Mobile Home Insurance Ireland
Buying a mobile home is no small feat. It represents freedom, a sense of achievement and, for many, it’s a long-held dream come true. The private parks and camp sites that cater to mobile home owners are often situated in beautiful countryside, either along the coast or in mountain or valley landscapes.
Retreating from normal life to your mobile home can be an invigorating experience and a chance to recharge after the working week or for extended holiday periods. For this reason, mobile home users are eager to protect their investment by finding the very best mobile home insurance that they can.
What Is Mobile Home Insurance?
Mobile home insurance operates in a similar way to your regular home insurance – it protects the property from the liability of many risks, including:
Floods: As many mobile homes are in coastal areas or near lakes or rivers, flooding can be a constant threat.
Storm damage: mobile homes are less secure than brick-and-mortar properties, so the risk from storms, particularly in open areas, is high.
Fire: Given that most mobile homes are constructed from materials such as wood, steel and aluminium, the risk of a fire totally destroying the home is high.
Burglary: The long periods when the owner is away give thieves plenty of time to target your mobile home.
Accident: Invariably, you will have guests visit you in your mobile home, perhaps even staying the night. You should consider how you will protect yourself against liability if they injure themselves while there.
Do You Need Mobile Home Insurance?
Mobile home insurance provides owners with the peace of mind that, should any of these issues or others affect their mobile home, they will be covered to repair or replace it.
Mobile home insurance covers a range of property types, including mobile homes in private parks or on land, static caravans, and touring caravans while in situ.
It is not a legal requirement to take out insurance, but it is highly recommended. Mobile homes are at high risk and represent a significant financial and lifestyle investment that will be expensive to replace.
What Does Mobile Home Insurance Cover?
Mobile home insurance is comprehensive and covers all the risks this type of temporary holiday home can face. It is designed to recognise that mobile homes are best suited to short-term lets rather than full-time living, and that they are often located in risky areas near water or without tree cover.
Mobile homes, by their nature, are often sited close to water sources such as coastal locations, riverside bays or lakeside positions. Each of these represents a flooding ris,k and your mobile home could be completely destroyed or left uninhabitable by rising waters. If this happens, you will want to replace or repair it as quickly or as painlessly as possible. Mobile home insurance is designed to support this recovery.
Mobile homes area fire risk. Connected to the mains and often using gas cylinders or wood-burning stoves for heating, they are at risk of fire. Many people are unaware of the cost of calling the fire department in an emergency. In Ireland, it can cost from €500 per hour for a fire engine callout. Mobile home insurance can often cover the cost of this essential service (with an excess).
When a mobile home is damaged in a storm or flood, it can be difficult to repair it on-site. Very often, you will need to transport it to a dedicated repair service. The cost of this can be high, so many owners ensure that transport for repairs costs are included in their policy.
Letting your mobile home for short-term lets, such as AirBnB has become a popular way to make some extra money when you’re not using it. However, people staying in a mobile home for payment won’t be covered by standard mobile home insurance. You will need to ensure you have specific rental insurance in place to cover liability for tenant injuries or loss of possessions.
Mobile Home Insurance Cost
In general, mobile home insurance in Ireland for a single property costs around €220 per year. This will indemnify the property against standard costs arising from the risks of fire, flood, burglary, and, in many cases, injury to third parties. If you need more extensive coverage, you can purchase additional add-ons to protect against higher levels of risk.
Mobile home add-ons include:
Emergency alternative accommodation: You can purchase an add-on to your standard policy that provides a payment
New for Old cover: If you have an older mobile home and need to replace it due to fire or storm damage, you will likely want a newer model. This premium add-on will allow you to receive the value of a new unit rather than the older model.
Decking, sheds, and awnings: Many mobile home owners improve the area around the mobile home’s footprint with decking, sun and rain awnings, and sometimes even sheds for equipment. You can also negotiate an add-on to cover the cost of replacing or repairing these items.
Ways to Reduce Mobile Home Insurance Premiums
Mobile home inspections: Mobile home insurance can be reduced or managed through regular (usually annual) inspections to ensure the property is well-maintained and adequately secured. This relates to assessing upkeep, given the frequent periods when the owner might be absent.
Electoral policy: Mobile home insurance is intended for short-term holiday stays rather than long-term living. Some insurers will want to see evidence that you are on the electoral roll with a different address than your full-time address as proof that you are not living in the mobile home permanently. If you can’t provide this, you will be expected to pay a higher premium for full-time living.
Anchor mobile home: You will be rewarded with lower premiums if your mobile home is properly anchored to its site. This can include digging a foundation space, attaching wheel locks and hitching ropes. These are all designed to make it more difficult to steal the entire home.
Keep mobile home occupied: If your mobile home experiences long absences, your premium will be higher, as there is a greater risk of theft or damage, which can worsen over time.
Caravan Insurance
Caravan insurance is designed for vehicles and temporary properties that are predominantly mobile. They will require premiums that reflect road risk, transit, and towing coverage.
Mobile Home Insurance FAQ
If you take out a fully comprehensive policy, then so-called Acts of God are usually included. The phrase rarely makes it into policy documents but is widely understood to include natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, lightning strikes, large storms or wildfires.
The more security you put in place for your mobile home, the better. You could, for example, install security lights, alarm systems, ground anchors, additional doors and locks, reinforced doors, and video cameras. Each of these will earn points from your provider based on the level of policy premium they apply.
If a caravan park location reduces risk factors, the premium can be reduced to match it. For example, if your pitch is on a hill, then the risk of flooding is reduced. Similarly, if it’s in a coastal location at sea level, then the chances are that your premium will rise to match the increased risk level.
If your policy has a Named Peril clause, it will only cover incidents listed, such as fire, flood, or storm damage.
Under an All-Risk policy, the specific type of event doesn’t have to be spelt out in advance. You will be covered for all types of risk your mobile home or caravan may face. This is the safest type of policy, and it will attract a premium so that it can extend to every type of risk.
Negligence occurs when the owner fails to take reasonable care of their mobile home to protect it from damage or theft. For example, if you leave the keys to the mobile home in the door when you leave, this would be considered negligent, and so a claim for burglary could be deemed invalid.
Similarly, if you have stated that your caravan is held in a secure unit and received a lower premium on this basis, but then it is stolen from the street, your insurance claim could be deemed negligent because you have not taken due care to protect it.
Structure sum is the stated amount that will be paid if a mobile home needs to be replaced. You should ensure that the value covers replacing all additional parts surrounding the mobile home, such as awnings, decking, and sheds, or does it refer only to replacing the mobile home structure itself?
Many owners will have spent considerable money improving the immediate area around the mobile home, but then find that the Structure Sum isn’t sufficient to replace the mobile home and its surroundings.
