Any knowledge about van insurance?

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BikerGran · #1 Post by **BikerGran** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 5:05 pm

I'm after some advice for my daughter. She's bought a van and will be having it converted to a campervan, but she has to insure it as a van first, for the couple of months till it can be registered as a campervan - anyone know of a good place to get cheap(ish) van insurance?

She already knows she's going to have to pay extra for short term insurance, but she's been having problems - some places won't insure it at all because it's her only vehicle; another one wouldn't believe that none of the use was for work purposes - she's the accounts manager for an IT business, and works from home!

Willopotomas · #2 Post by **Willopotomas** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:36 pm

I have my bus insurance through a firm called XYZ Insurance. I'm not sure if they cater for vans and mine is classed as a minibus, but they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Willopotomas · #3 Post by **Willopotomas** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:39 pm

Forgot to add.. Some I know have their vans down as "motorcycle transport". If they ask what the van is to be used for, decide on which recriational activity she's going to take up to warrant having a van. ;) ;)

There are a lot of hoops to jump through for it to be classed as a camper.

#4 Post by **mangocrazy** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 10:02 pm

I've had vans for over 20 years, and for most of that time they've been my primary 4-wheeled conveyance and have never had difficulties getting insurance. Google 'Van insurance' and you should get a wealth of options. I'm currently with Budget Insurance and I pay around £260 per annum for a VW T4 Transporter van.

Aladinsaneuk · #5 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:24 am

I did mine through the camping and caravanning club - they were very good advice wise...

BikerGran · #6 Post by **BikerGran** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 8:57 am

Willopotomas wrote:Forgot to add.. Some I know have their vans down as "motorcycle transport". If they ask what the van is to be used for, decide on which recriational activity she's going to take up to warrant having a van. ;) ;)

There are a lot of hoops to jump through for it to be classed as a camper.

Yup, she knows about that - it's being professionally converted and will qualify on all counts!

Oh and the activity is SUP - stand up paddleboarding.

BikerGran · #7 Post by **BikerGran** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 9:00 am

Aladinsaneuk wrote:I did mine through the camping and caravanning club - they were very good advice wise...

It's actually insurance for the van BEFORE conversion that she's looking for right now - but that may be useful info for after conversion. Did you have to be a member? And do they do campervans? (yours is a motorhome, different definition)

Aladinsaneuk · #8 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:03 pm

Yes you do have to be a member, but it's worth it imho

I reckon that they would be able to sort both sides of the policy

And yes, they do do camper and as well!

BikerGran · #9 Post by **BikerGran** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:14 pm

Thanks all - turns out part of the problem is that she still has to use her current van till the new one is converted so can't use her no claims on the new van.

Think she's got it sorted now, it's just going to cost a fortune to insure it for a couple of months while it's being converted.

I mentioned the CCC Pete - the company she's planning to use once converted is the same one that CCC recommend (but without joining).

Gio · #10 Post by **Gio** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:09 pm

what about off road insurance, like having insurance while sorned.

BikerGran · #11 Post by **BikerGran** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 5:12 pm

No good cos she has to drive it to the place that's doing the conversion.

Dusty · #12 Post by **Dusty** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:39 am

Try Adrian Flux. They were flexible and helpful when I was converting a van to a camper van, although that was several years ago.
https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/camper/

BikerGran · #13 Post by **BikerGran** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 6:07 pm

It's all sorted by now (although I haven't heard froim her) cos today is the day she's driven it to the converters.