhome Insurance (1 Viewer)

[Cairngorm]

If that’s you registered address and you live there I don’t see how you are fultimers.

Maybe you need to pay a small amount in rent if you don’t already.

I have read somewhere if you have a legal lease drawn up for a year long period, that would indicate that you are not fultiming. The only other problem that you could have is producing utility bills with your name on it. If you were paying council tax , that would be good proof. On the voters roll would be good as well.

 

[ramsthom]

Would be better if all insurance companies/brokers quoted prices excluding breakdown cover. Safeguard price includes UK and European breakdown and Caravan Guard UK breakdown. It should only be offered as an add on.

 

[Digitalimager]

If that’s you registered address and you live there I don’t see how you are fultimers.

Maybe you need to pay a small amount in rent if you don’t already.

And don’t forget council tax.

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[pandas]

interesting piece in today paper:

Zut alors! Insurers not up to speed with breakdowns on French motorways

Every year millions of us drive to France on holiday, or hire a care while we are there.If we break down, we have insurance in place to help tow the car and repair it.However, a difference in the way French authorities deal with motorway breakdowns compared with Britain’s system is causing confusio

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

The time insurance really matters is when you have to make a claim. Does your underwriter/claims handler have an experienced motorhome assessor in your area or will you get a car engineer - its makes a big difference. Will your insurance company when paying out take into consideration the cost of satellite, tracker, alarm etc that has been added to your vehicle or will they see this as of little financial consequence and tell you, that if your vehicle is written off that you can just remove the items yourself. Will the underwriter/claims handler put your vehicle into safe dry storage (particularly important during wet and winter months if windows or bodywork has been compromised, or will it sit outside your property for months.
Can give both good and bad examples of claims handling through safeguard. Have to say though Safeguard staff have always been extremely helpful. Jim you are welcome to pm me if you want more details.

Evidence of habitation checks are important when claiming if damp gets into a vehicle due to the accident as without the evidence, they can query whether any damp was present previously and this can knock thousands off any potential payout

 

[Lanerboy]

I do wonder who insures the £200,000 plus motorhomes.

I dont think £200,000 would seem like a lot of money to the NFU who i am with as they insure farm machines which cost a lot more than this, also companies that insure yachts worth millions

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[Jagtazman]

One to watch some insurers including Comfort will only cover contents if your van is stored on your drive or a CaSSoa site.
So if like us your van is stored in a non CaSSoa site you need to try to get your home insurance to cover contents(which cam be difficult) or empty van all the time.
Bit of a joke really as our storge site has much better security than the CaSSoa site 5 miles down thr road. Explained this to Comfort who although agreed still could not provide contents cover.

 

[Digitalimager]

The time insurance really matters is when you have to make a claim. Does your underwriter/claims handler have an experienced motorhome assessor in your area or will you get a car engineer - its makes a big difference. Will your insurance company when paying out take into consideration the cost of satellite, tracker, alarm etc that has been added to your vehicle or will they see this as of little financial consequence and tell you, that if your vehicle is written off that you can just remove the items yourself. Will the underwriter/claims handler put your vehicle into safe dry storage (particularly important during wet and winter months if windows or bodywork has been compromised, or will it sit outside your property for months.
Can give both good and bad examples of claims handling through safeguard. Have to say though Safeguard staff have always been extremely helpful. Jim you are welcome to pm me if you want more details.

Evidence of habitation checks are important when claiming if damp gets into a vehicle due to the accident as without the evidence, they can query whether any damp was present previously and this can knock thousands off any potential payout

I HATE INSURANCE COMPANIES!
They have a captive market and they f******g milk it. They don’t give a f***k about us. Arseholes. Yes, I’m bitter and angry.

 

[Lanerboy]

Rang comfort today for a quote on my carthago, wont cover me without thatchem 1 and tracker, NFU dont want either so will get my money again this year. I wont be held to ransom being told i must fit a tracker they can whistle for my money

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[Digitalimager]

What do you mean? NFU don’t want either?

 

[Digitalimager]

National Farmers Union?

 

[Jagtazman]

Rang comfort today for a quote on my carthago, wont cover me without thatchem 1 and tracker, NFU dont want either so will get my money again this year. I wont be held to ransom being told i must fit a tracker they can whistle for my money

Why wouldn't you want to fit a decent alarm tm and a tracker?
Its a no brainer for me i'd want to try to get my gear back.

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[Lanerboy]

What do you mean? NFU don’t want either?

The NFU do not require an alarm or a tracker they will insure it with the standard factory immobilizer

Why wouldn't you want to fit a decent alarm tm and a tracker?
Its a no brainer for me i'd want to try to get my gear back.

I have a growler fitted but not interested in a tracker and would rather give my money to an insurance company that does not insist on one

 

[UndercoverUW]

Hello everyone.

Let me introduce myself. I’ve been a lurker on this forum for some time, this thread has prompted me to take the plunge and create an account.

Why? Well for my sins I am a motor insurance underwriter, I have been involved in underwriting motorhome insurance for over ten years.

I will try to answer many of the questions posted in the thread so far - this may take some time, but I will update as when time permits.

Hopefully, along the way, I will be able to:

- Persuade people that, contrary to popular opinion, insurers are not the devil incarnate
- Dispel some myths
- Show that there is logic behind decisions or approaches that may, on the surface, appear to be unusual
- Shed some light on how brokers influence the motorhome insurance market versus how insurers influence the market

What I will not do, so please don’t ask:

- Reveal my identity or that of my employer (I can be more open and frank that way)
- Reveal any commercially sensitive information that belongs to my employer (although I anticipate that most questions can be answered in broad terms)
- Answer any questions or posts that are rude, or where the poster is not open to reasoned debate

 

[UndercoverUW]

Why can't they just quote their cheapest price straight off instead of making us keep going back to play one company off against another?

I could write pages on this one, so will try to keep it brief. I assume that this question primarily relates to renewal business so will answer on that basis.

There’s a few aspects to consider.

Firstly remember that most motorhome insurance is intermediated - i.e. the insurer sells policies via insurance brokers. So any variance in the final premium could be made up of either or both of (a) the insurers premium and (b) broker admin fees.

How does an insurer set a premium? Well firstly they calculate the “technical price”. This is the premium that is modelled to cover the costs of:

- Expected claims
- Expenses including acquisition costs (for example broker commission), reinsurance contracts, levies to the Motor Insurers Bureau
- An element of profit

The technical price is then adjusted to produce the “commercial price” - i.e. the “market” or “street” price that the consumer pays. This takes into account market premiums, price elasticity and quote conversion rates.

This is where there will be very different dynamics at play. In the volume direct insurance market, insurers will often charge a much increased premium at renewal to various segments simply because this is the profit maximising approach - ie the sweet spot on the low margin versus high margin/high volume versus low volume trade-off that produces the highest profit, which is not the same spot as that which produces the highest policy retention rate. They can still yield some premium certain renewal prices as the costs of acquisition for renewals are typically much less than cost of acquisition for new business.

The intermediated market is different where the broker has a panel of insurers. If the renewal from insurer A is much increased then they can simply rebroke the policy to insurer B or C or D to retain their earnings rather than lose the risk. So in these markets pricing tends to be much more stable.

Where a broker only has one insurer which they use the dynamic may be much more like the volume direct dynamic described above - as rebroking is not available.

Negotiation on price is the norm for many different industries - including, presumably, lots of the employers of various posters on this very forum - so I am sometimes at a loss as to why insurers receive so much criticism over it.

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[UndercoverUW]

Shop around
Different companies will have different claims records so difficult to say which is right for an individual.
Ensure cover is exactly what you need.
It's not good paying a premium with £500 windscreen cover when it will cost £2000 to replace.
If you fulltime, there aren't many true fulltiming policies available, so customers dont always tell the truth, which may cause a lack of pay out if you have a big claim.
Ensure breakdown cover is suitable as well. Can be difficult to get for an older motorhome.

Before buying a really expensive motorhome in excess of £100,000 ensure you can get cover. I do wonder who insures the £200,000 plus motorhomes.

Absolutely - always pay attention to the cover provided.

Unfortunately the reality is that the vast majority of the public purchase insurance based solely on price. Hence the astronomic rise of the aggregator website in recent years.

A windscreen for an A-Class or a USA RV can easily cost £2-3,000 to replace. A policy with a £500 or £750 limit of indemnity for windscreen claims will leave you well short of that.

There are several companies who will insure high value motorhomes. I have quoted some as high as £300-£400,000. You would be amazed at the number of times a client leaves it until the day before they are picking up a £200k motorhome having not given any thought to insurance!

 

[UndercoverUW]

Over here in Spain roadside recovery is built into all policies. Strikes me as a really good idea, especially when you consider the length / weight of some MHs.
Secondly, though probably a bit trickier, is the continental model of "vehicles being insured to be driven by people" rather than the UK model whereby the person is insured to drive a vehicle. I'd like to hear a stance on that.

On recovery, having as separate product allows for more consumer choice. After all, some who use their motorhomes only very sparingly, and who own newer motorhomes, would prefer to take their chances and pay for recovery as and when.

The issue of the “continental model” is simple to answer: there are many differences between the UK and other countries in terms of:

- Legal requirements of cover (although much alignment has taken place in recent years due to EU Motor Directives)
- The application of common law and how quantum of liability settlements is determined
- Overall culture in terms of motoring and the law

“Any driver” type policies are available in the UK for motorhomes (mainly underwritten by high net worth focused insurers for example Chubb or Hiscox), but the premium reflects the risk.

 

[Otter Spotter]

I could write pages on this one, so will try to keep it brief. I assume that this question primarily relates to renewal business so will answer on that basis.

There’s a few aspects to consider.

Firstly remember that most motorhome insurance is intermediated - i.e. the insurer sells policies via insurance brokers. So any variance in the final premium could be made up of either or both of (a) the insurers premium and (b) broker admin fees.

How does an insurer set a premium? Well firstly they calculate the “technical price”. This is the premium that is modelled to cover the costs of:

- Expected claims
- Expenses including acquisition costs (for example broker commission), reinsurance contracts, levies to the Motor Insurers Bureau
- An element of profit

The technical price is then adjusted to produce the “commercial price” - i.e. the “market” or “street” price that the consumer pays. This takes into account market premiums, price elasticity and quote conversion rates.

This is where there will be very different dynamics at play. In the volume direct insurance market, insurers will often charge a much increased premium at renewal to various segments simply because this is the profit maximising approach - ie the sweet spot on the low margin versus high margin/high volume versus low volume trade-off that produces the highest profit, which is not the same spot as that which produces the highest policy retention rate. They can still yield some premium certain renewal prices as the costs of acquisition for renewals are typically much less than cost of acquisition for new business.

The intermediated market is different where the broker has a panel of insurers. If the renewal from insurer A is much increased then they can simply rebroke the policy to insurer B or C or D to retain their earnings rather than lose the risk. So in these markets pricing tends to be much more stable.

Where a broker only has one insurer which they use the dynamic may be much more like the volume direct dynamic described above - as rebroking is not available.

Negotiation on price is the norm for many different industries - including, presumably, lots of the employers of various posters on this very forum - so I am sometimes at a loss as to why insurers receive so much criticism over it.

Why don’t you write an article for Jim,s magazine?

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[Jimbohorlicks]

Copy and paste, copy and paste,

yawn, yawn

 

[UndercoverUW]

Why will almost all British motor insurers not provide cover for vans securely stored abroad?

I spent more than 2 days full-time on the phone ringing dozens of insurers and brokers, including the two big clubs (CMHC and C&CC), but every single one said NO.

One of the clubs said 'we'll do it for a caravan, but not a motorhome'??

Eventually found a broker that said they thought they knew of an underwriter that would assist, and I finally got sorted.

Many motorhomers love the idea of spending time during winter in Spain, Portugal or somwhere warmer than Blighty. But for various reasons can't afford months away at a time to make the trip. Fly camping is the answer - but for most not possible because of a lack of MH insurance!

It boils down to a lack of data.

The area in which a vehicle is used and stored is a powerful indicator of risk for all lines of motor insurance.

Long-term overseas storage doesn’t lend itself to any meaningful analysis of the area risk associated to it, given that it wont fit UK postcode formats and the volume of data is very low. And vehicle repatriation costs to the UK in the event of a damage claim can be significant. So the more cautious insurers will simply walk away from it.

There are insurers who will cover this scenario but given it requires more in-depth manual underwriting and is a niche area, it will usually have a higher premium associated with it.

 

[scotzsue]

Havent seen anywhere about how insurers ar going to deal with the new category 'van with windows' even when vehicle fulfills ALL requirements to be registered as a motorcaravan.

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