Understanding park home insurance

Sometimes, some caravan owners can become a little bit confused over park home insurance.

Let’s get some clarification underway!

Caravan types

You may know that there is something called static caravan insurance.

As the name suggests, that protects a static caravan parked on a site and some caravan insurance policies may insist that the site is registered, secure and possessing all services.

A static caravan is typically one that you’ll spend a few weeks or perhaps months in each year, enjoying it as your holiday retreat or letting others use or rent it for similar purposes.

However, if you are living in a structure permanently that’s based on a registered park home site, everything changes.

At that point you need to start thinking of your premises as a dwelling or more correctly, a park home.

The insurance issues

There are specific policies to cover various types of caravans including tourers, statics, motorhomes and trailer tents etc.

There is also a specific policy to cover park homes – ie. somewhere you live on a permanent basis.

Why is cover different to that you’d expect for a static caravan?

It relates simply to the fact that your risks are different.

A park home insurance policy will need to take into account things such as:

• park homes, as permanent residences, will typically have a higher level of fixtures, fittings and contents, than many statics that are only used for a few weeks each year;
• as it’s your home, you may keep personal possessions of higher value there than you would in a caravan;
• park homes are typically more expensive than a static caravan;
• for all the above reasons, you may be a little more attractive to thieves and vandals than perhaps would a caravan.

The park home insurance policy

This will typically provide you with insurance cover for the classic perils of natural disaster plus issues arising from theft via forced entry etc.

Some policies may also offer discounts if you take certain commonsense precautions such as fitting alarms and additional locks/bolts etc.

You might also benefit from lower premiums if your site is located in an area that has no prior history of flooding. Something perhaps worth checking at the time you’re thinking about buying or a park home.

Living nature

Many people select a park home because it will bring them into closer touch with nature and perhaps rural green living.

Keep in mind though that this tranquillity shouldn’t lull you into thinking that misfortune only strikes in urban environments.

Some forms of problem are perhaps even more likely in a park home environment (storm damage etc) than they would be in a town or city.

So, keep in mind that park home insurance may be necessary one day.