NEW OCEAN INSURANCE QUOTE

[Hawthorn37]

Campervan insurance! Interesting to say the least.

So, we hunted for an insurance company who would insure a vinyl half-wrap 2017 Ocean and it was not fun. There are few out there who will actually insure a van with a vinyl half-wrap. Comfort will not because they don't want to be replacing vinyl panels. Even after I told them it was the van I wanted insured and not the vinyl the answer was still no.

After a long search we finally settled on Admiral more because of submission than quality. Admiral offered a decent vehicle insurance for about £570. But they classified the Ocean as a car. When reading through the Definitions, cars had a personal belongings limit of £150. I explained that the Ocean is a production van but because their selection list does not show it as a van, they list it as a car. Then they tried to say it was a conversion and it would be covered up to £250. I explained it was not a conversion van but a production van. However, their Definitions state there is a £500 limit for Personal Belongings in campervans! So, guess how that discussion went? Nope...it's still classified as a car according to Admiral but they would allow the £500 Personal Belongings limit for Fixtures and Fittings. Obvious question...."what is the definition of a fixture and fitting"? Duh, was about the most intelligent answer I received. I would have cancelled the policy but I was right up to the limit of the cooling off period and off on a trip. I was not able to review the policy documents until today because Admiral buried them at the bottom of their webpage (not in the documents sent to the customer) hidden in many drop-down menus. The staff were nice. polite and tried to be helpful but Admiral as a campervan insurance company specifically for the VW California Ocean is woeful.

One insurance company (I won't mention names but their initials are J.U.S.T.K.A.M.P.E.R.S) put a hard insurance limit on mileage. If you specified 6,000 annual miles, that is all you are covered for. If you have an accident and you have exceeded your annual mileage limit, you are not covered. That was a definite no for me although I understand why the limit is there. Check it out:

2 Limited Mileage
This insurance will only offer cover for up to 6000 miles per period of cover. If you are involved in an accident and at the date of the accident you have travelled more than 6000 miles during the current period of cover, that accident will not be covered by this insurance.

It solidifies my belief that insurance companies are like snake-oil salesmen...use at your own risk and don't trust any of them.

Agree you can’t trust what is not written down, and carefully read what is written down. I’ve heard vinyl wraps are problematic to insure, but crikey, you’re having a right carry on. Presume you’ve tried LV - they seem quite popular on the forum ?

 

[Pew]

Hi All!

First post, so be gentle! After being a silent stalker on here for the last year I’m finally picking up my Ocean on Saturday. I’d wrongly assumed the insurance process would be straightforward, affordable and very much the final tick in the box before enjoying long anticipated road trips - how naive of me!

I’ve ordered a well specced 199 4Motion having recently sold my 2017 530d BMW M Sport which was insured with LV for £450, yet LV now won’t quote. The price comparison sites offered £1346 as best and final with some unknown providers; however I’ve just had £846 offered online through Safeguard. I’ll give them a call in the morning; however just wanted to see if there is any further guidance or advice in terms of providers and also do’s and don’t when requesting a policy for the van? i.e, I’ll occasionally be using the van to commute (is this a “no-no”?), I’ve added my wife to the policy who despite driving far more aggressively than me is saving me significantly versus a standalone policy for myself! That kind of thing..

If you don’t mind sharing (and I fully comprehend the complex insurance algorithms mean it’s difficult to compare like for like), but how much are you paying and with who?

Thanks in advance and I promise to be more active one I have the keys in hand!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi,

Purchased our Ocean last month, went with NFU Mutual, for us way cheaper than any of the others

 

[Azteccamper]

Just had my renewal notice from CAMC (via Devitt Insurance underwritten by Axa) - was recommended by @WelshGas and very happy with the cost at £289. It’s a 2012 SE living in the wider Swansea area. Not sure I have ever paid over £340 with a variety of companies - some of the quotes on here are eye-watering!

 

[SusiBus]

You think it's difficult insuring a Cali. I'm trying to get a quote to insure an ID.Buzz. None of the three companies that we use for our current vehicles would even quote. Looks like a price comparison site tomorrow, or hours on the phone.
Has anyone got any recommendations for a good company insuring electric vehicles?

 

[WelshGas]

You think it's difficult insuring a Cali. I'm trying to get a quote to insure an ID.Buzz. None of the three companies that we use for our current vehicles would even quote. Looks like a price comparison site tomorrow, or hours on the phone.
Has anyone got any recommendations for a good company insuring electric vehicles?

VW?

 

[Mollymoo]

You think it's difficult insuring a Cali. I'm trying to get a quote to insure an ID.Buzz. None of the three companies that we use for our current vehicles would even quote. Looks like a price comparison site tomorrow, or hours on the phone.
Has anyone got any recommendations for a good company insuring electric vehicles?

Hi, Lv and Direct Line are good for electric vehicles.

 

[The Tall Luthier]

For what it’s worth
We discovered when trying to insure our 17 year old child that insurance pricing is extremely dynamic.
Insurance companies change their prices constantly because of many factors. If they’ve insured lots of boys they will hills their prices for them and reduce them for girls.
They know what level of diversity they want in their balanced portfolios and will actively prove against certain demographics if they are stretching their risk ratios.

Long story short, what you find with one company one week may differ seven days later.
So don’t be too keen to label a particular company, they may just have had too many motorhomes knocking on their doors that week.

 

[vmaxkiddy]

Campervan insurance! Interesting to say the least.

So, we hunted for an insurance company who would insure a vinyl half-wrap 2017 Ocean and it was not fun. There are few out there who will actually insure a van with a vinyl half-wrap. Comfort will not because they don't want to be replacing vinyl panels. Even after I told them it was the van I wanted insured and not the vinyl the answer was still no.

After a long search we finally settled on Admiral more because of submission than quality. Admiral offered a decent vehicle insurance for about £570. But they classified the Ocean as a car. When reading through the Definitions, cars had a personal belongings limit of £150. I explained that the Ocean is a production van but because their selection list does not show it as a van, they list it as a car. Then they tried to say it was a conversion and it would be covered up to £250. I explained it was not a conversion van but a production van. However, their Definitions state there is a £500 limit for Personal Belongings in campervans! So, guess how that discussion went? Nope...it's still classified as a car according to Admiral but they would allow the £500 Personal Belongings limit for Fixtures and Fittings. Obvious question...."what is the definition of a fixture and fitting"? Duh, was about the most intelligent answer I received. I would have cancelled the policy but I was right up to the limit of the cooling off period and off on a trip. I was not able to review the policy documents until today because Admiral buried them at the bottom of their webpage (not in the documents sent to the customer) hidden in many drop-down menus. The staff were nice. polite and tried to be helpful but Admiral as a campervan insurance company specifically for the VW California Ocean is woeful.

One insurance company (I won't mention names but their initials are J.U.S.T.K.A.M.P.E.R.S) put a hard insurance limit on mileage. If you specified 6,000 annual miles, that is all you are covered for. If you have an accident and you have exceeded your annual mileage limit, you are not covered. That was a definite no for me although I understand why the limit is there. Check it out:

2 Limited Mileage
This insurance will only offer cover for up to 6000 miles per period of cover. If you are involved in an accident and at the date of the accident you have travelled more than 6000 miles during the current period of cover, that accident will not be covered by this insurance.

It solidifies my belief that insurance companies are like snake-oil salesmen...use at your own risk and don't trust any of them.

Your normal home contents insurance will probably cover personal belongings temporarily removed from home. That cover on my home policy is £5000, for up to 3 months at a time.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Your normal home contents insurance will probably cover personal belongings temporarily removed from home. That cover on my home policy is £5000, for up to 3 months at a time.

Yes, I thought our home insurance would provide contents cover outside the home. After reading the clauses it actually was not very helpful. It wouldn’t for instance cover your awning or other camping equipment, or anything not locked away out of sight in a closed boot. The ‘security’ hurdle is higher for home contents policies. The monetary limit was also quite a bit lower than we thought would be adequate should we have a total loss (say fire or theft), but I guess we could have increased this for extra premium.

As ever with insurance you may want to rely on, read everything carefully, and then read it again. For instance, the ‘personal effects’ limits and clause was one reason we steered away from a much lower quote we had from LV (only £1000 of personal belongings covered in a “Motorhome“, or £300 in a “car” = make sure your insurance is classed as Motorhome if going for LV) and nothing outside the vehicle or not locked away. Comfort, AIB, Think, Shield and CAMC offered £5000, A-Plan offered £3000. We went for Comfort, and I checked that their personal items cover includes awnings and tents etc. outside the van - I.e. pitched on an organised campsite, but not pitched when wild camping.

 

[GollyOlly]

Yes, I thought our home insurance would provide contents cover outside the home. After reading the clauses it actually was not very helpful. It wouldn’t for instance cover your awning or other camping equipment, or anything not locked away out of sight in a closed boot. The ‘security’ hurdle is higher for home contents policies. The monetary limit was also quite a bit lower than we thought would be adequate should we have a total loss (say fire or theft), but I guess we could have increased this for extra premium.

As ever with insurance you may want to rely on, read everything carefully, and then read it again. For instance, the ‘personal effects’ limits and clause was one reason we steered away from a much lower quote we had from LV (only £1000 of personal belongings covered in a “Motorhome“, or £300 in a “car” = make sure your insurance is classed as Motorhome if going for LV) and nothing outside the vehicle or not locked away. Comfort, AIB, Think, Shield and CAMC offered £5000, A-Plan offered £3000. We went for Comfort, and I checked that their personal items cover includes awnings and tents etc. outside the van - I.e. pitched on an organised campsite, but not pitched when wild camping.

Agree. Would have gone with Comfort again but they wouldn’t have anything to do with a half wrap vinyl.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Just been to the Caravan & Motorhome Show yesterday, and noted quite a number of T6 conversions decorated in vinyl wraps. Looked great, but I just wonder about the insurance difficulty new owners might stumble into?

 

[Looseboy]

Picked ours up today and I finally went with NFU. They didn't require a tracker so went with this for now whilst I review trackers.

Neither NFU and LV required trackers
Comfort, A Plan, VW, CAMC all wanted trackers

All the above came out at very similar prices for us except VW which was a fair bit more expensive

 

[Hawthorn37]

Picked ours up today and I finally went with NFU. They didn't require a tracker so went with this for now whilst I review trackers.

Neither NFU and LV required trackers
Comfort, A Plan, VW, CAMC all wanted trackers

All the above came out at very similar prices for us except VW which was a fair bit more expensive

Very happy for you. Awesome is an over used word, unless you’re driving away in a new Cali!!

 

[GollyOlly]

Very happy for you. Awesome is an over used word, unless you’re driving away in a new Cali!!

If you're driving away in a new Cali, it's a good idea to protect your investment with a tracker.

 

[GollyOlly]

If you're driving away in a new Cali, it's a good idea to protect your investment with a tracker.

Check out the ScorpionTrack 5 Plus.