A life afloat can spell trouble when you hit the road
RETIRED electronics engineer Stuart Tyler loves living on a boat – but the experience has come with frustrations.
He is constantly on the move and never has a set postcode, so the purchase of car insurance is almost impossible.
Stuart, 70, his 62-year-old wife Angela and dog Jem are ‘continuous canal boat cruisers’, touring the canals and navigable rivers of northern England. Home is a 37-ton Dutch barge, 12ft 6in wide and 60ft long.
British Waterways says boats can only moor in one spot for up to 14 nights. For years Stuart kept his boat moored in one marina, but since his wife retired they have cruised more regularly.
This has created issues for Stuart because he has a car that he moves from mooring to mooring. He says: ‘Most policies say you have to notify your insurer if you change your address. Since I am changing mine at least every 14 days that is just not feasible.
‘I may only be a couple of miles further down the towpath but wherever I go, my Volvo S60 Turbo goes too. You can only travel at four miles an hour on the canal so you can’t get far in a day. I am partially disabled and I need easy access to the car so when we tie up at a new mooring I travel back and collect it the same day.’
Stuart, who approached dozens of insurers, even offered to pay the most expensive premium quoted, but none would take his business. He eventually succeeded in getting cover with insurer Herts Insurance Consultants after seeking guidance from the editor of boating magazine Towpath Talk.
He says: ‘Insurance companies say if you take the car and the boat away from the marina you are moving home and so you are no longer insured.’
Stuart, now moored near Southport, Merseyside, says other boaters might be unaware their car insurance may not be valid.
Andy Morton, manager at HIC, says those living in camper vans or motorhomes face similar issues. HIC is one of the few providers to offer cover through its Walkabout policy.
Morton says: ‘Most insurers require a fixed address with a postcode to provide cover. They do not have the flexibility of a specialist broker who can find niche insurers prepared to offer cover that fits people’s lifestyles.’
The couple’s favourite cruise to date was across the top of the Pennines on the 127-mile, 91-lock Leeds and Liverpool Canal.