If you have a park home, you may think that you can get away with insuring it with a traditional home insurance policy or maybe static caravan insurance. However, specialist park home insurance is typically needed if you want to ensure that your residential caravan is adequately protected.

While your park home may be your permanent home, traditional home buildings and contents insurance is typically not an option. This is because while a bricks and mortar home and a park home face do similar risks (such as theft), they also face different ones too.

Similarly, some people think that insurance for static caravans will cover their park home – typically, it will not.

Is a park home a static caravan?

People often think that a park home is a caravan – maybe because it resembles a static caravan – and may believe that static home insurance can cover their park home. Generally, this will not be the case as there are key differences between the two.

A caravan that is parked permanently or semi-permanently on one site, typically secured in place and perhaps anchored off its wheels is normally referred to as a static caravan.

Although they may rarely be moved between sites, they are normally regarded as not being mobile.

Static caravans are also typically:

• occupied for a few weeks or months during holiday periods;
• relatively well equipped;
• connected to mains services such as drains, water and electricity;
• sited on a holiday home park.

There are specialist caravan insurance products that provide static caravan insurance. They may also provide cover for the caravan while it’s being used for rental purposes.

Park homes on the other hand are typically sited on residential parks and are used as a permanent home. They tend be more highly equipped than a static caravan, as they are designed for year round use.

What does park home insurance cover?

That depends very much upon the park home policy you purchase and your insurance provider.

Typically, you may wish to think about covering:

• theft of contents;
• theft of, or damage to, the your home;
• natural disasters such as storms, fire, floods etc.

Don’t take chances

In the event of a claim, having the most suitable form of park home insurance in place may be critically important – so don’t hesitate to ask us for specialist caravan insurance advice if required.

Dictionary definition; Also called mobile home, it is a prefabricated house that is manufactured off-site.

The average length tends to be between 36 feet and 48 feet, however they can go up to 65.62 feet.

A Park Home is one storey, timber framed construction, which sits on a steel chassis. The walls are well insulated, finished with exterior rendering or cladding and the roof tiles are made from durable coated steel.

Don’t forget you must live in your Park Home for twelve months of the year, for Cover 4 to insure it!

Well Friday is here and it has been a very quick week at Cover4, which always helps but we have achieved alot with Hobby Caravans and Park Homes both on our systems.

We have (ssshhh) finalised our plans for our Communications Team and there could well be an exclusive announcement soon. We are very excited about our plans and we hope to achieve lots more in the near future as we think this is an avenue we can expand in.

Dagenham play their first ever game in League One tomorrow which is a bit daunting at Sheffield Wednesday who are tipped for automatic promotion. The buzz is there so much that I will watch the Norwich/Watford game on TV tonight to whet the appetite for the new season. I hope we acquit ourselves well and don’t get humiliated on every occasion. I am going to my first League One game on August 28th when my family sponsor the ball against Tranmere.

Apart from that Test Cricket is on and so is more live football (oh my partner will be pleased, I may have to buy her a curry to appease her!)

The weekend awaits us

Mike

Insurance for park homes may be the only thing that saves you from financial ruin in the event you have a major problem with your park home.

Understanding it is, therefore, important.

What is the difference between a static caravan and a park home?

A park home is typically defined as a dwelling built to professional standards as being suitable for permanent occupancy. It is typically occupied as your permanent place of residence.

Some insurers may also consider that to qualify as a park home, it must be situated on a professional local council licensed site defined as suitable for park home residency.

Most park home sites do not allow you to rent out your park home, and some have age restrictions (such as specialist park home sites for the over 50s).

By contrast, a static caravan is a caravan permanently located in one spot (and typically secured by professional anchorage) that you use at times for holiday purposes only. It is not your place of normal residence and you may well rent it out when you are not using it.

The definitions of the differences between the exact periods of occupancy may vary (e.g. how many days per annum you can occupy your static without it being defined as permanently occupied). So, checking your insurance quotation is advisable.

So what?

It isn’t just an academic difference because the risk profiles for the two forms of use are very different.

This means that to obtain suitable cover, you need either a policy providing insurance for park homes or one that does the same thing for static caravans.

Having the wrong sort of policy in place may invalidate your cover.

What if I’m not sure?

It’s important to ask advice from someone that understands caravan and insurance for park homes well.

We would be pleased to help you if you’re unclear about points of detail relating to this important area – so don’t hesitate to call us.

I have a chalet that was once a caravan?

Sometimes there are variations that are hard to categorise at a glance and space here doesn’t permit a full discussion of them all!

Once again, we have a telephone service that would love to hear from you and we will do our best to clarify any ambiguities around your particular caravan or accommodation type.

Taking the time to ensure you understand your requirements and what insurance for park homes can do for you may be very important.

Dear All

Well as you can see from Richard’s note we are very pleased to launch our Park Home product, this has been through lots of testing and we believe we will offer competitive cover at competitive premiums. Any feedback that you have will be greatly appreciated by contacting us freephone 0800 9707172 or michaels@alanblunden.co.uk if you prefer email.

Well August has startedn briskley and this is great news as the season is set to end very soon. Obviously we will be planning ahead for next season, as that is sooner than you (or we) think!

Well Jacob had a good nights sleep and we will be getting his birthday card and cake on Saturday, this is maybe more for our benefit than his as he is only 1 but he’ll know his birthday next year! Mum and Dad may even have a glass of wine when he is in bed to celebrate the momentous occasion. I have booked the day off so we can have a nice family day together as that is what family is all about.

Oh well, back to the grindstone!

Mike