At last a police force that is serious about caravan theft

pity they're not as active here in the UK

My parents had their caravan stolen right off the back of their car last September whilst getting a cup of tea at Reading services. They had just returned from 2 weeks in Ireland.

The police did NOTHING to catch them.

It really knocked my parent about as it would anyone I would imagine.

I would like half an hour with the ******** that stole it.

UK police have been back in the Benidorm area again this week, finding even more caravans that had been stolen in this country before being shipped to Spain, where they were sold to unsuspecting locals and ex pats.

Many of these innocent buyers had given up everything in the UK and put life savings into their new caravans on the Costa Blanca. They now find that the insurance companies are the rightful owners and face having to negotiate with them to purchase their caravan homes for a second time.

Anyone considering the purchase of a caravan on the Costa Blanca, or elsewhere, is reminded to use those links given above to verify its ownership and legality.

This week's developments on the Costa Blanca were filmed by the BBC for broadcast in the near future on a consumer affairs programme.

David

The English Police and Insurance Investigators have returned to the Benidorm area and found more stolen caravans. There is a big sales market in caravans here and many have of the stolen ones have infiltrated into the Spanish community. It is an affordable luxury holiday home for a lot of people whilst others have decided to use theirs as a cost effective home. There are pitfalls of buying property abroad with the Land Grab situation still prevalent, so caravans, which are not a totally risk free investment as has been shown, can certainly be less of a risk to your hard earned cash as the initial cost is far less. The picture at the moment is somewhat clouded by rumour mongers who seem to have the impression that a couple who have paid £25,000 for a sited caravan, have now lost all their money, but this is not the case. The insurance companies need to recover the amount they have paid out for any claim against the caravan, which in most cases will be £4,000 to £7,000, however, if this claim was made a few years ago then the value on paper will be considerably less now, but still an alarming figure to the new owner. The insurance companies do want to have part of their payout returned but their main objective is to stop this unwanted theft of caravans and this is where you should be careful if making a purchase. If you are buying a car in England privately for a large amount of cash, then you would get it checked by HPI. They have a separate organisation for registration of caravans called CRiS. All you need to do is contact them giving the chassis number and a few more minor details and they will help you through the simple process. Great to get peace of mind.
I run a company in the Benidorm area selling caravans basically as an Estate agent and all our caravans as far as is possible have all been checked for rights ownership. We have worked with the Police and Insurance companies to try to stop stolen caravans coming onto the market, so it may pay to give our website a visit if you are contemplating buying. I am not able to put our website address here, but a quick look in Google at Caravans for sale in Benidorm may help you. If you are having a problem with your caravans registration, please give me a call, I may be able to help.

We are in the process of buying a second hand caravan from an Expat in Portugal but we are not sure of what process we have to follow - do we have to register the caravan in Portugal if so how? We plan to place the caravan on private land but want to make sure we are legal. Any help would be appreciated.

If you are buying a caravan in Portugal it is the same situation as in England. You need to contact the Caravan Registration people there. They have the records of most manufactured caravans since 1992 and for a small fee will be able to check all records and register your newly purchased caravan on their files. Your first move is to obtain the chassis number of the intended purchase, and then look at the CRiS website, which is easily found through most search engines. There will be clear instructions as to the process and you would need to phone or email them for their further assistance. They are extremely helpful and I would suggest you start the process even before putting a deposit on the caravan. A reply would be given quickly and is the only route to go if you want to be assured of its provenance. If you do need help please contact me direct.

Thanks GJSunseekers, I have the VIN number and CRIS have confirmed that it is okay but do you know how I go about registering it in Portugal as it will remain there and not be used for touring or anything. Many thanks

I am not sure of the correct procedure in Portugal or your reason wanting it registered, but I can only quote what I would do if it was in Spain. I would go through CRiS, who will register it for you no matter where it is and they would be the people to go to if you sold it at a later date to change their records and make sure those details are correct. I presume you have insurance so they should accept that certificate as proof of ownership. If the caravan is stolen they would not only have the chassis plate to check but also there is a microchip hidden in the bodyshell of the caravan. This can be found by their electronic equipment to clarify that it is definitely your property. Putting a caravan on a piece of private land is not something that is easy to do in Spain especially in somewhere like the Valencian region, so I can not advise regarding Portugal. It can be considered as a permanent dwelling the same as a house and open a big can of worms. A friend of mine has a large restaurant with a huge car park and thought he could just put a sign up for campers to park up, however, checking with the local Town Hall the story was not that simple. Anything too permanent would be totally frowned on and could affect the license of his restaurant. Just make sure you do all your checks through an official person and don't accept anything by word of mouth. Hope this helps.

Thank GJSunseekers.