If you own a touring caravan you may be interested to know what makes up the main elements of a touring caravan insurance policy. The main elements are: Damage and Loss; Contents; Liability to the public; continental use; Excess; general exclusions. This article will give you an overview of each of these different parts of the policy.

Damage and Loss of a caravan are covered, normally up to the value of the caravan itself. New For Old cover means that you will get a new caravan replacement caravan, but this is normally only for caravans up to 5 years old. Market Value cover means that if your caravan needs replacing, you can claim the prevailing market value for your old caravan.

Contents and personal effects is often an optional extra, and is generally quite limited in coverage, so check what is covered. Normally excluded are money and credit cards, valuables, audio/video devices, bikes, phones, documents and computers. Forcible entry is also required to be able to make a claim, and also policies differ in whether they cover theft from awnings, trailer and toilet tents.

In the case of loss or injury to the public from your use of the caravan, liability to the public is a feature of caravan policies. As long as the caravan is not hired or used for business purposes, this will normally extend to people the caravan has been leant to. Coverage is generally between 1 million and 2 million, and sometimes it won’t include costs, but sometimes will.

If you plan to travel to the continent, you will need to ensure you have continental use included in the policy. You will find that some policies also include roadside assistance and/or repatriation of the caravan. You will find that many of the former Communist countries (e.g. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic) are excluded from continental use.

Excess is the amount of a claim that you must pay yourself, before the insurance company will stump up any cash. For instance, if you had an excess of 100 and made a 300 claim, you would get 200 from the insurance company. Increasing the amount of excess on your policy is one way you can save money on premiums.

General exclusions are a feature of all policies, and are generally very exceptional circumstances, however you should still be aware of them. Terrorism, pressure waves from supersonic aircraft, and hostilities to name a few, but be aware that use other than social, domestic and pleasure is excluded also. Often the general exclusions are fairly consistent between the different available caravan insurance policies.

Carl Way is a founder of Caravan Insurance Cover, the UK’s premier website for touring caravan insurance.