Caravan owners need to ask themselves now – “is my awning covered for storm damage?”

As global warming makes our weather ever more unpredictable, storm damage to many things is going to be on the increase. However some caravan insurance policies do not provide adequate cover the most vulnerable item in the caravanner's equipment, the awning. The most common claim for awnings is for storm damage but some caravan insurance policies specifically exclude any form of storm damage to awnings and others have restrictive small print which says something like "Awnings are only covered for storm damage if the caravan is also damaged at the same time". Very often the only damage will be a ripped awning cover and bent or broken poles, the caravan is often undamaged.

Phil Holden, MD of Caravanwise http://www.caravanwise.co.uk/ says "There's really only two types of claim for awnings, in over 10 year experience as a specialist in caravan insurance. Either stolen along with the caravan or they are ripped by high winds and the second of those accounts for most claims that we see for awnings.

We seem to hear the same story time and time again. Typically it goes like this. "The wind got up in the night and the wife and I thought we should try and take the awning down to save it being blown away. We got it half way down and there was an almighty gust of wind and the wind pulled it out of our hands and ripped it to shreds". We have had them end up in the tops of trees in tatters and often it is just the cover that is ripped, perhaps with some of the poles being bent. It is very rare for the caravan to be damaged at the same time."

Some policies would not cover this type of claim but the touring caravan insurance policy from Caravanwise provides full coverage. http://www.caravanwise.co.uk/

So what should caravanners do? Well, the best advice is to pull out your insurance policy and read the details. If your policy does provide awning cover then read the small print to see what is excluded. Almost all policies will have a general exclusion for wear and tear and deterioration caused by age and atmospheric conditions. So it will never be insured for the canvas fading or for mildew or rotting, you have to take care of it, but the question is, is storm damage, the most common cause of claims covered. Some policies that cover the awning exclude storm and/or wind damage others have small print excluding damage to the awning unless the caravan is damaged at the same time. It is too late to find that the cover you thought applied to your awning is excluded when you need to make a claim, check now. http://www.caravanwise.co.uk/

A decent awning can easily cost over £1000 and will cost around £20 to insure but that £20 could be a waste of money if you find that it isn't covered for storm damage after it is ripped in high winds

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