The Pitfalls of Full-timing in a Motorhome

Barry and Margaret Williamson

June 2011

We prefer the term 'long-term' to describe our mode of travel. 'Long-term' and 'long-distance' is an even better way of putting it. The term 'full-timing' has a number of pitfalls and problems associated with it, particularly if long periods are spent outside the UK. The problems are associated with renewing the Road Fund Licence (RFL), the MOT, insurance and residency status.

The MOT
With a new vehicle, of course, you have up to 3 years to drive without an MOT. This means that you can renew your RFL by internet or post for 3 years whilst out of the country, providing you remain insured. However, most of the issues listed below still apply.

It is extremely unlikely, bearing on impossible, that the authorities in any country other than the UK would be interested in your MOT being in or out of date. In 13 years, we have never had that checked, even at a difficult border such as the Greek/Turkish one where they actually stop you either side of the no-man's-land and look at passport, registration and insurance documents. Most European borders are open and if you are stopped for a routine check on the road, it's usually only passport, registration document or driving licence that they may want to see. But that very rarely happens and is no problem. We were pulled over by a Turkish roadside check the other day, but when the policeman saw we were 'tourists', he smiled (laughed?) and waved us on.

Renewing the RFL
If you leave the UK with 11 months or as much as possible on your RFL, plus an MOT which you get just before you leave, you can renew your RFL over the internet when it expires and the MOT is just still in force. The new RFL is posted to the address in the UK at which the vehicle is registered (you definitely need a UK address, but that's a whole new subject). You then have an RFL for another 12 months, making nearly 2 years. A possible snag is if you have to make an insurance claim in the second year and the assessors use the absence of an MOT as an excuse to reduce the amount payable. This is a risk. When you return to the UK, it's written into the law that, if your MOT has expired while abroad, you can legally drive from the port to a pre-arranged MOT test (so you must have one booked ready).

It's sad that the EU hasn't yet got an EU-wide vehicle registration scheme, along with insurance and MOT. Problem with the MOT is that standards vary so widely from Germany to Greece! Some countries only demand inspection every 2 years – but that doesn't help us. Only a UK-originated MOT is valid for a UK-registered vehicle.

Staying out of the UK for a third year isn't on, because you would not have an MOT without returning to the UK, and so couldn't renew your RFL. All three items - insurance, registration document and MOT - are on the Great Government Computer in Swansea and one is checked with the other. This is why you can now renew the RFL on-line without any documents being shown or seen - just your credit card number! On the other hand, as soon as the RFL expires, they know. They start fining you on a per diem basis, but they have to actually see you on the road without a current RFL before the big punishments (fines, prison, crushing, etc) step in.

The possible problems with being out of the UK for a protracted period are as follows (the list is exhausting but not exhaustive).

1. Motorhome Insurance. The motorhome's insurance company may limit your time out of the UK - most do, and some demand an extra premium for stays longer than 90 days. Some limit you to 90 days in any one year, some to 90 days in any one journey. A few do allow a full 365 days out of the UK - including Comfort, Bakers (for an extra premium), NFU, Saga, Safeguard.

2. Living in the Van. know who will insure you (at an enhanced premium) if you actually declare you are 'full-timing' is Comfort - and in return for their insurance, they need assurance that you are 'genuine travellers' and not just 'living in a field'.

3. The Inland Revenue may want to know if you are 'resident' in the UK or 'non-resident' or 'ordinarily resident' (defined by a number of factors, only one of which is the number of days you spend in the UK in a given year) and this may make a difference to the amount and way in which you are taxed - particularly on the income from rental property or on any money earned overseas. For the full story, open:  http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/hmrc6.pdf.

4. Banks usually require that you are resident in the UK and may need proof before they allow you to open an account - eg utility bills at a given address. This does not necessarily affect existing accounts.

5. Credit Status. Your credit status in the UK may suffer if you cannot be located at a given address, eg by not being on the Electoral Roll. We were once refused a store card at Debenhams in Birmingham for that reason - but we got the discount on the suitcases we were buying anyway (the only reason we wanted the card), once we explained by showing a photograph of our 'house', parked in the Moroccan desert.

6. Electoral Roll, Not being on the Electoral Roll is not an offence, but it may be hard to stay on it legally and you might want to stay on it in order to use a postal vote and/or to ensure your credit status.

7. DVLA. If you take your vehicle out of the UK for less than 12 months, it is regarded by the DVLA in Swansea as 'temporarily exported' and that is OK providing you keep the RFL up to date. If you take it out of the country for more than 12 months, it is regarded as 'permanently exported' and you are supposed to hand in your Registration Document and obtain in return an Export Certificate. The assumption is that you are going to register the vehicle in your new country of residence! You avoid this by not planning to stay out for more than 12 months when you first leave the country.

8. Exporting. If you do take option 7 - export the vehicle (and some motorhomers do) - then you have real problems. You have no registration certificate, your number plate is no longer valid and a UK insurance company will not cover you if they know that the vehicle is no longer UK-registered. They may have taken your money, but wait till you try and make a claim!

9. SORN, Another course which some motorhomers have taken is to declare a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) before leaving the UK. This freezes their status on the DVLA computer and no RFL is expected. Problem is that it is actually a criminal (and not just a motoring) offence (with large fines and prison looming) if you use a vehicle on the road (any road) whilst a SORN has been declared. And your insurance company would withdraw cover, if they knew. People get away with this because they have to be actually seen on the road whilst 'SORNed' and the DVLA does not make it clear enough that it has to be off the road and stored in the UK - not off the UK roads and being driven around the Continent!

10. UK Address. You need a UK address! For all kinds of obvious reasons, not least that the motorhome insurance company ask where you normally keep the vehicle and base the premium to some extent on the post code - even if they are also giving you 365 days out of the country.

11. Residence. It is an EU directive, we are told, that vehicle insurance companies in a given country can only insure vehicles which are registered in that country.

12. Travels and Health Insurance. For travel and health insurance from a UK company (a good idea in countries that are not part of the EHIC scheme, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Morocco), there is usually the requirement that you are resident in the UK and that you take out the insurance before you leave the UK. Most companies also put limits on the length of time you can be out of the UK - usually 90 days - although some do allow multiple trips. We found good value and unlimited time out of the UK, worldwide, from Endsleigh (the student insurance company) or from the British Mountaineering Council (BMC).

All this explains why we return to the UK now and then in order to renew the MOT. However, all pioneers have to work in the gaps left by existing custom and regulation until the rest of society catches up with them, and then they are no longer pioneers!