animalambulanceman
Free Member
- Dec 18, 2007
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Hi everyone,
As dog owning Central London based fairly new campervan owner-I'm on my 3rd spread over the last 4 years,not that my campervan is anything like new, as it's a 1992 vintage LHD Eura Mobil 4 berth-I find myself often asked by friends if they can borrow my van for a short time for trips away to the coast or countryside and they see it as an inexpensive way of doing this as the accommodation is free plus it gives them the flexibility to not be bound by the usual accomodation restrictions regarding dogs.My problems come when I tell them that they need to have their own insurance to cover them to drive it and that I'm not happy about putting them on my policy-would kill my no-claims if they stuffed it and I can't keep adding different drivers onto my policy willy nilly.Unless I have an "any driver" policy-which I don't have because of my business plus it's much cheaper to have just me driving,especially at my age(54) and with no accidents or convictions on my license-I keep getting the problem of friends not being able to insure it as "they don't own it" or even though their own motor insurance allows them to drive other vehicles under their existing policy as soon as we tell their insurers on the phone that it's a campervan they decline as "it's not a car of similar type "to that already covered under their current policy.Twice this year,last month for Glastonbury Festival,and today when another friend wanted to go to the South Coast in it there has been a problem in getting cover which could only be resolved by me agreeing to sell them my campervan and then buying it back from them after they returned it to me(in the same condition but with a few extra miles on it) for the same price.Each time this is done it puts an extra owner on the log book as well as the inconvenience of having to send everything off to DVLA in Swansea to get the record modified again plus my friend having the problem of cancelling the insurance that they took out specifically to allow them to drive it for a short time legally.Having said this the friend who "borrowed" it for Glastonbury was so happy with the motorhome experience he has since been and bought his own and the insurance was transferred onto the new vehicle so it has not been wasted or refunded,in fact he tried to buy mine but I reluctantly declined his offer as it suits me and my dog perfectly and it took some finding to get in the first place-something that I'd rather not go through again unless I really had no other choice.I've many dog owning friends,as my name may already suggest to you,I am always in contact with dog owners ,many of whom become my good friends after the pets health troubles have been overcome,and when they hear of my trips away across Europe with my own dog onboard frequently ask about and also to borrow my campervan to escape from busy London themselves with their own hounds for some sea,sand & relaxation.Is there a simple solution to the insurance problem that would save me from taking out an any driver policy and yet enable me to lend out my campervan to my friends instead of it just sitting there doing nothing for 48 weeks of the year?
Michael / The Animal Ambulance Man
As dog owning Central London based fairly new campervan owner-I'm on my 3rd spread over the last 4 years,not that my campervan is anything like new, as it's a 1992 vintage LHD Eura Mobil 4 berth-I find myself often asked by friends if they can borrow my van for a short time for trips away to the coast or countryside and they see it as an inexpensive way of doing this as the accommodation is free plus it gives them the flexibility to not be bound by the usual accomodation restrictions regarding dogs.My problems come when I tell them that they need to have their own insurance to cover them to drive it and that I'm not happy about putting them on my policy-would kill my no-claims if they stuffed it and I can't keep adding different drivers onto my policy willy nilly.Unless I have an "any driver" policy-which I don't have because of my business plus it's much cheaper to have just me driving,especially at my age(54) and with no accidents or convictions on my license-I keep getting the problem of friends not being able to insure it as "they don't own it" or even though their own motor insurance allows them to drive other vehicles under their existing policy as soon as we tell their insurers on the phone that it's a campervan they decline as "it's not a car of similar type "to that already covered under their current policy.Twice this year,last month for Glastonbury Festival,and today when another friend wanted to go to the South Coast in it there has been a problem in getting cover which could only be resolved by me agreeing to sell them my campervan and then buying it back from them after they returned it to me(in the same condition but with a few extra miles on it) for the same price.Each time this is done it puts an extra owner on the log book as well as the inconvenience of having to send everything off to DVLA in Swansea to get the record modified again plus my friend having the problem of cancelling the insurance that they took out specifically to allow them to drive it for a short time legally.Having said this the friend who "borrowed" it for Glastonbury was so happy with the motorhome experience he has since been and bought his own and the insurance was transferred onto the new vehicle so it has not been wasted or refunded,in fact he tried to buy mine but I reluctantly declined his offer as it suits me and my dog perfectly and it took some finding to get in the first place-something that I'd rather not go through again unless I really had no other choice.I've many dog owning friends,as my name may already suggest to you,I am always in contact with dog owners ,many of whom become my good friends after the pets health troubles have been overcome,and when they hear of my trips away across Europe with my own dog onboard frequently ask about and also to borrow my campervan to escape from busy London themselves with their own hounds for some sea,sand & relaxation.Is there a simple solution to the insurance problem that would save me from taking out an any driver policy and yet enable me to lend out my campervan to my friends instead of it just sitting there doing nothing for 48 weeks of the year?
Michael / The Animal Ambulance Man
