Hi, we have a caravan that we store in France and our UK insurance, Towergate, have stopped covering. We only need public liability. Does anyone have a solution that they actually have used recently? Thanks
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Have you tried the Search Facility as this topic has been discussed before.
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Quote: Originally posted by adefearn on 20/3/2025
Hi, we have a caravan that we store in France and our UK insurance, Towergate, have stopped covering. We only need public liability. Does anyone have a solution that they actually have used recently? Thanks
When this happened to us, because we wanted to still store in France, we had to change where we stored the van to somewhere Towergate approved. A real nuisance.
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Quote: Originally posted by adefearn on 20/3/2025
Hi, we have a caravan that we store in France and our UK insurance, Towergate, have stopped covering. We only need public liability. Does anyone have a solution that they actually have used recently? Thanks
When this happened to us, because we wanted to still store in France, we had to change where we stored the van to somewhere Towergate approved. A real nuisance.
Same for us, with Towergate, and it took their underwriters a lot of discussions and questions before they were happy with the levels of security at the new storage area. They seem to want something with the level of security of Fort Knox. Our current storage is in a locked barn, overlooked by the owner's property, inside a fenced compound, with CCTV and the largest concrete block in front of the double barn doors, which can only be moved by the owners specially adapated lifting vehicle! They agreed, but only with a lot of photos going backwards and forwards.
La Baudonniere campsite has details of a French insurance company, with a British named contact, on their website in the Caravan storage section.
I know nothing about them but it might be worth giving them a try.
La Baudonniere campsite has details of a French insurance company, with a British named contact, on their website in the Caravan storage section.
I know nothing about them but it might be worth giving them a try.
If anyone uses this company, or enquires about their insurance, it would be helpful to a number of us to have feedback on their experience please.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
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We too have just had notice from Towergate that our insurance will not be renewed in June because our caravan is permanently stored in France.
When I phoned to query the “permanently”, I was told that as long as the van was returned to the UK for a few days, that would be okay.
Not an ideal situation, so I have emailed the link on the La Baudonniere website to see whether they can offer insurance.
I’ll keep you posted!
The response (very quick) was that they can cover the caravan in storage or on a campsite (ie when static) but not when being towed, so that doesn’t help us much.
Next step is to investigate whether it’s worth it financially to bring the van home in between our two “summer” trips, or just let the insurance lapse now the van is getting older.
Quote: Originally posted by bofs on 12/5/2025
The response (very quick) was that they can cover the caravan in storage or on a campsite (ie when static) but not when being towed, so that doesn’t help us much.
Next step is to investigate whether it’s worth it financially to bring the van home in between our two “summer” trips, or just let the insurance lapse now the van is getting older.
Thank you. Currently we plan to stop on the campsite which stores our caravan. It is stored in a barn off site and the owner has told us that his insurance covers him for moving onto a pitch from there. I need to check with him what happens if it (or any other van) suddenly bursts into flames in store or on site! We may tour a bit next year, so would probably chance it from there.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
Store and pitch on a site in France may be our next option too, but we were hoping to wait a year or two yet.
Incidentally, the French insurance agency may not have been able to provide what we needed but they were very helpful and responded really quickly to my emails.
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Well, following a lengthy phonecall with Towergate, the situation is that to be able to renew our insurance, we must provide them with an address in the UK (in our case our home address) that the caravan will return to at some point during the period of insurance, for at least a day. For us, this means sometime before mid-June next year.
We have renewed our insurance with these conditions, as it gives us 12 months to decide whether to follow the terms of the insurance and continue touring in France, find somewhere suitable to Store and Stay, or take the risk and keep the caravan without insurance. Not ideal but at least it buys us time to decide what to do.
Incidentally, the renewal quote was slightly less than last year's too!
Following the Towergate scenario, we have insured with AXA France: mailto:agence.msdinan at axa.fr, mark it for attention of Richard Barnes, who will carry out all your correspondence in english and translate any documentation queries.
Yes, it's for storage and on site (parked) cover .... i.e not for towing ... but your car insurance should cover whilst towing ... certainly for any third party damage ... not sure about comp.
We are going with this as have not found a viable alternative.
Means we can still store at our site near Angers, which is such good value at under 200 euros.
The insurance cost was less than Towergate.
Taking our caravan home, once a year, for however long, would be a considerable expense as we live in Ireland (North Coast) ... ferry costs are not cheap!
Not sure how your caravan return to UK would/could be monitored by insurance ... maybe they'd require provision of ferry ticket? How would they know whether you actually took it home? Could arrive in Rosslare ... wait 24 hours then get next ferry back, and save the long tow to and from home!
Amendment to last post...
They now say they cannot insure as the caravan is registered in the UK.
It isn't ... it was bought in Germany and then stored in France, but insured by Towergate.
Now seems to be a problem re the registration ...
Am pursuing registration in France, but, towing with a UK reg car may be a problem.
Looks as if we'll be heading off on holiday without this being resolved!
So ... may be uninsured ... though, of course, covered third party whilst towing.
Grrr ...
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Topic: Caravan Insurance in France
via mobile 20/3/2025 at 2:08pm
