You will probably be familiar with a car’s “logbook” officially known as V5C. This is a form issued to the registered keeper of a vehicle. A caravan has a very similar document, CRiS document. It’s not issued by the government, like the V5C form, it was set up by the National Caravan Council, which all caravan manufacturers are members, to help prevent caravan theft.
When you buy or sell a caravan the CRiS document is an important part of the process as it “proves” ownership. All new caravan are CRiS registered. Maybe that’s not strictly true. All NCC member caravans are CRiS registered at “birth”.
Each caravan has a CRiS number, or VIN number which is used when insuring a caravan. The number itself contains certain information to identify the caravan.
Caravan details are kept centrally by CRiS, which also run checks that you can make as a potential caravan buyer to see if the caravan has been written off, or has any finance outstanding etc, much like you can with an HPI check on cars.
“CRiS Check” Consists of:
- Check the name of registered keeper
- Check if it has been reported as stolen
- Check if it has outstanding finance
- Check if it has been written off by insurers
The CRiS website is at https://www.cris.co.uk/
It’s interesting to note that CRiS is not a Government run scheme, as a caravan is seen by law just as a trailer. This has some advantages, in that you don’t need a regular road legal test, like an MOT and you don’t actually need insurance, although if you have a caravan of any value it certainly makes sense!
Keep your CRiS document safe, as you’ll need it when you sell it. It is also recommended that you take it with you when travelling, as it proves you are the registered keeper.
Leave a Reply