Had an interesting conversation today with a guy who owns motorhomestuff.com. I bought my fridge from him and my sink hob combo. I rang him to ask about hob units only as I don't want to put a sink in my van! He informed me that for insurance purposes, in order for a campervan to be called a campervan it has to have a minimum of a hob, sink and a bed. Other wise it will be classified as a commercial vehicle. If this is the case then it needs to have commercial tyres, unable to do more than 50 on A roads and no more than 60 on motorways. @rickyroo explained the speed limit thing but more importantly if you insure your van as a campervan and it doesn't fulfilled the criteria then insurance could be void!! He also informed me that if I take photos of inside and out of my panel van, showing it has been converted to a campervan that they will change the log book to camper not panel van! Any thoughts anybody??
Yeah this is another stupid insurance thing. I had this problem when trying to insure my van in jan, I wanted it back on the road but the interior was nowhere near ready. Some companies refused to insure me if there was no interior. One conversation went like this Me, there's not going to be an interior for a while Ins, oh then we won't insure you, it's a commercial van Me, no it's not it's a camper Ins, no it's a van Me, it has windows all round, curtains, a pop top with beds, it's a camper Ins, no it's a van Etc etc Basically they're full of Marmite and make it all up as they go along!
Actually one company I asked what if I had an interior, but removed it to do some work? They told me I wouldn't be covered while the interior was out! How the hell you get insurance for a proper panel van I don't know!
it's absolutely barking. i've got a full width bed and that's it. do all my cooking outside or in the awning on my gas hob. i'm sure that there'll be loads of people in the same boat too.
Would suggest that the requirement of a bed etc. has its origins in the 60s and the various British converters getting a reduction in Purchase Tax for their vehicles provided certain criteria were met. Nothing to do with Insurance at all. Up till the present mine has always fallen under the VED category of P L G....Private Light Goods since that defined the base vehicle.
Interesting one this, I spoke at length to my insurer - my 79 Microbus, now with a "home built" interior is registered with DVLA as an MPV (the DVLA's idea) - had no problem with insurance as it has "multi-purposes"!
What it has made me do is decide to put a sink in it anyway and will then send photos to DVLA and get the log book changed to a campervan!
In the eyes of dvla if you are converting a can it must have sink cooker and bed, my mate is doing a T5 conversion and dvla have told him this and his insurance company. It does mean he will be able to legally go 70 on the motorway though
I think that to be classed as a camper it needs to look to the layman from outside as a camper, it has to have most of the interior given over to camping two cooking rings and needs to carry fuel for that purpose, sink with onboard supply min 6 litres, bed, storage. I usually take a number of pictures and send a covering letter, I have not had one refused yet.
So I'm not allowed to go over 50 on A roads and have to have commercial tyres... How likely am I to actually get screwed for running the low profile Yoko's that I'm planning on..?
I actually have no idea! I would imagine if you where just involved in a minor bump then no drama but if there was a major compensation claim and the insurance could find a way of getting out of paying up .................
Reading through this then, how does the Westflia' without Hob/grill but with Sink fit into this criteria? The log book for ours states Motor Caravan but has no hob (unless you count the portable one we carry)!
it is correct about having the required items, no toilet though ...? although im sure if it says motorhome or camper on the v5 its ok...
I hope so Art! Ill have to check what the '73 logbook says and go from there, the 77 Im not worried about mind
