Last year, after being with the same insurer for 12 years, I was obliged to find an alternative company eventually ending up with 'Ping' at £114.49.

I have no idea if Ping are any good as I've had no further interaction with them all year but they did fail to send me a renewal quote which I would normally expect to have received about four weeks before the expiry date. It was only when Towergate, who had quoted me unsuccesfully last year, contacted me a few days ago that I realised that my policy was about to expire. Towergate's quote however was £271.57 so they didn't get a look in and it was back to the Meerkats for a more realistic quote. Our Triton is now 22 years old and as I prefer to be over rather under-insured, I valued it rather optimistically at £10,000 with £1,000 each for possessions, contents and awning cover. Incidentally, 'Ping' was listed as one of the companies who had not been prepared to quote me. What?

The best quote I received including European travel and legal assistance was from 'Insure My' at £127.30 with a £75 excess. The next came from Adrian Flux at £150.39 but with a £600 excess! Yesterday evening (Sunday) I clicked on the 'go to insurer's web page' button only to be met with a few more questions such as 'have you ever been declared bankrupt?' and one that stopped me in my tracks, 'Have you ever been convicted of a motoring offence other than for parking?'

I've been driving since 1966 and in that time I've had two speeding tickets for exceeding 30mph in a built up area (SP30) one of which was 45 years ago and the other around 25 years ago so how should I answer the question? Well, being an honest sort of chap I decided to click on 'yes' upon which the screen turned red and I was told that I couldn't be insured online and would have to telephone the office to discuss the matter. This morning I went back to the Meerkats to retrieve the quote to obtain the phone number but when I did, the system accepted my details putting me straight through to the payment page. At this I checked that the appropriate 'yes' button was still ticked and promptly paid up. Everything went through perfectly and I am once again fully insured.

In case of any future disputes I have downloaded all the documents and printed out the schedule and declaration of facts showing my truthful answer which I will carry with me in the van.

Why is nothing straightforward any more and why do the quotes differ so widely?

Could that be Alan Blunden Ltd who also trade as Cover 4 Caravans, based in Southen-on-sea?

Colin

The irony is that I was with Cover4Caravans for my first 12 years of Eriba ownership.