What is touring caravan insurance?
Touring caravan insurance protects your caravan from risks like theft, damage, and accidents involving third parties. Imagine the costs if your caravan was stolen or vandalised, or if you accidentally reversed it into another vehicle—caravan insurance helps you handle these situations without financial stress.
Through Ripe, your contents and awnings are covered too, so you can deck out your tourer with all the gear and mod cons you like with peace of mind.
As with cars, new caravans lose around 15% of their value each year, which adds up significantly over time. With new-for-old cover through Ripe, if your tourer (less than 15 years old and purchased new) is damaged beyond repair, it will be replaced with a brand-new equivalent.
Why should I consider touring caravan insurance?
Our research found that 1,625 caravans were reported stolen across the UK over the last three years. Caravan theft also increased by 9% during this period, making it more important than ever for owners to consider insurance for their touring caravan.
Most policies require you to secure your touring caravan using a wheel clamp and tow hitch, but even with these precautions, theft can still occur—leaving you financially responsible for replacing your tourer if it’s uninsured.
But theft isn’t the only risk. Accidental and malicious damage, as well as third-party claims, can also leave you vulnerable to unexpected costs. For example, you might accidentally damage your caravan while parking, scrape another vehicle, or fail to notice a passerby while reversing into a pitch.
With specialist touring caravan insurance—more specifically, Public Liability cover—the legal costs you incur from such claims would be covered, letting you focus on enjoying your adventures.
Why choose Ripe for touring caravan insurance?
Only pay for the cover you need
We believe in keeping insurance simple, so you only ever pay for what you need. You can customise your policy, so you don’t pay for unnecessary cover.
The Ripe guarantee
At Ripe, our ethos is all about making insurance simple. We arrange great cover and exceptional service at our best price.
Cover in an instant
Our quote and cover process is as quick and easy as possible, so you can get covered before your first trip in your touring caravan.
What does touring caravan insurance cover?
Touring caravan insurance
- Theft or damage of contents — up to £10k (single item limit of £1k)
- Damage to caravan and contents — accidental and malicious damage, up to £85k
- Awning cover — up to £2.5k
- New-for-old — tourers aged up to 15 years (which were purchased new)
- Public Liability — up to £2m included as standard (upgrade to £3m or £5m for an additional fee)
- Family and friends extension — extend your touring caravan insurance to cover your friends and family to use your tourer
- European cover — extend your insurance to cover you whilst in 35 European countries
- Hotel and caravan hire — up to 15 days cover (excluding food and drink), for up to £75 per day
- Legal expenses — up to £25k
- FREE Accidental Death cover — up to £10k
- No claims protection — protects your no-claims discount with an additional premium
- Theft or attempted theft without a hitch-lock and wheel clamp — caravan must either be properly secured or kept at a CaSSOA storage facility
- Theft or attempted theft when the caravan is left unattended unless all doors and windows are locked, and any security devices are in operation
- Theft of equipment unless there is evidence of forcible and violent entry or removal
- Loss or damage where the caravan is used as a permanent place of residence
- Loss or accidental damage caused to awnings by storms
Read our important documents page for full cover details.
How much does touring caravan insurance cost?
The cost of your touring caravan insurance policy depends on multiple factors, such as your towing experience, the value of your caravan and its contents, security measures in place, and where it’s stored.
Your chosen level of cover will also affect this. You can often add extras to your touring caravan insurance policy, but some companies offer cover as a pre-bundled package, leaving you to pay for add-ons you won’t benefit from.
At Ripe, we believe you should only ever pay for the cover you need. Optional extras include:
• Family and friends’ extension
• European cover extension
• Hotel and caravan hire
• Legal expenses up to £25k
• No claims protection
The quickest way to check the cost of touring caravan insurance through Ripe is to get a free online quote.
Important documents
If you already have insurance with Ripe, you’ll find your important documents for your policy in your Members area.
You can view our key documents below or view all of our documents on the Important Documents page.
Touring Caravan Insurance Booklet-
Is it illegal to tow a caravan without insurance?
Legally, you must have car insurance in place to be able to tow a caravan in the UK. However, your car insurance policy will not usually cover any damage to your caravan should you have an accident while towing. So, you may want to consider touring caravan insurance to provide you with extra financial protection and peace of mind should the worst happen.
Do I need a separate licence to tow a caravan?
This depends on the current driving licence you hold. If you passed your driving test before 1 January 1997, you can drive a vehicle and caravan with a combined maximum authorised mass (MAM) of 8,250kg. If you passed your driving test on or after 1 January 1997, you can tow caravans up to 3,500kg MAM.
You can learn more in our article on how to tow a caravan.
Do I need to inform my car insurance if I tow a caravan?
Towing a caravan or trailer requires a valid car insurance policy, but it’s not a legal requirement to cover the towed unit itself. However, it could be a good idea to let your insurer know you plan on towing to learn more about your options.
Car insurance policies only include third-party damage if you decide to insure your tourer through your current provider. But touring caravan insurance provides a higher level of cover, such as damage to your caravan.
Does comprehensive car insurance cover towing a caravan?
Most comprehensive car insurance policies will cover your vehicle while towing a trailer or caravan, but only during instances of third-party liability.
This means that you may be protected if your caravan injures someone else during a collision or causes damage to another vehicle, but the insurance won’t cover your caravan. Overlooking this can be costly, which is why many motorists opt to protect their caravan through specialist touring caravan insurance.
What information do I need to get a touring caravan insurance quote?
To get a touring caravan insurance quote through Ripe, you’ll need to provide:
- your personal details such as your name and address
- the details of your touring caravan, including its make, model, and the year it was manufactured
- information on where you plan to store your touring caravan and any security measures you have in place
- your claims history
If you’re interested in specialist touring caravan insurance through Ripe, get a quick quote today.
Can I insure my touring caravan for European use?
Yes, simply select ‘European Cover’ in the additional cover section when getting a quote. This provides cover for up to 60 days in any one trip, with a maximum of 120 days in total.
Cover is included in the following countries: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy including the Vatican City, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
If you have an existing touring caravan insurance policy with us and would like to add European Cover, please give us a call on 0344 274 0271.
What age of touring caravan can you cover?
We can arrange insurance for touring caravans up to a maximum of 15 years old.
Do touring caravans need an MOT?
No, touring caravans don’t need an MOT. However, you may need to provide proof that your caravan is roadworthy if you take out a touring caravan insurance policy.
Touring Caravan Insurance Tips and Guides
A guide to caravan weights
In this guide, we explain different caravan weights, tow car limits, how to weigh your caravan, common mistakes to avoid, and much more.
Read our guide here
How much are touring caravan site fees?
Here we cover what touring caravan site fees entail, how much they usually cost, and where to find more information about them.
Read our guide on site fees here