Top Insurance Tips from Multi-Award-Winning Park Home Assist

Our award-winning team have compiled a short list of top insurance tips, as it’s important to get the cover that’s right for you, when insuring your park home. It is also why we pride ourselves on understanding your insurance needs relative to your specific circumstances. These top tips are designed to help you to ask the right questions of your insurer and to decide on the insurance that you need.

  1. Know what you are insuring

Buildings, contents or both?

At Park Home Assist we provide combined building and contents insurance, with standard provision and optional benefits all specifically aimed at the needs of a park home owner.

In addition, check what is included as standard within the different elements of the policy. For example, with buildings cover, are you covered for the cost of site clearance, transportation and re-siting of replacement home if you suffer a total loss? Is alternative accommodation and emergency kennelling included under certain circumstances? Is cover for damage by vermin included, replacing locks or tracing of a water leak?

Regarding the contents element of your park home insurance, are valuables included? Are you covered for credit cards or cash stored in a safe? Are you covered for a full set of furniture should one item be lost, stolen or damaged? Do you have insurance cover for theft of garden furniture or items stored in a shed? Find out if these apply and to what degree you would be covered in the event of a loss.

As a specialist insurer, we can also provide additional cover for car insurance for park home owners, park home emergency cover, and legal expenses cover.

  1. Know what you own

Park home or holiday home?

A park home is a residential home, in which you can reside all year round as a primary residence and is usually on a site licensed by the local authority as a residential park. The local authority may also grant you planning permission according to their regulations for the same on private land. The insurance needs of park home residents are specialised, so with this in mind, it is a good idea to seek out a specialised provider like Park Home Assist.

A holiday home is a secondary residence for recreational use and not for all year-round habitation. Your holiday home insurance, whether you are letting it out or just using it yourself, is also best provided by a specialist. At Park Home Assist, we have specialised in park home and holiday home insurance for over 18 years.

  1. Know the value of your home and contents

Getting your ‘sums insured’ right is very important, as if you under-estimate this, then you will not have sufficient insurance cover, should you need to make a claim. On the other hand, if you over-estimate your sums insured, then you may be paying more than you need to for your park home insurance.

When calculating sums insured, you need to take into account site clearance and debris removal of the old home, the manufacturing purchase price of a new home, delivery costs and finally re-siting costs.

At Park Home Assist, we offer a blanket sum buildings and contents insurance. Our buildings insurance for ‘new for old’ total replacement for park homes stands at £500,00 and at £60,000 for contents. We have found that this is comfortably enough to provide adequate cover in most cases. However, if you feel that the level of sum insured is insufficient then you must advise the insurer before accepting or renewing your policy.

In the event of total loss a ‘new for old’ policy means your home will be replaced with a brand new model, which includes clearance of debris and the re-siting of your new home.

  1. Which optional benefits would you like to include in your park home insurance? 

At Park Home Assist, we offer a range of optional benefits so that you have the option to tailor your insurance policy to meet your needs. This also means that you can, in some circumstances, avoid paying for cover that you don’t need. Consider whether you want accidental damage cover on your park home and its contents. You may want to insure your valuables and personal possessions when they are away from your park home. You may want pedal cycle insurance cover away from your park home, or cover for a mobile scooter that includes public liability insurance. Our experienced insurance advisers will go through all the optional benefits available to you, however, it’s a good idea to consider all the options, in your own time, before taking out or renewing your policy. Our trained specialists at Park Home Assist are there to help you with all these questions and more.

  1. Understanding risk

We all know that accidents can happen, as unfortunately too, can theft and damage from storms, flooding or fire. The risk of such adverse events is there and cannot be changed by insurance cover but the effects can be significantly mitigated. Insurance provided by an award-winning provider, may offer peace of mind, should you need to make a claim and allow you to enjoy your life without additional worries.

You may be able to reduce some of the risks relating to theft, for example, by introducing some security measures, or being part of a neighbourhood watch scheme.

If your park home is situated in an area that is vulnerable to flooding, then you may be pleased to know that Park Home Assist takes part in the FloodRe scheme. This allows easier and more affordable access insurance that includes flood cover, providing site-specific (not postcode) risk assessment.

  1. Know your obligations

As with any insurance, you must provide full and accurate information when taking out or renewing your policy. If there is anything that you’re not sure about, then our experienced team are happy to talk you through all the options available to you and give you time to check the information.

When you receive your insurance policy, read it carefully to make sure that you understand what you’re covered for, along with the terms and conditions. It’s much easier to do this when you’re not in the middle of a stressful situation, wondering whether you’re covered.

You are required to maintain your park home to an adequate standard as ‘wear and tear’ is not covered by your policy. In addition, a poorly-maintained park home may have an increased risk of water ingress, or escape of water, which you may not be covered for under those circumstances. Keeping records and receipts of maintenance work may help you in the event of a claim.

We hope that these six top tips from our award-winning team at Park Home Assist will help you to understand your park home insurance more easily and make informed decisions about it.

This is a marketing article from Park Home Assist, multi-award-winning providers of residential park home insurance.  If you would like to speak to an advisor regarding insurance for your park home, please contact our friendly team in our Northampton office on 01604 946 796.

Please note that all insurance cover is subject to acceptance of terms and conditions.

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Published – 20/10/23