subject: What IS a mobile home? [print this page] What IS a mobile home? What IS a mobile home?
In English law static caravans, touring caravans and motorhomes and even residential park homes can all be described as mobile homes. However, each of the aforementioned 'mobile homes' have very different characteristics and present different types of insurance risk. It's important therefore to know what 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 as to what type of insurance cover you need.
The legal definition of a mobile home is the same as that for a caravan. Broadly speaking, it covers "any structure designed or adapted for people to live in which is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by being towed or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted.....It does include twin units separately constructed and designed for assembly on site, provided that the twin unit is physically capable of being moved when assembled (whether by being towed or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer). The twin unit must be no more than 60ft long, 20ft wide and the living accommodation no more than 10ft (3.048 metres) high." (Source:www.communities.gov.uk)
Some mobile homes such as static caravans and park homes are obviously not very mobile but can be transported on a very large low loader unlike a bricks and mortar house! Of course you may have seen this happening when 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 most of their useful lives in one place. Occasionally, an owner may want to move site.
When shopping for insurance it's really only the terms "park" and "mobile" home that are sometimes used interchangeably, in other words a park home insurance policy may sometimes be labelled a mobile home insurance policy. The rest are pretty straightforward. Ultimately it's advisable to look for a specialist insurance policy specific to your type of mobile home. So when insuring a static caravan, search for 'static caravan insurance' and so on.
There a big differences between covers for the different types of mobile homes. For instance park home insurance is a residential policy which reflects you living in your park home full time and having all your worldly possessions kept within. Whereas touring caravan and motorhome policies very often 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 the likes of debris removal, resiting and reconnection - obviously if your static caravan is destroyed by for instance storm, flood or fire it's quite costly to remove the damaged unit, and resite a new 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.
