What to do in the event of an accident involving your motorhome

If you are involved in a road traffic accident with another vehicle then safety is your number one priority, first of all ensuring everyone involved is physically ok, and then protecting yourself from further danger by following the correct road safety procedures such as moving away from the vehicle. Once these measures have been undertaken it is also important that you take certain steps to make claiming on your motorhome insurance easier.

The first thing to do in any such situation is to call your insurance company and let them know that an accident has occurred, making sure that you have the registration details of any involved vehicles. After this it is a good idea to take photos of both vehicles and any tyre marks on the road – this should of course be done from a safe distance and only if safe to do so.

When reporting an accident to us you will need to provide the following information:

• Your name, address and telephone number(s) (for you and the driver of your vehicle if not you)
• Your policy number
• Details of the accident or claim circumstances (when, where and how it happened)
• Information about your motorhome and any damage it sustained
• Details about your driving licence
• Personal details necessary to confirm your identity
• Details of any witness and the Police or any other emergency service that was called
• Details of the other party or parties involved including information about damage to their vehicle or property and any injuries that anybody might have sustained
• Where appropriate your thoughts on who was to blame for the accident

Another very important thing to remember is that liability is something which will be decided by the insurance companies, it is not something which you should admit to or expect the other person involved in the accident to admit to. The last point on the list above is what you should tell us, not what should be discussed with the other involved party. In some cases although it may seem that one party is more to blame the evidence actually proves otherwise. If you admit liability then the evidence is already very much stacked against you and your insurance claim could be affected. It is not a case of avoiding blame though, and you should always be honest with your insurer as to exactly what happened, they will then work with the other party’s insurer to decide the best course of action.

If you have an accident abroad then it is a little more complicated. The first thing to remember is that all of the above still apply, but you also need to fill in a European Accident Statement form if you are involved in an accident within the EU (excluding the UK). (Caravan Guard will provide policyholders with one of these for travel abroad, simply get in touch and we will send one out). The driver of the third party vehicle also has to sign the form. This form simply states the basics of what happened but isn’t a means of accepting liability and again you should not accept liability in anyway if involved in an accident. If you are a Caravan Guard policy holder and are unsure what the procedure is when in this situation then feel free to give us a call on our helpline, and we’ll guide you through what to do.

Whether you are travelling in the UK or Europe, if you have been involved in an accident and you cannot move the motorhome yourself because it is badly damaged, you should call your breakdown operator to tow it to a repairer. If you are insured with Caravan Guard, you should call our specialist motorhome breakdown and recovery service ‘Axa Assistance’. Axa Assistance have no size or weight restrictions, and can recover motorhomes of all shapes and sizes utilising their huge recovery network across Europe. They even have fluent foreign language speaking staff on hand to get past the language barrier when dealing with various countries throughout Europe. For more info on Axa Assistance see our motorhome recovery article.

If you breakdown, or have an accident, on a European toll road and are unable to move your vehicle then you will have to use the toll company’s own recovery company. If insured with Caravan Guard you are covered for this cost, although you may have to pay up front and then we will reimburse you. For more information read our European toll roads article.

If you aren’t currently insured with Caravan Guard then feel free to visit our motorhome insurance page for more information on our policy benefits. Existing customers with questions regarding the specific details outlined above can call for further info, or email us using our contact form.