Self build camper insurance cost

Bought a T6 in 2020 and converted it myself. Pleased with the result and me and Mrs Surfer get a great deal of use out if it, more than I thought we would and only wish I had done it earlier. Anyway we have 2 grown up kids and when we are not using it happy for them to benefit. Problem is our daughter who is 28 and 10 years no claims, can’t get insured (can but for a small fortune) she is a good driver but it’s a shame the van is on the drive when she could be use it occasionally. Currently with Adrian Flux for us but they quoted a laughable amount.

Anyone have any suggestions or advice??

Not being a 28 year old woman I can’t help directly, but my self built van has always been insured through BG Insurance. They are a broker and have access to underwriters that don’t crop up on comparison sites. For me they have been half the price of anyone else, and my only claim (broken windscreen) was dealt with quickly and it was straightforward.

Bear in mind that you can only use your no claims on one policy for reasons no one has ever explained, so your daughter would start from scratch although I assume you want her to be added to your policy.

For reference my Renault Master costs me around £280/year fully comp.

I’ve been using Brentacre for the last 15 years, always reasonable for us. There used to be lots of love for A-Plan too.

Flux and Brentacre always quote around the same price for me (but I’m not a 28yr old woman)

Were currently insured with the NFU as a partial conversion. Again, around the same price as Flux/Brentacre but might be worth a shout, we deal with the local branch of NFU rather than going through their website.

Can you insure her on it on an ad hoc basis, couple of days at a time?

@stumpyjon yes looked at that and you would expect it to be proportionately higher than pa but it was prohibitively expensive.

We couldn’t get anyone to quote for our 22yr old on our T5.

Insurance is just odd and crazy.

I think we were advised (for whatever arbitrary reason) not to even try until she was 25…

OP, is her own car insurance “prohibitively expensive”?

As at 28 y/o she should’ve been well past that phase.

And are you just trying to add her on to the policy, or something else?

Only experience is with my OH’s converted horse 3.5T van, insured for any over 25’s, no restriction and was barely dearer than what she pays for her (nice) own car.

@intheborders no her insurance is fine. She drives a 5yr old Mini and has no claims. We just want to allow her to use the van for weekends away when we are not using it. A short policy for say 3-4 “summer” months would be fine.

Sorry, are you saying the van isn’t insured currently?

If it is, why not just add her as a named driver – or seek out an any driver policy?

Any short-term policy will be expensive.

When I had a self built camper we used Shield. They were always way cheaper than Adrian Flux for us (less than half) when we got a quote. A guy at work found NFU mutual to be good.

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It’s insured for us but adding her as a named driver (our preference) is extortionate, the short term policy option is just something we investigated in case it was an option.

Is it a registered motorhome with the DVLA – if so The Camping and Caravanning Club insurance (clubcare) is worth a look. Won’t come up on insurance comparisons and you dont need to join the club. They are fine with self builds if it’s registered as a motorhome. I was with them several years, IIRC they care if you’re over 25.

does her policy allow her to drive other vehicles with the owners permission? It used to be a standard clause but is less common these days. Might be third party cover only though, how careful is she?

No, not a registered camper. The requirements are far to stringent now (no fixed high top roof)

@nickjb not sure but I will check today. She is a good driver, happy for her to drive it but the one incident she did have was when she was parked and somebody drove into her so fully comp would be preferable.

I’ve put a youngish, 30 ish friend on our t6 before for not much. With a plan. This was mid policy- does that change anything?

It’s insured for us but adding her as a named driver (our preference) is extortionate, the short term policy option is just something we investigated in case it was an option.

“is extortionate”

As in doubles the premium – obviously one man’s “extortionate”  is another man’s pence, how much out of interest?

I mentioned my OH’s horse van, that’s £350 all in for comp and any driver 25 & over – limited miles obv.

We are with Caravanguard – they were very helpful.

Another Brentacre user here. Give them a call and ask to speak to one of the underwriters as they seem to be really on the ball.

“It’s insured for us but adding her as a named driver (our preference) is extortionate”

Is this  mid term? Perhaps they are looking to profit from changing the terms of an existing policy. Quote somewhere for a new policy including her?

I have just phoned our insurer and added two (albeit 50 year olds with impeccable driving history) to the insurance. Our yearly cost was £400ish, for 3 weeks our friends are £150+£15 fee. High, but not outrageous compared to them hiring a camper.

By “extortionate” I am talking around £660 pa, on top of our premium £420 for us both. Given she would be using it only a handful of times over the summer months it made no sense.

In true STW style however, just starting a thread seems to have the desired effect!  I spoke to them again today and (she is 1 birthday older than that first quote) and the price is now £164 for the remainder of the policy (9 months) so it may be worthwhile. Its not my cost however so her choice. Glad that its a bit more reasonable.

Thanks for your replies!

and the price is now £164 for the remainder of the policy (9 months) so it may be worthwhile. Its not my cost however so her choice. Glad that its a bit more reasonable.

That sounds much more sensible – so much so that its like there was a typo the first time.  Paying £164 speculatively for something you might use and indeterminate number of times is a gamble – its the sort of thing my wife would do so the kids had the option to use it, but if you said to the kids they might not think it worthwhile.  I know you said short term insurance was prohibitively expensive – but its worth checking that with the companies that specialise in it, like Cuvva, but there are several competitors.  My expectation is 2 weeks would probably cost about the same as your remaining 9 months – but a couple of long weekends might be more economical.  Of course, there might be something about your daughters postcode, occupation or driving license (points?) that make her a higher risk.