It is important to buy caravan insurance because you want to protect yourself against the costs you might incur if your caravan is damaged accidentally or because of a fire, a theft, or bad weather.
Most caravan insurance policies will cover damage done to your caravan by bad weather, theft, accidental or malicious damage, fire and flooding.
The possessions within your caravan will usually be covered up to a limit which will be predefined in your policy, and will usually be around 300.
This possession cover is meant to cover belongings that would usually, in case of emergency, be left in the caravan such as furniture, curtains etc. However, money, jewellery and other valuables are not usually covered under standard caravan insurance and should be covered under all risk sections of your household contents insurance.
You have a duty of care to look after your property, so theft from your caravan will only be covered if it is properly locked up whilst you are away from it. So there will not be any cover if you leave it open, or you leave your belongings under an awning or in a toilet tent.
The same applies to your actual caravan, i.e. if it gets stolen and you did not fit it with a wheel clamp and a hitch lock, you will have no cover.
There may be different requirements for the security of your selected caravan site in order for your insurance to be valid. For example some insurers may insist that you park your caravan in a registered holiday park, whereas some may insist that your chosen destination in concealed by fencing or hedging around the boundaries.
You may be able to include damage to awnings at a small extra charge, usually there is a restriction on the age of the awning that can be covered, typically awnings that are more than seven years old cannot be covered.