Am I covered? French Trailer boaters expertise would be appreciated

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B175Chris

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Towing boat 1000 miles to south of France in a fortnight, only to be told by RAC today that, for example, should a wheel fall off the trailer and the boat / trailer gets broken, we are not covered on the insurance.

Phoned up a load of marine insurance companies and only boat and trailer recovery is for the UK, it seems like no-one has ever towed to france before and needed this sort of cover, despite the thousands of boats filling up the ports..

Have people been towing unaware they are not covered? or is there a way of getting round the system / a company thats covers europe?

I would appreciate any info at all! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thanks

Chris /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Re: Am I covered? French Trailer boaters expertise would be appreciate

Cant believe this is the case, once again insurance companies trying to get out of payying up. I would try specialists in the trailer insurance market, caravans, farmers etc NFU (no connection) might be a idea
 
Lost a boat off the trailer[both damaged] in Spain about 15 years ago after travelling down via chunnel,insurance paid for boat and trailer. 5* ins. by the AA paid all expences for me to go back out to Gib. to repatriate the rig after repairs had been carried out. Don't know if this has changed . Dave.
 
have towed all over France /Spain and would echo davepc (although I never actually claimed!)

I took out AA ***** to cover vehicle and trailer; boat insurance (Sun Alliance via Mardon) covered actual boat on trailer.
 
RE: Dave+Duncan, thanks, tried the AA but I think it has definitely changed, they now hold no responsibility apparently for recovery or repatriation, but thanks for the Idea, I'll have a look at this 5 star now.
I'm reminded of a previous post a couple of weeks ago, cant remember the poster I'm afraid but jacknifed over the brow of a hill, if that was in another country I would love to hear about the insurance situation if anybody knows the forumite who posted it /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
that was on the M4

AA5* is specifically for foregn cover - being a UK AA member is not going to cover you. I used to use it as holiday insurance etc etc



AA european breakdown cover [ QUOTE ]
Your vehicle: means the vehicle you are using for your trip. If you pay the towing supplement we will also cover a towed trailer/caravan

[/ QUOTE ]

who is the boat insurance with?
 
Re: Am I covered? French Trailer boaters expertise would be appreciate

Christian are you talking loss insurance or breakdown insurance?

Thousands of people take their caravans to the Continent every year and they have no problems insuring their caravan or getting recovery cover, after all , that is what the RAC and AA does for a living.

From RAC website:

<span style="color:blue">Cover is available at a standard premium for vehicles aged less than six years old, carrying up to five people (including the driver) in Zone 1 countries. Older vehicles, additional passengers, vehicles towing caravans or trailers and vehicles travelling to Zone 2 countries will also be covered subject to the payment of the appropriate supplements. </span>
 
Re: Am I covered? French Trailer boaters expertise would be appreciate

You have to be very careful with the small print on all these policies - many of them have restrictions on total length of trailer, Max height of trailer and load, or weight of trailer and load. I looked into this for someone a year or so ago, and the number of policies that wouldn't cover the boat and trailer in question was very high
 
A good option (at least for the UK as I've not checked the EU option) is to join the Camping and Caravan Club. Then take out their option for RAC membership. This removes any restrictions on age and size up to the legal UK limit for towing. The other week I lost a trailer bearing and called them out - 29' long and nearly 3 tons. After a bit of discussion and reminding them of the rules they turned up. The recovery is a different story, but the eventually did their bit through a commercial vehicle recovery fleet. IIRC the same also applies for the European Cover, but I've not tested it! You also get a reasonable discount even allowing for the C&CC Membership.
 
Well to be honest I dont have all the information because I'm having to relay the info from my dad who is hadling all the insurance and he is on a business trip.
As far as I am aware, the boat cover is with Euromarine, who have been very good.
After speaking with the people at AA and RAC, should the trailer or car get broken or break down in some way, they will repatriate the trailer and car, but they wont take the boat. How mad does that sound?
How would they expect us to get the boat off the trailer on the motorway so they can just tow the trailer by itself?
Both car and trailer are being serviced just before we go to minimise chances of anything going wrong, but if it should, I suppose we could use the argument that the boat is part of the trailer...?
Thanks for the response /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Chris
 
In addition to the insurance / recovery issue, make sure you have a decent jack spare bearings and grease and a few wheel chocks.
If your trailer is dunked regularly change the bearings before you leave, and if possible have the boat lifted at the other end. If you cant do this re-grease your bearings before your return journey. Have plenty of rag to hand and disposable latex gloves will be useful.
Give the rig a test tow on the motoway before you finally set of to make sure the weight distribution is correct and that your not going to start snaking, which is a major cause of towing accidents. Take it easy, enjoy the drive and stop to check bearing temperatures regularly, you should have a trouble free journey.
Final tip, If you are launching off of the trailer, give the bearings time to cool down before hand, at least 15 - 20 mins.
 
Cheers, Great advice /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Both trailer and car will be serviced beforehand and a motorway test run before we set off is a very good idea which I hadnt even considered, so thanks for that.

I thin the most stressful part of the journey will be driving on and off the ferry from dover to calais, never seen anybody trailer onto one, so will be a very interesting experience *bites nails*

Chris
 
Hi Chris,
Don't worry about the ferry, I used to tow boats all over Europe with a Landrover, and later up to 55 footers with a truck, I never had any problems with loading and the ferry crew are generaly very helpful with loading/unloading. Just take your time and enjoy the trip.
 
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