Insuring & Documenting Your Caravan Contents: The Guide

With a caravan, one thing gets added to the usual camper gear: it sits uncoupled on the pitch while you’re out with the tow car. That makes it an easier target than a motorhome you can drive away at any time — and that’s exactly why it pays to sort out your contents and insurance properly.

Why a caravan carries a higher risk

A caravan is a stationary object most of the time: uncoupled on the plot, often empty during the day while its occupants are at the beach or out exploring. You can’t just drive it away on a whim, and the awning, canopy or bike rack sit partly outside the locked door. All of that raises the break-in risk — one more reason to record your gear early and in full.

Typical valuables in a caravan

In a caravan, a lot of value sits in built-in and carried equipment that’s easy to forget. Think of:

• Awning — quickly worth several hundred to over a thousand euros.
• Mover (maneuvering aid) — expensive, permanently mounted, often overlooked.
• Canopy — fixed to the body, but a value item in its own right.
• Bikes & e-bikes — on the rack or in the awning, high-value and a favorite with thieves.
• Gas grill, furniture, outdoor kitchen — the things that live in the awning.
• TV, satellite system, electronics — inside the caravan.
• Tools, jacks, leveling ramps, water/power equipment — the pricey basic kit.

Are your caravan contents insured?

Here comes the unpleasant surprise for many caravan owners: the caravan or vehicle policy primarily protects the vehicle itself, not the contents you carry. For the equipment in and on the caravan you often need a separate contents or camping-contents policy — a solution the GDV (the German insurers’ association) points to as well. Nor does home contents insurance reliably cover permanently carried contents; why that is, you can read in our guide to home contents insurance for a motorhome — the same logic applies to a caravan.

How to document your caravan contents

Which policy ends up applying is one thing — the proof is another. In a claim, every insurer asks for evidence of ownership and value for each item: name, serial number, purchase date, purchase price, a receipt or photo. The complete step-by-step guide — which works exactly the same for caravans — is in our guide to the motorhome inventory list.

• Walk through the caravan zone by zone — interior, awning, storage areas, rack.
• Photograph each item, including the serial number or frame number.
• Store receipts: invoices, warranty cards, bank statements showing the payment.
• Keep the list up to date — new awning, new mover? Add it right away.

Use the template — or make it easier for good

The template above gets you going immediately. If you want it easier for the long run — photos right on the item, receipts stored safely, the insurance- and police-ready PDF report at the tap of a button — then CamperProof is built for exactly that: for caravans, vans and motorhomes. You capture an item in seconds and, if the worst happens, have everything together in minutes.