You’ve spent ages planning and building your van to become that van life thing you envisaged, enough kit for the YouTube empire and enough tech stuff that makes a Twitch streamer jealous. But then you realise you’re going to be parking up anywhere and everywhere including some less than salubrious spots, and you find yourself hoping your valuables don’t get nicked rather than enjoying a good night out.
That’s when the reality of campervan contents insurance hits. Your comprehensive policy sounds great until you actually need it. Take laptop theft—one of the most common van life insurance claims. Most policies will cap your payout at £400-500 per item, regardless of what you actually paid or what it costs to replace.
So your £1,200 MacBook Pro? You’ll get £400 if you’re lucky. Your £800 drone? Same story. That camera you saved months to buy? Still £400, assuming you’ve kept every receipt and it meets their age requirements.
The person on the phone will actually suggest you should be “grateful for any payout at all” when you point out that £400 doesn’t replace anything meaningful. She’ll mention that you should have “declared items separately” if you wanted proper cover—information buried deep in policy documents that most people never read.
This is the brutal reality: your kettle and camping chairs are covered, but your actual valuable gear? You’re having a laugh.
Read more