Compare caravan insurance Australia

Do I need insurance for a caravan?

Whilst car insurance is a legal requirement, you’re not required to have insurance for a caravan. Your car’s CTP cover should cover any injuries that occur on the road, but only while it's attached to your car. However, if your trailer comes off and hits another car, you probably won't be covered.

Having no insurance on your caravan is risky business and will mean that you’ll have to fork out your own cash if you’re in an accident.

What does caravan insurance cover?

Depending on your level of cover, caravan and trailer insurance can protect you if you hurt someone or something with your caravan or trailer. At the same time, it can protect you if your caravan or anything in it is damaged or stolen.

Here are a few situations where you may be covered:

• Someone’s car hits your caravan. If you’ve got comprehensive cover, your insurer should cover you for the cost of repairing or replacing the car.
• A thief takes your trailer. If someone steals your caravan or trailer, your insurance will cover you up to its full value.
• Vandalism. Insurance will cover vandalism, up to the full value of your caravan or trailer.
• Fire destroys your caravan. You're covered up to the full value of your caravan or trailer if it is damaged or destroyed by flood, fire, hail, explosion, lightning, impact and other natural events.
• You crash your trailer while towing it. Your policy will cover you if you damage or destroy your caravan in an accident, even if it was your fault.
• Someone steals your fishing gear from your trailer. Most policies will offer a small amount of contents cover for belongings inside the caravan. If the included amount is not enough to cover all your belongings, you can usually buy more contents cover.

Caravan insurance optional extras

Contents cover

Many comprehensive caravan policies include a limited amount of cover for your personal belongings (often up to $1,000), but that's unlikely to fall well short if your computers, bikes and fishing gear all get stolen. Extra contents cover can bring added peace of mind.

Annex Insurance

An annex is a tent-like structure that you can pop up next to your caravan. It's not automatically covered, but you can add an annex option that'll protect it against natural events, theft and vandalism.

Lay-up cover

A good option if you store your caravan for long periods of time and want to pay a reduced premium during that period – while still having cover. It's essentially like having 2 policies: one for while you use the caravan and one for when it's parked up.

Comprensive vs third-party caravan cover

As with car insurance, there are 3 main categories of coverage for caravan insurance. The 3 categories are:

• Third-party property: This only covers you if you damage someone else's property. Damage to your own caravan isn’t covered.
• Third-party, fire and theft: This covers damage to someone else's property, as well as covering your vehicle for theft, fire and earthquake. It doesn't cover you for other natural events, accidents or vandalism.
• Comprehensive: This offers all of the protections above, plus protections for your caravan from most other types of damages. The damage can be accidental or intentional, or it can come from a number of natural events, including storms, floods, hail, fire and earthquake.

Vehicles covered by caravan insurance

Caravan and trailer insurance is available for any caravan, cabin or trailer popular with the caravanning community – as long as it doesn’t have an engine (we’re looking at you, motorhomes).

Here are all the vehicles (and 1 non-vehicle) you can get covered under a caravan insurance policy:

Touring caravans

These are vehicles equipped to live in that you can tow from place to place with a car. They are large, solidly-built structures with all the comforts of home, like a kitchen, beds, enclosed bathroom and heating/air conditioning. This is probably what you think of when someone says 'caravan'.

Camper trailers

A camper trailer is a type of touring caravan that folds down into a compact trailer for towing. When camped, it opens into a small tent-like living space with a simple toilet instead of a bathroom and an outdoor barbeque instead of a kitchen. They're cheaper and tend to be a bit smaller than touring vans.

On-site caravans

These are mostly touring caravans that stay in one place. Often they look more like small houses that sit permanently in one spot. These are sometimes called static caravans since they aren't technically mobile (at least without a lot of work) but the caravanning community and insurers still consider them as vehicles.

Trailers and horse floats

Trailers are...trailers. More technically they are vehicles you tow behind a car to transport cargo. Horse floats fall into the same category, just with live cargo. Trailers aren't technically caravans, but because they share so many similarities, you can insure them under a caravan insurance policy.

Common caravan insurance exclusions

As with car insurance, there are a number of reasons why your insurer may reject your claim for accidents, thefts and damages including:

• You didn't secure your caravan or trailer well enough. You can't just let bad things happen to your caravan and expect a payout. For example, camper trailers are very difficult to break into when collapsed but not when opened up into a living space. If you leave your open camper trailer unattended, you probably won’t be covered if something is stolen.
• You were reckless with the caravan or used it for unapproved activities. Don’t do anything stupid. If you are letting off fireworks right next to the caravan while drunk, you'll probably be denied if you have to make a claim for damages.
• You didn't maintain your caravan well enough. Your insurer might reject your claim if they think the damage or loss was a result of poor upkeep. This can include anything from rust to mould to critter infestation.
• You used the caravan when you were supposed to store it. If you have lay-up cover and you use the caravan while it is supposed to be stored, the insurer can deny your claim.

Extra features for caravan insurance

While most policies will include similar protections to each other, you may find that some offer little perks that help it stand out above the rest. When choosing a policy, find out how they handle the following:

• Choice of repairer. If your caravan needs repair, you might feel more comfortable if it's repaired by someone whose workmanship you trust. If that matters to you, choose a policy that allows you to choose your own repairer.
• Windshield. You'd think a broken windshield would automatically be covered as "damage". As with many car insurance policies, insurers sometimes exclude windshield from cover. See if you can find a policy that includes this automatically.
• Individual limits on contents. Regardless of how much contents cover you have, you might find that you can only claim a certain amount per item. For example, you might have $10,000 total contents cover, but can't claim more than $1,000 per piece of jewellery. If 10 pieces of $1,000 jewellery were stolen, you'd be fine. If a single $10,000 item was stolen, you'd be out of luck. Check your individual limits, and if you want to insure a specific item for more than that, look into high-value contents insurance.

How much is caravan insurance in Australia?

The cost of caravan insurance varies from person to person and caravan to caravan. Here are the factors that determine your policy's cost:

• How much you insure on the caravan. You can insure the caravan for virtually any amount you want up to its value. The higher you insure it for, the higher the premium will be.
• How you’re going to use it. If you're hitting the road regularly your premium will be different than someone who keeps their caravan parked in the same spot all year round.
• Your level of cover. A policy covering third-party property only will cost you less than a comprehensive policy. Additional cover like the annex add-on can increase your premium.
• Your agreed out-of-pocket expenses. Your excess is the amount of money you agree to pay out of pocket any time you claim. You can often choose your own excess amount when getting your policy. A higher excess means a lower premium because you'll be taking up more of the slack when it's time to claim.

"Finding a great value caravan policy can take just a few steps. Here's the exact process I follow each year at renewal time. The first part is a price comparison. Jump online and find at least 3 direct quotes from different insurers. Next, open the latest policy statement of each brand on your list. This is called the PDS and it'll be on the provider's website. Look for the key benefits or features section of the policy. Then you can figure out what more you get – if anything – by paying more for one policy over the others. In my view, this is the best way to ensure you're not selling yourself short with your caravan insurance – by either paying too much or not holding enough coverage."

James Martin

Journalist

Frequently asked questions

• Does my caravan need to be insured?

  No. You're not required to have caravan insurance even if you are towing it behind a car, but we don't recommend passing on caravan insurance. A caravan is an expensive item (as are many of your contents within it) and you wouldn't want to replace it out of pocket if it were to be damaged or destroyed.

• Does a caravan need CTP insurance?

  If you’re only after compulsory third party (CTP) coverage, your caravan will usually be covered as part of your car's CTP policy or included in your registration, depending on what state you live in.

• Is a caravan covered under car insurance?

  No. Caravan insurance covers your caravan or trailer only, not your car. If you drive a car, you will need mandatory CTP insurance at a minimum regardless of whether or not you have insurance for your caravan.

• What if I only use my caravan a few times a year?

  Most people don't use their caravan all the time, so it feels like a waste to have it fully insured the entiire year. Many funds have what's called a 'lay-up' option. This allows you to elect a period of time during the year that your premiums are reduced, along with you having a lower level of cover - typically while your caravan is not in use. You'll often find lay-up options limited to a maximum of 8 months in a year to have the reduced premiums, though there are some insurers that have no cap - the NRMA for example.

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Tim Bennett as part of our fact-checking process.

Written by

Gary Ross Hunter

Journalist

Gary Ross Hunter has over 6 years of expertise writing about insurance, including life, health, home, and car insurance. Having reviewed hundreds of product disclosure statements and published over 800 articles, he loves simplifying complex insurance topics for everyday readers. Gary has contributed to major outlets like Yahoo Finance, The Sydney Morning Herald, and news.com.au, and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Glasgow, along with a Tier 2 General Advice certification, ensuring his work adheres to ASIC’s RG146 standards. See full bio

Gary Ross's expertise

Gary Ross has written 620 Finder guides across topics including:

• Health, home, life, car, pet and travel insurance
• Managing the cost of living