Owning a mobile home on a French campsite: insurance explained

No French statute forces you to insure a leisure mobile home. Your pitch contract is another matter. Almost every campsite requires proof of insurance before it hands over the pitch, and again at each annual renewal. The minimum demanded is civil liability. Many sites go further and ask for evidence of fire cover, because a fire in one unit rarely stays in one unit.

The document is called an attestation d'assurance. It is issued by the insurer, it is in French, and site managers want the current year's version in their file. Turn up at renewal without it and the campsite is entitled to refuse you the pitch.

In practice this is the easiest part to get right. Tell your broker the deadline and the certificate goes out before the site asks twice. We send it directly to owners, in time for the renewal, every year.

A mobile home is not a house, and insurers do not treat it as one. A standard French home policy is written for bricks and mortar; what you need is a contract designed for résidences mobiles de loisirs. The core covers to check:

• Storm and hail. The Var takes violent weather, especially in autumn. Wind damage to roofs and awnings is the most common claim we see.
• Fire. Units stand close together on a campsite. Cover for damage to your neighbours matters as much as cover for your own unit.
• Water damage, theft and vandalism. Standard, but read the conditions on locks and shutters.
• Contents. Furniture, appliances, bikes stored under the unit.
• Civil liability, the cover your campsite insists on.

One detail catches owners out: the decking, the awning and the garden shed are often not included automatically. They need to be declared with their value. A terrace can be worth several thousand euros, so it is worth thirty seconds of honesty on the proposal form.

Most campsites in the Var close between autumn and spring. Your mobile home sits locked and empty for months, and insurers know it. Policies contain unoccupancy clauses, and they vary. Theft cover usually depends on doors locked, shutters closed and valuables removed. Some contracts reduce certain covers after a set number of consecutive empty days.

The right approach is to declare the seasonal use honestly from the start. A mobile home policy is priced for exactly this pattern of occupation, and an accurate declaration is what protects the claim later. What causes trouble is a contract sold as if the unit were lived in year round.

Before you leave in October: cut the water, drain what can freeze if your site sits inland, unplug appliances, take the gas bottles out or close them properly, and photograph the interior. Ten photos on your phone make a contents claim far simpler the following spring.

Letting a few weeks in July and August helps pay the site fees. Before the first booking, settle two points in writing.

First, the campsite. Most pitch contracts regulate subletting. Some sites allow it freely, some restrict it, some run it through their own rental service. Check your contract rather than assuming; a letting the site has not authorised can put your pitch renewal at risk.

Second, your policy. A contract written for owner use does not automatically cover damage caused by paying guests, nor your liability towards them as their landlord. Insurers offer letting extensions, and the price is usually modest. Ask for the extension before the first tenant arrives, not after the first broken window. If you let through an agency or through the campsite's own scheme, ask who insures what, and get the answer on paper.

The typical scene: an October storm goes through the site, the awning is gone, and you hear about it from the site office while you are at home in the UK. French policies set short declaration deadlines, generally a few working days and less for theft, so the claim cannot wait for your next visit.

It does not need to. Photos taken by the site office or a neighbour are usually enough to open the file. From there, a local broker deals with the insurer and the loss adjuster in French and keeps you informed in English. That is our daily work: the office is at Port Fréjus, the team works in English and Italian as well as French, and we answer within two working hours during office hours.

Mobile homes on the campsites of the Var are one of our two historic specialties, alongside boats in the marina. We know what the site managers ask for and what the local adjusters expect to see.

To quote a mobile home we need the make, model and year, the dimensions, the town where the campsite sits, the value of the decking, awning and any shed, a rough contents figure, and whether you intend to let. With that we compare around thirty insurers and come back with the contracts that actually fit. The advice costs nothing; as an independent brokerage we are paid by the insurer you choose, not by you.

Owners rate us 4.9 out of 5 on Google, across 24 reviews. Ring +33 4 89 78 15 49, write to info@assudire.fr, send the details through the contact page or book a call at a time that suits you. More about the team on our About page.