clunegapyears Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Hello New to site and I hope someone can advise. We are about to take our motorhome across to mainland Europe for a year .... I have spent about 3 hours today trying to find travel insurance to cover this trip. I have got so far with a number of insurers and then stalled, Issues that have prevented my taking out the insurance are: 1) James is 67; some insurers limit cover to under 65 2) We are going to more than 45 / 60 / 120 days (depending on the insurer) in the year and more than this at one time 3) Two insurers will offer single trip cover at £986 and £1250 (yes really!!!) BUT if we come back to the UK in the year the policy ceases. I may well need to fly back at some point during the year to see my parents and daughter. Does anyone have any suggestions as to which companies might offer a realistic solution / price? Many thanks K&J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 We insured our house, as well as our van, with Comfort. This is AVIVA based, and travel insurance can be added as part of the package. This works quite well, as it also overcomes the problem with unoccupied property restrictions imposed by many insurers. So, it may be worthwhile asking them what they can do if you shift your house insurance. The point was that if the van was insured for longer trips (in our case 90 days max, but they will do more) the house unoccupancy and the travel duration could also be set to 90 days with premium adjustment. At that time AVIVA direct would not do this, but Comfort would on basically the same policy. Don't know if they will insure the house if they don't handle the 'van as well, but they will soon say! :-) AVIVA's travel element became more expensive after age 65, and I seem to remember they wouldn't insure at all once over age 70. So, we then switched to the "free" travel insurance that comes with our Nationwide Flex account (provided via UK Insurance), which we extended for 90 day trips (but I think can be for longer), quite reasonably, against payment of supplementary premiums for age plus trip duration. The total of annual premium adjustments for both of us last year (July '14), were £90. In both cases medical conditions can also be accepted, again with premium adjustments. Both policies were/are on a multi-trip annual basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clunegapyears Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 Thank you so much.... Comfort .... i saw they were part of Aviva, who I had already spoken to so assumed they had the same terms. Just looked at their web site, max is 180 days. :( I have a Nationwide Flex account, so got a little bit excited ... but looking at there website, I do not use it as may prime account. We have just opened a joint Norwich & Peterborough account and are about to switch to this as our main bank account due to the free European transactions using the debit card and ATMs. However, I will ring them tomorrow. Really do need long trip insurance ... we plan to be away a year, but may need to come home to see family. Do NOT want to pay the best part of 1K to have it terminated due to a short flight trip to Blighty! K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Hi Katherine We also insure like Brian with Nationwide for travel, and due to age and health problems have to pay extra, but have 90 days, (enough for us, as due to health have to see doctors .) could have longer. Re your other post, It may be cheaper for you to limit your trip to shorter duration, as you say you will be coming back any way Work out the cost of return ferry/tunnel. You may find it will not cost any more, than the insurance quotes you are getting. We have more than one trip a year, limit each to 3 months, sometimes it's nice to get home to one's own bed , even for a couple of weeks or so Good luck, and let us know how you get on PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 If you are going to fly back to the UK to visit family please check with your motorhome insurance that they will allow you to store your vehicle whilst you return to the UK. Some ins companys will not allow you to do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dora_ex Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 We had similar issues trying to get cover for a year. Loads of companies said they do long term but when we said over 360 days they were all saying no based on age or medical history. We couldn't get Gap Year insurance anywhere, under 50's only. We didn't want to break the trip by coming back with the motorhome during the year so we did pay through the nose to get cover. After calling (no exaggeration) over 40 companies we finally got cover with Avanti. Its not cheap, but its less than you have been quoted (includes cover for over 60 and serious medical conditions). In all honesty not sure if one of us wants to fly home if the policy would cease, its not something we would do so we didn't check. Try Avanti, they were amazingly helpful and were the only company we could find who would insure us. We also have a Nationwide account, they advised 6 months maximum so we couldn't use for a year away but not to say other circumstances such as the health prevented us getting longer. Good luck :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 It is difficult to organise long trips for a variety of reasons, the DVLA, insurance companies, MOT test and so many other things are not set up for long stay motorhoming. You are meant to obtain a local driving licence if you are out of the country for more than six months, you are assumed to have permanently exported a vehicle if away for twelve months, and you have to have an MOT in the UK. And as you have found, insurance companies just don't want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Another reason also, if you are away from home for more than 6 months, your Doctor should take you off their list. Whether they do or not, is another matter. If you are healthy maybe you could chance the health cover?? BUT you still have the problem with the Van Ins/cover and MOT PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 clunegapyears - 2015-03-17 9:15 PM Thank you so much.... Comfort .... i saw they were part of Aviva, who I had already spoken to so assumed they had the same terms. Just looked at their web site, max is 180 days. :(..............K Comfort are not part of AVIVA, they are, as the phone will tell you, "independent intermediaries". However, they do widely use AVIVA as their underwriter, and have done so for years. They specialise in motorhome insurance, and because of their long relationship with AVIVA, offer many policy benefits that AVIVA's own, more car oriented, vehicle insurance doesn't. If you want to spend a full 12 months away from the UK you need to look for "full time" insurance, which Comfort can do. You may find digging around on this website will answer a number of questions you haven't yet thought of: http://tinyurl.com/pqx7re Have a look around, and see if it helps. The style can be a bit "lordly", but the information is very comprehensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dora_ex Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Agree with above comments, its not set up to make long term motor-homing easy in the UK. It took us weeks to sort out everything, much harder than we ever thought it would be. On the Doctors front, we needed a 12 month prescription and our doctor arranged and wrote us a letter to carry explaining why we have so many drugs. Just luck that we had someone prepared to be really cooperative, if he hadn't then it would have meant flying home every quarter for prescriptions which is the usual maximum in our area. It's a minefield to arrange it all but for us, worth every second of the hassle as soon as you leave home. Good luck with your insurance and everything else, hope it all sorts out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clunegapyears Posted March 31, 2015 Author Share Posted March 31, 2015 Thank you all. Motorhome insurance: we are with Caravanguard who allow 9 months away from home. Since the insurance policy runs from January, we are fine April to April, although we will have to renwew. We have to come back to the UK then for the MOT anyway. They cover us for breakdown etc. I think it may be limited hotel cover if work needs to be done, but we are also taking a small tent. I have given up on a sensible holiday insurance. At £1000+ and only £1000 cover for personal possessions, it is just not economic. However, I did find Caravanguard have a Leisure and Gadgets policy. So bikes are now insured and computer kit and cameras up to £2000, which is their maximum value. For medical, we will have to rely on EHICs/paying. Jewellery - shame but it will reside in my parent's attic and safe. We have let the house out initially for 12 months, but have partly told our doctor's surgeries ... James' is happy to keep him on and has given him a medical note about his general good health, but he recommends a PSA every 3 months. This will be a whole new investigation on how to sort this! Mine may be more by the book, so I have not told them - they refused to give me a smear and mammogram when I asked for one. Post redirection and my mum has 'offered' to be my PA, opening and dealing with most post - which should pick up anything from them. Thank you for the link - other travellers' blogs are useful and inspiring. I just hope I have remembered everything ... Katherine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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