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Topic: Abbey Aventura 330 Stolen :-(

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deltaman

19/10/2013 at 5:08pm
Location: Lincolnshire
Outfit: Compas Rally 634

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Sorry to hear about your loss, we know how you feel as ours was stolen earlier this year from a storage site, cctv showed the van being taken, our van was insured so we have been able to replace it.

The thieves went back some weeks later and tried again this time they were caught, they came from the Cambridge area and were stealing a van a day, a profitable sideline I think, seems that they are being taken to the ports and shipped out to the eastern european countries.

mrlotus

21/10/2013 at 10:52pm
Location: Norfolk
Outfit: Abbey Aventura 330

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That's interesting. Do you have any links to newspaper or police reports about the story please?

I've spent the last few days working through east european auction sites and I have not found any UK caravans for sale that look like they were stolen.

There are lots of UK caravans for sale, many still with their UK registration plates still on! But they are all old 1990s vans that have probably been bought for a few hundred quid off eBay and then taken out to sell on. Here's a couple of examples:

Romanian Caravan for sale

Polish caravan for sale

If you were going to bother stealing a caravan and dragging it all the way across Europe you would take something newer and worth more. These are the newest I could find. It doesn't add up.

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birder99

22/10/2013 at 11:35am
Location: Cambs
Outfit: Tin tent diddy tent BIG tent

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There are tag readers for cars in most ports, not sure if they read caravan tags but if they do so unless the thieves removed all the electronic tags they would trip the warning as they entered the port.

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iank01

22/10/2013 at 11:46am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser

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Hopefully the caravan was registered with CRIS and that CRIS have been notified to prevent the caravan being sold on to some one who has the foresight to do a CRIS check..

mrlotus

22/10/2013 at 12:10pm
Location: Norfolk
Outfit: Abbey Aventura 330

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I have notified all the port police that I can find contact details for. They all have photos of the caravan and its ID. Maybe it'll get caught at the port, I hope so.

Yes it is registered as stolen with CRIS and it has a CRIS number etched onto all the windows and the chassis. However the CRIS number can be altered to give it a new identity. A caravan maintenance company owner in my local area was given a 9 months prison sentence for giving stolen caravans new identities in 2011.

Now I really want to know what happens to the 4 caravans a day that get stolen in the UK. Are they being lived in, or sold on? And if they are being sold on, where are they being sold? All these caravans can't just disappear into thin air!

deltaman

22/10/2013 at 12:19pm
Location: Lincolnshire
Outfit: Compas Rally 634

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The Police notified the ports when ours was stolen, but as the police took over an hour to turn up when the van was stolen the van could have been nearly at Humberside by then.
We had a partial on the number plate which was Irish so who knows where it ended up.
Best of luck with yours, there must be a big market somewhere for all these vans.

Jack+Jon

22/10/2013 at 12:40pm
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I think you need to forget about Cris. It is entirely voluntary, plenty of new caravanners will have no clue about it. If you buy/sell a car then it is DVLA registered & has to be bought & sold with proper paperwork otherwise it cannot be used on the road.

None of this applys to a caravan, they don't even have to be insured. Anybody can buy a caravan for cash off ebay etc, you simply put your numberplate on it & tow it away. In all the yrs I've been towing I've never been pulled by cops when towing & I'm sure the vast majority of caravanners never have. Very few police patrols about nowadays, most enforcement is by camera & as UK caravans are not DVLA registered with their own numberplates(unlike some European countries)camera enforcement does not work for caravans.

I would say the vast majority of stolen caravans are sold on within the thieves community & lived in. Eventually most will be sold on in the UK via ebay/autotrader & return to normal touring bought by owners wanting a cheap 'van(which is why anybody uses ebay). If the new owner is daft enough to inform Cris he will either lose it or have to buy it off insurance company(who having paid out for owner's loss will own it)but nothing will happen to seller, be realistic, how could it? & good luck for buyer trying to sue.

I would guess that most buyers of caravans 10yrs old or more don't bother to check or register with Cris. Some caravans bought legitimately by their owners may have been stolen/unrecovered several 'owners' ago.

I'm sure some do end up abroad, there is plenty of transit between UK & Romania/Poland & if those in the ads were stolen absolutely nothing can be done about it. As far as I can see there are no checks made on caravanners shipping out from Dover docks. I have never been checked & there is no way of checking as a matter of course because UK caravans don't have their own numberplates.

Post last edited on 22/10/2013 12:46:33

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Regards, Jack+Jon.

Frannyvan

22/10/2013 at 1:29pm
Location: Dorset
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I was more worried about insuring my caravan, not for theft purpose, but what happens if something happens whilst towing? How are you covered if you back the caravan into something and damage someone else's property or car? Is this covered by standard car insurance?

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Jack+Jon

22/10/2013 at 1:51pm
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Yes, you are covered for third party risks on your car insurance while towing. Car with caravan hitched is regarded as one vehicle for third party claims. Damage caused by caravan in accident situation is covered. Only third party claims are covered though, comprehensive car insurance will not pay for repairs to your caravan.

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Regards, Jack+Jon.

iank01

23/10/2013 at 9:15am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser

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Quote: Originally posted by Jack+Jon on 22/10/2013
Yes, you are covered for third party risks on your car insurance while towing. Car with caravan hitched is regarded as one vehicle for third party claims. Damage caused by caravan in accident situation is covered. Only third party claims are covered though, comprehensive car insurance will not pay for repairs to your caravan.

An issue arises if there is a mishap while unhitched and damage is caused. This could be fire, caravan rolling away etc. The other party could then sue you and you could be in debt of r the rest of your life. Hopefully OP has better luck and the caravan is recovered.

mrlotus

23/10/2013 at 9:55am
Location: Norfolk
Outfit: Abbey Aventura 330

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I think you might be correct about CRIS. I sent this message to them yesterday:

>>
Hello,

Our caravan is registered with CRIS and was stolen 2 weeks ago, you have been informed about this. Would you be able to provide us with any information on how many stolen caravans are recovered each year and identified by using the CRIS database please?
>>

and got this response:

>>
Hello,

Unfortunately we do not have any figures of this kind that available.

If you were curious about this it may be worth asking your local police constabulary to gain a rough idea of how many they recover in your area.

Thank you for your enquiry, if you have any further questions we will be happy to help.

>>

Basically they have no idea if the system works at all. They have no figures to backup what they are selling. It's a bit of a con in my opinion.

Jack+Jon

23/10/2013 at 10:01am
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Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 23/10/2013
An issue arises if there is a mishap while unhitched and damage is caused. This could be fire, caravan rolling away etc. The other party could then sue you and you could be in debt for the rest of your life.

This a common misconception & is not correct. For the owner of the caravan to be held responsible then blame has to be proved, so if for example vandals pushed the caravan downhill/set fire to it etc, the owner could not be held responsible for third party damage caused. Even if the owner set fire to his own caravan accidently he could not be held responsible for any damage caused to third party property.

The principle here is that ownership does not in itself make the owner responsible for damage caused by his property to a third party, an individual's liability has to be proved.

A good example is that even if an insured caravan caught fire & damaged others, the owner's insurance co. would not entertain claims from third parties, it would be for the third parties' own insurance co's to settle those claims.

There was a recent court case that involved an uninsured property owner attempting to sue the insurance co. of a next door property for damage to their own property by a fire at said next door property. The case was thrown out as liability of the next door property owner could not be proved.

Post last edited on 23/10/2013 12:20:13

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Regards, Jack+Jon.

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