In English law static caravans, touring caravans and motorhomes and also residential park homes can all be referred to as mobile homes. However, each one of the aforementioned 'mobile homes' have completely different characteristics and present several types of insurance risk. It's important therefore to know what things to look and search for when insuring your touring caravan, static caravan, motorhome or park home. Hopefully this guide will decipher the jargon and leave you somewhat wiser in regards to what type of protection plans you need.
The legal definition of a mobile home is equivalent to that for a caravan. Broadly speaking, it covers "any structure designed or adapted for folks to live where is capable of being moved from one spot to another (whether when you are towed or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any automobile so designed or adapted.....It can include twin units separately constructed and created for assembly on site, so long as the twin unit is physically capable of being moved when assembled (whether by being towed or when you are transported on an automobile or trailer). The twin unit should be no more than 60ft long, 20ft wide and the living accommodation only 10ft (3.048 metres) high."(Source: Communities.gov.uk)
Some mobile homes such as static caravans and park homes are obviously not very mobile but could be transported on a very large low loader unlike a bricks and mortar house! Of course you may have seen this happening if you have driven on the motorway. Despite often having small wheels for slight movement into position during siting, park homes and static caravans spend all or the majority of their useful lives in one place. Occasionally, an owner may choose to move site.
When searching for insurance it's really only the terms "park" and "mobile" home which are sometimes used interchangeably, in other words a park home insurance policy may sometimes be labelled a mobile home insurance coverage.
The others are pretty straightforward. Ultimately it's advisable to consider a specialist insurance policy specific to your kind of mobile home. When insuring a static caravan, search for 'static caravan insurance' etc.
There a large differences between covers for the various kinds of mobile homes.
For example park home insurance is a residential policy which reflects you living in your park home full time and having all of your worldly possessions kept within. Whereas touring Sited Caravans Rusland and motorhome policies frequently limit your usage to holidays for up to 6 months or 8 months in a year. A motorhome policy covers you for road risks including third party liabilities. A static caravan policy covers you for famous brands debris removal, resiting and reconnection - obviously if your static caravan is destroyed by for instance storm, flood or fire it's quite costly to eliminate the damaged unit, and resite a fresh one (often by crane) and reconnect all the utilities.
When searching for an insurance policy the most recognised terms are caravan insurance (aka 'touring caravan insurance'), motorhome insurance, static caravan insurance and park home insurance.
Caravan Guard Limited specialises in touring caravan insurance and motorhome insurance. Sister brand Leisuredays specialise in static caravan and park home insurance.