Campervan Insurance Renewal

I wondered if  other motorhome drivers could answer a few queries which I have in respect of insurance.  Is it cheaper for drivers of M/Hs to insure their cars with the same insurance company or is it better to insure separately?  If I changed my M/H from a 2 to a 4 berth and/or from a manual to an automatic, is there a significant difference in the cost of the insurance?  I recently had a no fault accident in my car when a lady ran into me and accepted full  liability, is it likely that my M/H and car insurance will go up very much?

I don't think any of us can answer those questions. There is little rhyme or reason to some quotes. I am afraid there is no substitute for setting aside the thick end of a day to sort things out. Many car insurance companies will not quote for a MoHo and vice versa. You are also likely best served by telephoning after you have done an initial trawl by one of the search engines online.

One definite answer I can give - if you have a multi-car policy you are likely to have only one NCB. In my case that made separate policies advisable. I have a protected NCB on my car with 12 years plus protected and I am a first time buyer/insurer of my MoHo (arriving tomorrow!). 

P.S. I have gone with Caravan Guard. They were not the cheapest but were very helpful on the phone (and claims experience of others with them seems largely positive). They give discounts for various safety features including a tracker and the items that will be accepted for such discounts are clearly identified in their online pages. I have a full package with them including UK and European breakdown cover. They will insist upon a steering wheel lock (I have gone with a Millenco) as a precondition of insuring but are relaxed about whether that and other security items are on order/to be ordered but not yet in your possession. 

Hope that helps a little?

Chris

I have recently renewed with Devitt and at a very competitive premium. Am I happy ? Well in some ways yes but in other ways definitely not. 

I have been insured continuously for various leisure vehicles for 21 years sometimes with "Devitt" and mostly with "Comfort" (other brokers are available including SAGA) .  Comfort and Devitt are both brokers, i.e. They place insurance on behalf of their customer ('the insured") and receive a commission for doing so. They are not themselves insurers, the insurers are companies like LV, Aviva, AXA etc. Most of these insurers are multi-national companies or other organisations whose objective is to make profit. That said both of these brokers (i believe) will have developed close relationships with insurers going back at least as long as I have been a customer and throughout that time Devitt have been the exclusive "designated broker' for the CAMC). It is no secret that the club obtain substantial income from commission sharing. So here is my take on the situation.

Theoretically an agent has a duty to act transparently in the best interests of the customer, i.e. you but that must be a difficult piece of navigation. Can a servant have two masters or even three. 

1. Most often I have been insured by  Aviva via Comfort. Comfort have invariably provided excellent accessible service. Mostly their premiums have been lowest but not always.

2. Sometimes I have been insured via  Devitt (insurers vary) for example because the "new for old" terms were better.

3. Although Devitt have acted  courteously I consider that their systems are clunky and the language on their documentation is from a bygone age e.g. they call "motor-caravans" (that being the only legal term for a motorhome or campervan") a "Caravanette" a term from the 1950s and on LV documentation they call a Motor Caravan a " "Car" . 

4. So in general terms I have found the Devitt proposal documentation and the journey to get to it absolutely terrible. During the journey to cover I got very close to abandoning Devitt and going back to Comfort even at a higher premium, so frustrated was I by the process and its apparent inflexibility and inability to express facts correctly, for example a comprehensively secured professional storage compound is called a "driveway"  because the relevant system has no drop down box for "storage".

That said the CAMC "master policy" which I think all 'Devitt Panel" insurers accept and base cover upon is very good, clear and understandable. Furthermore the scope of the cover is very comprehensive so with Devitt you get based on my personal experience only very good and very bad. 

5. I have to tread very carefully with my next comment (i will try Mr Moderator") In the world of commerce (for example the oil industry) even the most longstanding supplier relationships are examined evaluated and likely re-tendered periodically. Suppliers would have to put on their metaphorical No 1 uniform and parade before their customer as it were.

It should be the case that the Clubs preferred insurance supplier was appointed and remains appointed because they provide a) excellent service levels to members" b) Good clear and concise documentation including a good clear concise and comprehensive policy with excellent cover. c) The ability to obtain and negotiate highly competitive premiums with quality insurers on behalf of their members. I do not know whether in not in these regards the Club has followed what would regard as usual commercial practice and therefore I am not saying that they have not. 

So what to do ?

Well the premium you will finish up with depends on a wide range of factors relating to the vehicle and the driver and his claims and convictions status as well as storage location, security etc. In my view it is not especially helpful to say the Broker X provided customer Y with a great premium because there are so many variables and that is before you get into add ons like breakdown cover, legal expenses cover etc.  An  annual increase which I believe the insurance industry call "walking" will be an almost inevitable result of opting for automatic renewal.

Diary a month before your renewal date and get quotes from as many brokers and insurers as you can. Compare the quotes on scope of cover, conditions, excesses etc and your assessment of service levels. It seems to be the case there days that the insurers are getting more hard nosed and that it is genuinely more difficult for brokers to get reductions in premiums unless there is a reason.

Blue van Man, There has always been a close link between this Club and the Devitt insurance business for as long as I can remember. . Richard Devitt was a director of the club until he stepped down in 2012, but the commercial link between the two companies continues..

I am not saying if a close link between CAMC and Devitt is a good thing or a bad thing. What I do think is that a long period in a business relationship without any form of review or re-tendering can lead to complacency.   For example charities must review the appointment and appropriateness of the financial advisers periodically and that is from the point of view of the advisers something which causes them to up their game.  

If pressed I might say that there appears to be a lack of interest on the part of Devitt  in producing suitable documents.

In a document context they might say "if it aint broke don't fix it" but I would say if it looks worn and shaky consider a repair or replacement 

Interesting thoughts Blue Van Man. I imagine the club wants an insurance Partner that they can rely on to provide a range of insurance products including motorhomes, cars and property. (Caravan insurance was hived off into Caravan Cover some years ago, probably because the Club found themselves uncompetitive in that segment) Whilst there are those members who will use Club products come what may I suspect the real test is about how many policies are renewed and how many new policies are taken out. If all that remains fairly static year on, year on does the Club need to change? I have never found their car insurance competitive but motorhome and property insurance has always been quite good. Having said that this years motorhome insurance went through the roof but as I have detailed elsewhere changing the cover did bring the price down. All a bit academic now as I no longer have a motorhome.

David 

Reoccurring story still being repeated it seems in that the insurance arranged by Devitts supposedly as a benefit for CAMC members, actually isn’t. I bought a Campervan last year and insured via CAMC and Devitts. After initially baulking at the cost of it with my 20 years +NCD counting for nothing I at least hoped that at least building up now a van NCD would at least start to bring the costs down. A few weeks before the renewal was issued I contacted Devitts because I had been having battery issues due to not driving the camper regularly enough and therefore wanted to explore being able to add driving to a place of work once a month instead of having to just randomly drive the camper around for an hour burning fuel for no reason. Commas issues caused by Devitts not using the contact number I had advised should be used didn’t help but long story short the response from Devitts was that no insurer on their panel would quote for the cover I was seeking. So I too shopped around and secured cover by Adrian Flux who were really helpful and were able to speak to the insurer direct regarding my particular circumstances and get cover. Imagine my surprise when the policy documents came through and the “new” insurer was actually exactly the same as the insurer I was already with. If Adrian Flux could get the insurer to provide cover, why couldn’t Devitts? Incidentally the new premium for the enhanced cover also came in cheaper than the Devitts quote (from the same insurer remember) for my previous level of cover when the renewal notice still came through. Lesson don’t assume that the CAMC arrangements are actually the best you can get!

I must agree with the comments made concerning Motorhome/Car Insurance through the Club. My recent experience was as follows. My car insurance was due for renewal and got an over price renewal of £625 from Allianz Insurance, I got a quote from Aviva for £399, which I was about to take, when I received an email from the Club telling me it would be to my advantage to get a car quote, which I did quoting the price I had been quoted from Aviva, they came back with a price of £372 which I went for. They then requested proof of my NCB which I sent along with the renewal notice from Allianz. They then contacted me requesting me to contact them ASAP, which I did only to be informed that they were revising my premium to £560, as they base their prices only on customers renewal notices. I cancelled the policy I had taken with the club and went to Aviva, which meant i was out of pocket for a week while I had to wait for my refund.

The bottom line is The CAMC do not supply car/motorhome quotes based on Vehicles, Drivers, Driving History, or Risk Factors, they simply let other Insurance companies calculate this and under then undercut their price. I'm not sure if this is fair or even within the FSA rules. Surely if they are advertising this as a quote they should be working out their own quote, not taking an over inflated renewal premium (which is obviously why members are considering changing insurance in the first place), and taking £25 of that price.

Thought the Club would offer a benefit to members