Caravan Insurance: Caravan and trailer insurance and contents cover

Holidaying with a caravan is a popular pastime in Australia, offering convenient and mobile accommodation for weekend and short breaks. You may be wondering how insurance works for your mobile home though, and how safeguarding such an item differs from covering your car or other road vehicles. Given that your caravan is either the place you live permanently or your home for certain periods, it is not just during travel that unexpected damage is a concern. In fact, it’s crucial to be reassured that a policy will cover your mobile home not only in transit but also while stationed (and probably housing a fair amount of personal belongings of significant value). So would the contents of your caravan be covered should the unexpected happen, and would you be provided with temporary alternative accommodation? Discover all you need to know about finding appropriate caravan insurance here.

Different levels of caravan insurance

It’s perfectly normal to cover your car for theft of vehicle contents in addition to damage caused to the vehicle. Similarly, caravan insurance can be adapted to include different levels of cover. Your policy can in a basic sense cover damage to the vehicle (while stationary or in transit), but can also be tailored to include cover for contents of the caravan, or even of the annexe and contents underneath the annexe. Contents protection for a stationary caravan and its annex may include coverage for up to $40,000 (depending on the supplier, check with your insurance provider). Whether for a mobile or stationary caravan, additional factors you may wish to safeguard against include malicious damage, fire and storm, attempted theft and coverage for personal liability. Personal liability would include damage that you are responsible for, for example if someone is injured within the caravan or if a person suffers an injury whilst you are parking the caravan on site.

It could be argued that a mobile caravan carries a greater risk than one permanently fixed on site, since it is subject to the dangers of the road. On the other hand, if you are using your caravan for weekend or short breaks and leaving it permanently fixed to one location, you may feel that it is more open theft or damage than a mobile caravan parked in a garage or outside your home all year round when it is not being used for travel. Naturally, with the differing demands of these two scenarios comes a variation in features and cost of applicable insurance.

If damage caused to your caravan is bad enough to render it unsuitable for habitation (perhaps in a storm), it’s possible that your provider will cover costs of temporary accommodation, as the NRMA does. Furthermore, in certain circumstances outlined in your policy you may be covered for emergency repairs up to a reasonable amount, in case you need to urgently fix damage without consulting your insurance provider first.

In addition, your caravan can also be covered for fire, theft and storm damage, and a mobile caravan can be protected against any damage caused while it is in transit. This includes covering costs of towing your caravan should it be seriously damaged en route, and in some cases temporary accommodation costs additionally. The NRMA offers up to $100 per day for seven days if you are over 100 kilometres from home. Check with your provider if you think that this service could be important to you.

Cost of insurance and pop-top caravans

As with most insurance, rates will vary from company to company and caravan type and location of your home will affect your premium. For example, a pop-top style caravan of roughly $8000 value, kept in Sydney’s far west, with the owner under full “no claim” bonus, would cost you around $200 through the NRMA, whereas a trailer style would be closer to $90. Contents insurance for your caravan, as a result, would vary by a similar degree. Some organisations may offer a discount for people of more than 55 years of age and other criteria may be similarly significant. Ensure that you offer as much detail as possible when seeking quotes.

Caravans and mobile homes come in a range of different shapes and sizes offering varying functions. Focusing purely on towable caravans (requiring an additional “pulling” vehicle, the alternative to self-propelled homes such as the durable Winnebago), there are pop-tops, campers or folding style caravans, and even demountable styles. Caravans without their own engine (requiring towing) are covered under “touring caravan” insurance guidelines.

Insurance suppliers in Australia include NRMA, GIO, APIA, AAMI, CGU, and even some banks. State based groups of the heritage, especially motoring based organisations such as the Royal Automobile Association (RACV, RACQ, RACWA, NRMA) all offer caravan insurance. Whilst there are also many smaller insurance providers offering caravan cover, you may find that they are underwritten by a bigger insurer, for example Coastline is underwritten by the larger CGU group.

Caravan cover may seem like a very specialist type of insurance, but it needn’t be more difficult than finding and undertaking car insurance. After all, many of the same factors apply, and you must consider which threats you feel it most important to be insured against, given the different levels of cover available. As with all insurance, key details such as location, age of owner and usage will apply, so be specific when finding quotes and shop around for the best deal to ensure maximum peace of mind.