Van insurance and European Cover

forager

Guest
Still struggling to find van insurance with Euopean cover for more than 90 days which would be handy now I'm retired. Anyone know a company that definitely does 365 European cover for a van?

Seems like no problem if it's a motorhome and a still a grey area if it's registered as a van conversion (mine is not)

No one else had this problem?

Point of interest: when trying to buy gadget insurance for laptop etc. I noticed in the small print. Covered from a motor vehicle provided that is secured etc. but not covered if stolen from a commercial vehicle. Commercial vehicle with no windows would be more secure than a van conversion with windows?
 
Can of worms

Hi forager

It might be easier in the long run to re-register your van DIY Camper Van Insurance - vehicle reclassification and then approach someone like Caravan Insurance | Online Caravan Insurance Quote | Safeguard UK - they have a friendly service and will do their best to accommodate. They also provide European breakdown cover. It is difficult to get the appropriate insurance cover without officially identifying the specific use of the vehicle. Another member may know of a way round - let's hope they post.

Cheers

greenid
 
forager said:
Point of interest: when trying to buy gadget insurance for laptop etc. I noticed in the small print. Covered from a motor vehicle provided that is secured etc. but not covered if stolen from a commercial vehicle. Commercial vehicle with no windows would be more secure than a van conversion with windows?
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Commercial vehicles may be more secure but maybe thieves are more likely to target them for valuable contents.
 
Greenid said:
Hi forager

It might be easier in the long run to re-register your van DIY Camper Van Insurance - vehicle reclassification and then approach someone like Caravan Insurance | Online Caravan Insurance Quote | Safeguard UK - they have a friendly service and will do their best to accommodate. They also provide European breakdown cover. It is difficult to get the appropriate insurance cover without officially identifying the specific use of the vehicle. Another member may know of a way round - let's hope they post.

Cheers

greenid
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Thanks, that is a consideration but thought best to check first, just in case I have other problems or still end up with a 90 day limit. At the moment I would not meet the requirements so quite a bit of work involved.
 
of course you can go for as long as you like as you are legally covered ...but 3rd party only
 
lebesset said:
of course you can go for as long as you like as you are legally covered ...but 3rd party only
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That's new to me as the insurers said I would not be covered at all, wonder if they just did not explain it correctly?
 
forager said:
That's new to me as the insurers said I would not be covered at all, wonder if they just did not explain it correctly?
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it's another of the advantages of being in the EU , they have to include it by EU law , although they will often tell you otherwise , especially brokers ; they try to deceive by saying things like ..to get the level of insurance you are accustomed to ; of course , if we leave the EU it will stop , more profit for the tory party backers


https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/overview

in order to get the 90 days comprehensive most insurance companies demand you tell them in advance , otherwise you would be able to go and only tell them you were there if you had a claim , wouldn't you !:camper:
 
not so , it covers for the entire term of the policy wherever in the EU you are [ plus some other places ]
 
as previously stated it is only a legal requirement for them to cover that which is compulsory to use the vehicle on the road , the rest can disappear after 90 days if they so wish
but if they are the same as my french insurance company [ allianz] , they don't say I must inform them when I leave the country , so how will they know if you have exceeded 90 days?
 
lebesset said:
not so , it covers for the entire term of the policy wherever in the EU you are [ plus some other places ]
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I can see your point about being in the EU so you would think they would be obliged to include third party?

Well because they couldn't offer what I wanted at the time, plus insurance expired during address change which caused big problems. I decided to go for the cheapest possible so I could ditch it when I found the right one. In the long term would cost me more.

This policy says NO European cover whatsoever, apply and pay extra when you want to go, limited to 30 days maximum.
 
lebesset said:
as previously stated it is only a legal requirement for them to cover that which is compulsory to use the vehicle on the road , the rest can disappear after 90 days if they so wish
but if they are the same as my french insurance company [ allianz] , they don't say I must inform them when I leave the country , so how will they know if you have exceeded 90 days?
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But if you had an accident, maybe they could find out with customs / border control / or like, how long the vehicle had been outside the UK in that year.

Before computers, maybe.
 
Think the big difference as the original post is.

Motorhomes pose no problems, it's VANS and VAN CONVERSIONS, NOT MOTORHOMES.
 
But although I use mine for camping, have fixed bed and toilet etc. it doesn't meet the requirements to change the log book to a motor caravan. So from what I can see, quite a few "van conversions" are actually VANS and not MOTOR CARAVANS. The rules are completely different, it's a commercial vehicle to the insurers, otherwise I wouldn't have a problem. They also charge 3 times more on the ferries because it's a van. (in my case it's a stealth camper and looks like a van from the outside, which I think is great as no one knows I'm in there and it's more secure)
 
forager said:
I can see your point about being in the EU so you would think they would be obliged to include third party?

Well because they couldn't offer what I wanted at the time, plus insurance expired during address change which caused big problems. I decided to go for the cheapest possible so I could ditch it when I found the right one. In the long term would cost me more.

This policy says NO European cover whatsoever, apply and pay extra when you want to go, limited to 30 days maximum.
Click to expand...

that's illegal in any EU country , click on the link to the uk government site in my post at 1832 today
 
forager said:
But although I use mine for camping, have fixed bed and toilet etc. it doesn't meet the requirements to change the log book to a motor caravan. So from what I can see, quite a few "van conversions" are actually VANS and not MOTOR CARAVANS. The rules are completely different, it's a commercial vehicle to the insurers, otherwise I wouldn't have a problem. They also charge 3 times more on the ferries because it's a van. (in my case it's a stealth camper and looks like a van from the outside, which I think is great as no one knows I'm in there and it's more secure)
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why pay a premium for the ferry? mine's still registered as a van but i always book for a motorhome.
 
Yes it is a van and that's exactly what the original post says. I'm not asking to be treated differently,

The original post asks about VAN cover with more than 90 days European cover.

It doesn't ask how to bend any rules, I'm NOT pretending to be a motorhome. I have a van and I like it, I don't want a motorhome even though I can afford one. This site is called "wild camping" and that's exactly what I do!
 
ashbyspannerman said:
why pay a premium for the ferry? mine's still registered as a van but i always book for a motorhome.
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I think the big problem for me is that I have no windows, being a stealth camper, they always have a look inside for illegal immigrants!

I always complain about price and twice I got a reduction, provided I carried no tools which is pretty fair I think. When you look inside it's very obvious that not for commercial use.
 
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