Following on from yesterdays what Campervan Insurance thread. I rang round a few specialist companies and got varying prices for quotes.
I have bought a Caddy Maxi Life and intend on just taking the rear seats out and putting in a metal futon frame as a seat/rock and roll type bed. That’s the only change.
We never intend on taking passengers in the rear, once we make the change. So just two people in the front two seats.
I rang up my current normal car insurance company last night and told them I was taking the rear seats out to increase carrying space and would be going from a 7 seater to a 2 seater. They said they would make a note of it but they didn’t care as i was not improving performance etc, so no price increase.
Do i need specialist cover – as the rock and roll bed frame is not for carrying passengers, will not be secured to the vehicle. I mean you don’t tell your insurance company every time you shop at IKEA when you buy a bed or a chair and bring it home in your car, so not sure why i would need to tell them about the futon frame as I’m effectively just carrying it (just all the time). I will tell them about the removal of the standard seats as i have to unbolt them – but this seems fine.
What do people think?
secure the futon well - what would happen in a crash?
Do i need specialist cover
no
Sorry tandem - i meant to say the futon would not be permanently fixed in the vehicle but would secure.
Tom- thats what i thought, but dont want to give the insurance companies wriggle room. Thats why i told them about the seat removal
Any other views or experiences?
It'll be a van carrying an item of furniture, typical usage of a van and just the sort of thing insurance companies expect, don't worry about it.
if it was a camper conversion with gas and water they will start to get funny. until that point they are normally cool.
http://www.campervanconversion.co.uk/campervan-insurance
HTH
Its covered under car insurance not van, as its technically a car. Dont think that will matter though - Hopefully
I've done the same sort of thing. Large MPV, removed all rear seats and built a bed. This has underbed storage for dirtworker, toolboxes, coolbox, etc. Enough room for three bikes next to the bed. Put some curtains in too. Bed is removable if I need to put seats back in (eg, carrying lots of people or MOT time as they need to check the seatbelts)
Went to the meerkats website for insurance quote, ticked the box that said modified, then ticked the one that said 'seats removed', they didn't have a box for 'bed added'. Rang the cheapest one (ibuyeco) and described what I'd done and they said no problem, so I bought the cover.
Also, as TJ says, make sure you are happy you won't be sqashed by it if you roll the van.
or MOT time as they need to check the seatbelts)
might not need to - i'm pretty sure i've never had all the seats in the couple of mpvs i've put thru mot - also they don't check them if you've got a kids seat strapped in - goes on the comments as couldn't check but not a fail - always seemed a bit odd to me that bit