Camper van insurance and trackers

[Beemerman59]

Just about to buy a VW Transporter conversion and having a look at insurance. Only contacted two brokers as yet, Brentacre and Adrian Flux. The subject of trackers came up - Brentacre would require an S5 or S5+ tracker to be fitted to the van - these cost up to £500 to have fitted plus the annual subscription. Adrian Flux would include a Tracker Nano in the insurance adding on a £93 additional cost and about the same again each year for the subscription. Beanacre have quoted me £530 for their cover and Adrian Flux are at £419 pa.

Has anyone got real world experience of these particular trackers and if anyone has had good service from a specialist broker of camper van insurance I would be grateful for any advice given. Thanks.

 

[Burridge01]

Insure mine with Howden(formally A Plan)been with them for a fair while and find them easy to deal with.Saying that,I've never had to make a claim on any of me campers.Never been asked regards a tracker but never had a van that cost over 15K.

 

[Wapping]

If you are going to have a tracker, you might as well get a decent one and think about one that enables you, the owner, to immobilise the engine.

I have MetaTrack trackers / immobilisers on two cars and a GTE tracker / immobiliser on my campervan.

Yes, they cost but it’ll cost less than me hunting for and buying a replacement vehicle, mid-afternoon when it’s broiling hot or peeing down.

The choice as ever is yours.

PS Umpteen brokers offer insurance for campervans. Call lots of them and make your choice.

 

[glenn2926]

Mine is insured with AIB (air sports insurance bureau) and is lesss than £500 per year. This includes full European coverage and breakdown and repatriation if required. They have never asked me for a tracker to be fitted. I do the comparison thing each year but it’s plated at 4t so most breakdown companies don’t cover it.

 

[Beemerman59]

Having spent an afternoon on research I’m understanding the differences, limitations and benefits between all the trackers/immobilisers/S5/S5+ etc etc. I’m meeting with the conversion company tomorrow who are doing the van - I’m sure they can advise further. I’ve never needed one for any vehicle before but I’ve also never put my pension lump sum into one before either - it does focus the mind somewhat!

 

[Udders]

I too have a MetaTrak tracker on my big van. Apart from the location getting “ locked “ to an aire in France a few years ago it’s been faultless.
To save one of their technicians coming out to sort it they talked me through how to do a hard reset. It’s worked perfectly ever since. They also gave me a free years subscription for doing that.

 

[MartinK]

Got mine with NFU, no tracker needed. Seems good

 

[crumbles]

Justkampers..i am with..vw specialist and discount on there parts business.

 

[harry the cat]

Ours is insured with Performance Direct. Tracker required but supplied by them as part of the package. Only issue is we’ve had to reset the tracker several times.

 

[Oldrat]

Autowatch Ghost immobiliser and tracker

 

[BillN]

My son and daughter have just bought an 11 month old Grand California 600 - they are paying under £600 on a fleet policy, (no NCB discount for the van), with LV for 4 of them plus me, (I'm old!!), 8,000 pa

 

[Beemerman59]

It’s not so much the insurance premium, more the tracker/immobiliser requirements I need to get to grips with. Having looked into it now, and discussed with the company doing the conversion, I’m going to get an S5+ tracker/immobiliser. The one they can install is a Meta S5+ system so I’m doing my research on that now to see if there are variants I need to consider.

 

[OnHellas]

We bought a new Adria last year and have the S5 tracker fitted.

We’d been insured with Safeguard from May 2021 until December 2025 for, first, a new Hillside VW poptop and then 4 year old Fiat Ducato based Eldiss CV20.
No trackers required. Just the manufacturer fitted immobiliser.

We didn’t ask Safeguard if it was required for our new van as the dealer was offering it as part of the deal so it seemed prudent to have it fitted.

 

[BillN]

are there any trackers that you can buy outright without paying an annual subscription?

 

[OnHellas]

are there any trackers that you can buy outright without paying an annual subscription?

Not that I know of but Scorpion do offer a lifetime subscription I believe.
Lifetime of vehicle ownership I’d guess.

 

[Wapping]

are there any trackers that you can buy outright without paying an annual subscription?

Only one of DIY trackers, as seem popular on these pages. These you have to monitor yourself and rely on an alert from the chip / sim in the device.

The subscription you are paying for is the 24/7 monitoring / support from someone like Vodafone Automotive.

Not that it’s always the case, but bods seem happy to spank thousands on a very expensive bike / vehicle, then agonise over a good quality tracker / immobiliser. Thank God third party motor insurance is compulsory, or bods would skip buying that….. “I’ve never had a claim”.

 

[BillN]

Not that I know of but Scorpion do offer a lifetime subscription I believe.
Lifetime of vehicle ownership I’d guess.

Only one of DIY trackers, as seem popular on these pages. These you have to monitor yourself and rely on an alert from the chip / sim in the device.

The subscription you are paying for is the 24/7 monitoring / support from someone like Vodafone Automotive.

Not that it’s always the case, but bods seem happy to spank thousands on a very expensive bike / vehicle, then agonise over a good quality tracker / immobiliser. Thank God third party motor insurance is compulsory, or bods would skip buying that….. “I’ve never had a claim”.

are apple airtags and similar any good?

 

[Wapping]

are apple airtags and similar any good?

They are not designed / intended as a tracker per-se. They are intended to help you find your keys, when you leave them…. Well, wherever it was you left them.

Bods, often with expensive bikes, like them as they are, in a word, cheap. More money to spend on the PCP that way.

Can scrotes also find the AirTag? Yes, very easily.

 

[BillN]

They are not designed / intended as a tracker per-se. They are intended to help you find your keys, when you leave them…. Well, wherever it was you left them.

Bods, often with expensive bikes, like them as they are, in a word, cheap. More money to spend on the PCP that way.

Can scrotes also find the AirTag? Yes, very easily.

Thanks, so far we have got one of those yellow, cover all the steering wheel Disc-locks, the van has the factory alarm and immobiliser and I am planning to get a pedal lock when I can decide which

LV didn't ask for a tracker

 

[OnHellas]

What Wapping said.

Plus, if you don’t want to fit a tracker and pay for the subscription, find an insurer that’ll cover your vehicle without one. The premium may cost more but that’s the choice.

Of course, they may not be possible depending on the exact vehicle, your postcode etc.