Patricia Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 I don't think for one moment that I would tow the French car, or any other, on an A-frame unless there was another qualified driver with me. However, when I first insured the car in France I asked very carefully about towing it in such a way and was told it was fine. Not convinced though despite having two drivers at that time. When the car is on an A-frame most but not all UK insurers will not insure the car, only third party. We found that Comfort insured it fully comp and one other but I forget the name. At that time I insisted on having this information in writing. So if, in very remote circumstances, I towed it I know that Saga would only insure it third party anyway. I also read somewhere that towing on a motorway in France, no matter which plates you are driving under, is illegal and only breakdown trucks are allowed to do so. Thanks for your concern Derek but I shall probably bring the frame back to the UK in the m/home and then possibly buy a trailer but more likely not as the connecting would be the difficult part. If absolutely desperate hiring a car seems a better prospect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porky Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Geof, you say your insurance company "will consider on an individual basis" the only consideration insurance companies have is to their profits and directors bonuses. Payout to you = less profit for them. Personally I would NEVER leave a matter such as this open to consideration or interpretation. I am still waiting for the Camping and Caravan club to come back to me but if their first offer is not beyond doubt I will seek specific confirmation. I would add that at some time in my murky past I had involvement for a number of years with a national firm of loss adjusters so I may be game keeper turned poacher. Porky well fed and happy but sometimes a little cynical Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 Porky I have just re-read your earlier post and wonder about the club's insistance about having a tracker fitted. When I investigated the cost of having a tracker, several years ago, it was quite expensive to have it fitted plus an annual cost but more importantly at that time it only operated in the UK. Have there been some changes then? Still not had my documents from Saga but no post at all today, probably due to the snow here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porky Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hello Patricia. I think it is just their policy for all vehicles over £40,000, and I don't know if they work abroad or not, no doubt someone will tell us!! I have now received their offer in writing which clearly says we can spend 365 days in Europe if we want to, so that is part of the equation. Unfortunately, they are now saying that the underwriters will only allow us to return to the UK in an emergency and it is for them to decide if it is an emergency or not. So there we are back to square one!!!!! Porky well fed and very unhappy with insurance companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ina Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Re: query about a tracker system. I can confirm that they work in France. We have a Phantom tracker, it was already fitted on our previous Hymer and when we bought this one, had it transferred over to the new vehicle. There are 2 different systems with it, 1: you have to ring Phantom yourself if your vehicle is stolen, 2: when the alarm goes off on the vehicle, that automatically alerts Phantom and they ring you to ask if everything is ok with the vehicle, as they have just been alerted to the fact that the alarm went off. This is the one we have. When we first got the vehicle, we had to get used to a different way of disabling the alarm when starting the engine to the other one. In the process, we set off the alarm a few times whilst in France, purely by accident, and each time Phantom rang us within minutes, so yes, it definitely does work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted February 7, 2009 Author Share Posted February 7, 2009 Geoff Cole - 2009-02-04 2:39 PM Hi , Following my post yesterday regarding my question to Safeguard with regard to leaving motorhomes whilst flying back to the UK in an emergency. I had a call from them today and the position is that if you have to return to the Uk in and emergency and leave your motorhome abroad then they would on and individual basis consider covering the vehicle for a defined period. I also asked that if for some reason my motor home was damaged whilst parked at my property in France was I covered the answer was yes. Hope this helps clarify the position regarding insurance abroad. geoff C Geoff I have still not received the small print from Saga but had an email from Safeguard. Out of interest I asked about leaving the m/home abroad and was told UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES could this be arranged even if it went into safe storage. I explained that in an emergency I would not have time to drive home but still a "no" but I could try their sister company (forgot the name) to see if they would cover! Very grey area this. Sticking with Saga for now anyway as there is no upper age limit as with many companies. Hymer784 thanks for the info - will investigate the tracker again. PS Incidentally Safeguard's quick quote was more than £70 dearer than Saga. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caravan Guard Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Dear all, On behalf of Caravan Guard I would like to post the following reply to the queries that appear in this thread. Our motorhome policy does state the following: 'You must tell Us immediately about any change in risk which could affect Your Policy'. A change of risk does include, 'if You change the place where You normally store Your Motorhome when not in use'. We would consider that a motorhome is 'in use' if it is being used and occupied overnight for holiday purposes. We can, however, confirm that we would accept for a motorhome to be left unoccupied overnight for up to 3 nights at any one time, when a customer is on holiday away from their usual home address in the UK. We will be expanding the wording of our policy when we next reprint to incorporate further clarification of this matter. If any additional extension was required, we would need to refer the individual circumstances to the underwriter of our policy Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc. Therefore, if a motorhome was parked outside a hotel for up to 3 nights this would be covered. If a customer wished to park their motorhome outside their holiday home in France for 2 weeks whilst they were staying at the holiday home, this would need referral to our underwriters Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc. We would in turn confirm in writing if this was accepted. If a customer was on holiday and needed to leave the motorhome abroad, whilst they returned home for an emergency, we would need to be notified if the motorhome was to be left for more than 3 nights. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer cover for any motorhomes that are stored abroad permanently, as we rate our premiums based on UK postcodes. I hope this clears up any misunderstandings. Kind regards Sally Wilby Caravan Guard Director p.s. if you have any further questions please contact neil.walker@caravanguard.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.