Full timing between house moves but what about car insurance?

[CRD]

Hi

We want to locate area from Devon to the New Forest to be nearer to our families, and will be putting our house up for sale this week.

Ideally we want to live in our van, once we’ve completed the sale, with occasional AirBnb’s, whilst we house hunt and buy a place with nothing to sell.

All looks fine, however has anyone had experience of insuring their car whilst being of no fixed abode? We can use our kids flat for an accommodation address, but the car will always be with us in our MH and not at the flat.

We have insured our MH with Comfort for at least three years, so they should be able to amend our policy to full time van life, though we know it’ll be expensive.

Your thoughts and solutions are very welcome.

Thanks

 

[Jev88]

Temporary situation? Use a relative or friend's address.

Longer term - I am sure I read boat folk have a system for centralised addresses as they have same relocation/living mobile problems.

 

[pappajohn]

Use the kids flat as if it was your address.
Means changing both V5s but the inconvenience will be far better than the possible £1500/£2000 for full time insurance.

 

[mitzimad]

if you have any warranty on your motorhome dont let the dealers know your fulltime as it will void your warranty

 

[CRD]

if you have any warranty on your motorhome dont let the dealers know your fulltime as it will void your warranty

I didn’t realise that. Thanks! We will only be living in the van for a few months, hopefully.

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[Shrimp]

Use a relatives address, will probably only be temp any way.
Good luck finding the home you want.

 

[Fulham Dave]

if you have any warranty on your motorhome dont let the dealers know your fulltime as it will void your warranty

Not that case with us. We advised our dealer that we would be full-timing in our van and had no issue with the warranty what-so-ever.

They repaired / replaced whatever was required without fuss, quibbling or refusal, in fact they replaced our starter battery outside warranty, free of charge!

 

[interbear]

Very interested in your “in between house move” experience of living in the van CRD - as we ponder downsizing our home, the strategy of selling up, putting everything in storage and touring in the van for a few months while looking to buy a new property is a definite option. Seems quite appealing vs the stress of selling / buying at the same time, plus the flexibility of being able to buy quickly when a suitable property crops up. We’d likely use a relative’s address as a temporary “home address” for mail, insurances etc.

I’m sure there are downsides / complications too, so keen to hear how you’ve found it, or any tips if you have embarked on this strategy already. Thanks.

 

[Howard B]

We are in the same situation at the moment. I registered the car, MH and driving licence at my dads address and they are also insured there. Previous insurer for the MH insisted on Full timer cover at £1500 . Current insurer didnt ask the question.
The only downside at the moment is we don't know how long conveyancing will take to complete. Solicitor reckons a few more weeks, but i suspect it may be longer. Not an issue at the moment as we are in Spain, but if we head back at the end of the month and the conveyancing isnt near completion, it could be a bit bleak on sites in uk. I have contacted solicitor again today to get her to confirm if we will be good to go in a few weeks, if not ill try & extend our stay in Spain.
Ideally we should have started the process in spring or early summer.

 

[Brains]

Now-a-days, living "of no fixed address" is difficult.
The implication is you are either a gypsy or you are serving time inside, probably both!

My sister effectively lived out of a suitcase most of her 25 year adult life.
She died aged 48 of cancer with less than zero assets. And here I am, 7 years later, still trying to sort out the mess.
The latest of which is shares she owned (but she was not aware, as they did not have a valid address), and I'm trying to prove they were hers, which as she had none of the normal 'proofs' of address is very difficult.

When you go full time on the road, even if it's only for a few months between house moves, you need to retain an address.
The same applies if you are moving out of the UK long term, but want to keep the UK passport and the door open for a possible return one day.
Ideally use a relative, ideally one with a granny flat or seaside home.

You need to move it all;
Doctor, dentist, voting (even if you never use it), insurance, pensions, shares, bank, building society, clubs, subscriptions, premium bonds, phones, gas, water, electricity, TV licence, broadband, library card, lease and rental agreements, DVLA, etc.
They are all geared up to deal with new addresses, each one has a person or department to deal with the issue, which is something they all see every day.

Once you genuinely have a new address, then you need to tell them all again!

The main reason for retaining an address is so that if one day, maybe along time in the future, you want to move back to UK bricks and mortar, then it's a simple 'change of address', and does not involve multiple checks to see who you are.

As you can not open any new accounts for anything without a previous address, when cross checking you, you do not exist, which causes lots of problems down the line, such as renting a property, opening a bank account, or insuring a vehicle.
(And if not for you, then for your Executors, as my sister had none of the 'proofs' in the list above)

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[iain26]

Make sure you know what your ‘plan” really is and the fall back position.
We sold our house to travel for a year and would then buy something to live in after that.
Over 5 years later we are still in the motorhome, travelling a bit, still enjoying life!
But we now have a hankering for bricks and mortar but the difficulty is deciding where we want those bricks to be.
We also got stymied by Covid and lockdowns which meant we had to change plans.

In those 5 years we have had 5 different addresses as well!

HTH

 

[Brains]

Make sure you know what your ‘plan” really is and the fall back position.
We sold our house to travel for a year and would then buy something to live in after that.
Over 5 years later we are still in the motorhome, travelling a bit, still enjoying life!
But we now have a hankering for bricks and mortar but the difficulty is deciding where we want those bricks to be.
We also got stymied by Covid and lockdowns which meant we had to change plans.

In those 5 years we have had 5 different addresses as well!

HTH

Hence the 'Garden shed' option.

If you don't have a convenient relative with a granny flat or seaside home that you can use as your 'official' residence, then find a mate with a garden shed, or garage, or even a workshop, ideally one where a post box can be mounted, rent it off them for £1 a month paid bank a bank DD, ideally with a 'STA' rental agreement (downloadable or from W H Smiths) and move everything there.

The most important are banking, the doctor and the voter registration. (Even if you never use any of them).
Plus for motorhomers, the Insurance, the V5 and the DVLA on your driving licence.

 

[gus-lopez]

As you can not open any new accounts for anything without a previous address, when cross checking you, you do not exist, which causes lots of problems down the line, such as renting a property, opening a bank account, o

I recently opened another UK online bank account. Only asked for current UK address? No previous?

 

[Roger S]

We're in the midst of downsizing bit managed to find the next house so tied the sale in with the purchase, a lot easier if you can.

 

[Brains]

I recently opened another UK online bank account. Only asked for current UK address? No previous?

Current address is OK, as long as you have 'lived' there for over a certain number of months.

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