Disappointed Insurance information

It is for you to determine replacement cost

Hi Sally,

Your policy specifically defines the cost of replacement value as...

"The Cost of replacing your caravan, equipment and contents with new items of similar type" and on page 10 of the 2020 policy documents I notice that the club state in clause number 3 ..."if the caravan is lost, stolen or damaged.... we may pay to replace the caravan..... with new items of the same or similar manufacture and model or pay the cash equivalent at our option"

The bold type is mine for emphasis. It is clear that you should have the cost down as the nearest equivalent. I am unable to confirm if the 2 caravans you mention are indeed compatible as replacements but if they are then you are correct is demanding the Sum Insured reflects the possibility of having replace your Sterling with a different model.

Just as a matter of interest the insurer of my caravan has the following wording:

We cover the following
we will replace your caravan with a new caravan of the same make and model.

If a caravan of the same make and model is not available, we will either:
l replace your caravan with a new caravan of the same make and nearest equivalent model, specification and value; or pay you the last manufacturer’s list price for your caravan.

Slightly different to yours but I know where I stand about the value for insurance.

Just as a further point, I needed to go back and check the wording so couldn't include it in the other reply, the CAMC document has this as Exclusion 5:

Replacement of the caravan or equipment where the parts are found to be unobtainable (for example because they are no longer manufactured). In this case we will pay the last known price of the parts plus the appropriate fitting charge.

This may well be the equivalent of my own policy but does seem to contradict the whole point of replacement of similar types. If this is in fact the case then the least they should be insuring you for is last years higher Sum Insured.

In any case you'll never get into trouble with them for over-insuring but may get into an argument in the event of a total loss.

Since Swift manufactured both the Sterling model and the  Swift model, other than the colour of the cupboards,  upholstery etc, they are indeed equivalent models.

Thanks Kj. In that case the OP has a strong argument.

I thought the caravan and motorhome club didn't do caravan insurance?

I thought the CAMC were never wrong. 

Have you changed that view?

Hi SallyD,

Thank you for raising this. Our team has investigated what happened here. Our agents use Glass’s guide, which is a guide commonly used in the industry to assess caravan values - both new and second hand. Unfortunately, the guide still lists the Sterling Continental 580 as being manufactured. This has been raised with Glass’s in order that they can correct their information. 

We’re sorry that the service you received was below our usual high standards. The agent concerned has received feedback and will continue to receive additional training and support. 

Please be assured that in the event of a claim for theft or if your caravan was damaged beyond economic repair, we would have covered you for the full replacement value or equivalent under your Super Cover.

Thank you for your response. I'm glad that the issue has been identified and that you have taken steps to resolve the error. However, for this year we have chosen to take our insurance with another company who have given us the same cover (bar one very small difference) and were over 20% cheaper which unfortunately meant that we could not justify staying with the Club out of loyalty. We will check the Club's pricing next year.