Trips away in your caravan, motorhome or campervan are a great opportunity to post to Instagram or other social media platforms.
While documenting your vanlife adventures online is a fun perk, it’s important to ensure they’re not undermining your security.
Experts from Quotezone.co.uk are warning holidaymakers about how social media posts can leave your home vulnerable, while editors at CaravanTimes also caution about putting your leisure vehicle at risk.
Take reasonable care of your home
Putting real-time information about your holiday online can let people know your house is empty, making it a target for burglary.
Insurance companies insist their customers should take ‘reasonable care’ of their property, which includes not advertising that it’s empty.
While posting photos online of a holiday isn’t likely to be enough to invalidate an insurance claim, it’s important to consider safe ways to share content.
Greg Wilson, CEO of Quotezone.co.uk, said: “With the rise of social media tourism, this particular issue is unfortunately becoming more common. Especially if there are younger people living in the home and travelling on holiday with the family, then they need to be made aware of the security implications to their family home.
“Harmless tags, shares and check-ins could put the property at risk and invalidate the insurance protection – even snapping and sharing online photos of other families on the trip could put their cover at risk.
“There are however simple ways to be more security conscious, saving up photos until they return home, tightening up privacy settings and avoiding giving away any specific timings or locations, can all help protect the home and the insurance.”
Social media dos and don’ts when travelling
To keep your property safe, follow these simple rules:
- Don’t tag your location in real time
- Use private Stories when you do post
- Never post about the length of your trip
- Don’t mention your travel dates
- Ensure others aren’t tagging you in holiday photos
Protect your motorhome and caravan security
While on holiday in your leisure vehicle, your caravan, motorhome or campervan is the equivalent of your house.
You’ll want to keep it and its occupants safe at all times, which means thinking carefully about the photos you post too.
Social media pictures that show expensive camping equipment, bikes or entertainment systems could make your van a target.
Tagging the location where you’ve pitched up in real-time, followed by snaps of a day trip, can demonstrate to thieves that you’re away from the vehicle and that it’s vulnerable.
While the last thing anyone wants to be thinking about on a leisure vehicle trip is safety, it’s important not to offer up these clues online.
Photo credit: Unsplash/Sam Balye
