A deposit does not buy you a caravan. On most export orders the factory keeps ownership of the unit until the price is paid in full, while risk, possession and title each change hands at a different moment — and the trading terms you agreed cover cost and risk only, never ownership. Importers who treat those three as one event find the gap after something has gone wrong — and the money has crossed the border.

Risk, possession and title move at different times

Under FOB, CFR or CIF, risk passes when the goods are loaded on board, but the Incoterm stays silent on who owns them. Possession changes hands when the unit is handed over at destination, which can be weeks later. Title moves when your purchase terms say it does — most often on full payment, sometimes on delivery, and under some suppliers' wording only once the balance has been banked. Until then you can carry the risk of a caravan that is still someone else's property.

Why the deposit does not protect the unit itself

A deposit normally buys a production slot, not an asset. Between deposit and balance the caravan is stock in the supplier's name, so if the business fails, the model is re-allocated, or the units go to a faster payer, your payment becomes a claim rather than a caravan. The defence is identification: allocate the VIN to your order at deposit, write it into the purchase terms, and photograph the chassis stamp and the data plate as each unit is built, so the numbers match the invoice, packing list and bill of lading — a unit you can identify is a unit you can argue over.

Insuring a caravan you do not yet own

Cargo cover responds to whoever bears the risk of loss at that point, which is why an importer buying on FOB insures from loading, not arrival. Cover also depends on insurable interest, so confirm whose name is on the policy between loading and delivery, and what it pays if a unit is damaged while title is still elsewhere. Keep the three dates — risk passing, title passing, physical delivery — in the order file; claims turn on ownership rather than amount, and a dated record ends that argument early.

What to write into the order

• A title clause. State when ownership passes — on full payment, on delivery, or on presentation of the documents — instead of accepting the supplier's standard wording.
• An identification clause. VIN allocated at deposit, applied to the unit during the build, and reported to you with photographs.
• A document instruction. Which originals travel with the shipment, and whether the set is couriered or released electronically.
• An insurance clause. Who insures from which point, in whose name, and for what value.
• A default clause. What happens to the deposit — refund, credit against a later order, or the right to take named units — if the shipment never sails.

Rules on property and contracts differ by market; confirm the wording with your own adviser, your insurer and your forwarder before the first transfer leaves your account. Whether you order one evaluation unit or a container of off-road caravans for importers, the file that protects you is the file that carries your specification.

The 16ft hard-top range, including the 16ft family off-road caravan, runs to a 3,000 kg ATM and every unit is plated in its own right — the identification your title and insurance clauses should be built around. Send the two clauses you are least sure about and we will say plainly which side of the order carries the exposure. Contract questions reach the team at [email protected]; short ones are quickest on WhatsApp: +86 186 6381 3961; every model page is at www.lgloader.com.

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