Comfort Insurance - won’t insure my California

[Broch Hunter]

I bought my current California Ocean a year ago, the 12 months free insurance which VW kindly included in the deal is about to expire, so I have been looking for new cover. I was previously with Caravan & Motorhome insurance, but Comfort seem popular among Cali owners so I thought I would try them this year. Having obtained a quote I pointed out that my Cali was one of those registered in the strange period in 2019 when DVLA registered the Ocean as an MPV. The response from Comfort was that as it is not a motor home they will not insure it, unless I get it re-registered as a Motor Home. I was surprised as I had searched the forum and found that Comfort knew of this problem a year ago and were accepting the MPV classification.

California Vehicle Classification & VW UK

Yes it has a private plate, that must be the reason. Mine's on a Private plate with no problem. 3rd vehicle.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

I was told I was wrong, after which the conversation did not go well and I will now go elsewhere.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with Comfort recently?

 

[Wogga]

I bought my current California Ocean a year ago, the 12 months free insurance which VW kindly included in the deal is about to expire, so I have been looking for new cover. I was previously with Caravan & Motorhome insurance, but Comfort seem popular among Cali owners so I thought I would try them this year. Having obtained a quote I pointed out that my Cali was one of those registered in the strange period in 2019 when DVLA registered the Ocean as an MPV. The response from Comfort was that as it is not a motor home they will not insure it, unless I get it re-registered as a Motor Home. I was surprised as I had searched the forum and found that Comfort knew of this problem a year ago and were accepting the MPV classification.

California Vehicle Classification & VW UK

Yes it has a private plate, that must be the reason. Mine's on a Private plate with no problem. 3rd vehicle.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

I was told I was wrong, after which the conversation did not go well and I will now go elsewhere.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with Comfort recently?

Just got my quote last week over the phone, just told them it was an Ocean on order due this month. I guess that because it isn't registered yet they must of assumed it will be registered as a Moho. Body type on quote is MH.

 

[Moon Madness]

I insured mine Monday with Comfort for pick up this week, my schedule states ‘Motorhome’, I have just checked.Obviously not seen the v5 yet though.

 

[WelshGas]

I insured mine Monday with Comfort for pick up this week, my schedule states ‘Motorhome’, I have just checked.Obviously not seen the v5 yet though.

All T6.1 will be registered as Motor Caravans with VED of ? £270/pa, but the last few months of T6 California’s were registered as MPV’s.

 

[Dr-Snickers]

Slightly worried now as they insured my 2019 Ocean last week and never even brought up the unusual classification, but no-one asked and so I didn't give it a thought until now.

Does anyone know if we can have it re-registered?

 

[Broch Hunter]

Slightly worried now as they insured my 2019 Ocean last week and never even brought up the unusual classification, but no-one asked and so I didn't give it a thought until now.

Does anyone know if we can have it re-registered?

Interesting. A couple of question if I may:

1. Is your Ocean registered as an MPV?
2. Were you insured with Comfort last year?

My understanding is that the registration body type cannot be changed retrospectively from MPV to Motorhome. It was a quirk of 2019 for which VW blame DVLA and DVLA blame VW

 

[Dr-Snickers]

Interesting. A couple of question if I may:

1. Is your Ocean registered as an MPV?
2. Were you insured with Comfort last year?

My understanding is that the registration body type cannot be changed retrospectively from MPV to Motorhome. It was a quirk of 2019 for which VW blame DVLA and DVLA blame VW

1: Yes, MPV
2: No, with VW on the free annual insurance offer.

This is possibly a very frustrating issue because some of the other motor home insurance options I looked at wouldn’t cover me because I was an MPV and the car insurers wouldn’t cover me for camping. Only Comfort and VW said they would cover me for camping at a reasonable price.

This means we’re rather limited going forward because the DVLA and VW had a spat and we are are the ones paying extra tax too. Not very impressed.

 

[terryph]

Tried to insure my new Cali Ocean which is registered as a PLG Motorcavan with Comfort 1st week November by they refused to insure it. In the end I went with AIB.
Seem it depend on who you speak to at Comfort rather than what the Cali is registered as!

 

[Scoots]

Tried to insure my new Cali Ocean which is registered as a PLG Motorcavan with Comfort 1st week November by they refused to insure it. In the end I went with AIB.
Seem it depend on who you speak to at Comfort rather than what the Cali is registered as!

I'm pretty sure both sell the same Aviva policy so that's quite odd

 

[Wogga]

Tried to insure my new Cali Ocean which is registered as a PLG Motorcavan with Comfort 1st week November by they refused to insure it. In the end I went with AIB.
Seem it depend on who you speak to at Comfort rather than what the Cali is registered as!

Think I read elsewhere on here Terry that value has a top level, I think they won't insure an Ocean over £70 or 75K can't remember which?

 

[Dr-Snickers]

So, did they ask you what it was registered as or did it come up on their system?

Not sure if I need to double check or let sleeping dogs lie....

Interesting. A couple of question if I may:

1. Is your Ocean registered as an MPV?
2. Were you insured with Comfort last year?

My understanding is that the registration body type cannot be changed retrospectively from MPV to Motorhome. It was a quirk of 2019 for which VW blame DVLA and DVLA blame VW

 

[terryph]

Could be that £70k was the problem as I have a lot of options on it which takes it over that limit, but its still strange that AIB could do it now problem with Aviva

 

[Saesneg Shaun]

I have just insured my new Ocean with Comfort. Over £70k value declared with my extra options and insured no problem using the club discount.
Seems very hit and miss?

 

[Wild Bob]

I bought my current California Ocean a year ago, the 12 months free insurance which VW kindly included in the deal is about to expire, so I have been looking for new cover. I was previously with Caravan & Motorhome insurance, but Comfort seem popular among Cali owners so I thought I would try them this year. Having obtained a quote I pointed out that my Cali was one of those registered in the strange period in 2019 when DVLA registered the Ocean as an MPV. The response from Comfort was that as it is not a motor home they will not insure it, unless I get it re-registered as a Motor Home. I was surprised as I had searched the forum and found that Comfort knew of this problem a year ago and were accepting the MPV classification.

California Vehicle Classification & VW UK

Yes it has a private plate, that must be the reason. Mine's on a Private plate with no problem. 3rd vehicle.

vwcaliforniaclub.com

I was told I was wrong, after which the conversation did not go well and I will now go elsewhere.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with Comfort recently?

Yes I had the same issue with them and a few other insurers used on here. Mine classed as an MPV too. I ended up going with VW

 

[Wild Bob]

My experience of trying to insure my 2019 Cali Ocean we horrendous, its as thought nobody knew what a VW Cali was. Comfort, Caravan club, I had a new kombi which was insured with Aviva but guess what they would not insure it either !!! Phoned VW they insured me ensuring only VW authorised repair shops for £356

 

[Broch Hunter]

It would appear that Comfort have an inconsistent approach to the MPV registration problem which seems to depend upon who answers the phone for them. This cannot be right, at a business level they either do or don’t cover a California Ocean registered as an MPV. They were aware of the issue a year ago when they accepted them, but now may or may not have changed their minds.

As ‘sponsor’ of the insurance section I would have thought Comfort might take an interest in the issues discussed here and I believe they need to make their ruling clear.

 

[Dr-Snickers]

My V5 also states MPV and have just renewed my Comfort policy in July without issue. In year 1 I mentioned the MPV issue and they didn't have a problem with it. For the year 2 renewal I didn't mention MPV again as to be honest I'd forgotten all about it. Having read this post yesterday I thought I should call Comfort today to see if my policy was OK. I spoke with Mike who knew all about this problem and he reassured me that the policy was fine and that I have nothing to worry about. He also said that Comfort Insurance have VW Californias on their list of vehicles to insure. He also mentioned (and I'm not so sure about this bit although and hope its true) that the DVLA are working on updating California V5's from MPV to Motor Caravan. Please please don't take my word for that and I'd suggest that you contact the DVLA for confirmation. Unfortunately there is a strong likelihood is this will be yet another blind alley but you never know. Fingers crossed.

That's very good to hear.

 

[Broch Hunter]

My V5 also states MPV and have just renewed my Comfort policy in July without issue. In year 1 I mentioned the MPV issue and they didn't have a problem with it. For the year 2 renewal I didn't mention MPV again as to be honest I'd forgotten all about it. Having read this post yesterday I thought I should call Comfort today to see if my policy was OK. I spoke with Mike who knew all about this problem and he reassured me that the policy was fine and that I have nothing to worry about. He also said that Comfort Insurance have VW Californias on their list of vehicles to insure. He also mentioned (and I'm not so sure about this bit although and hope its true) that the DVLA are working on updating California V5's from MPV to Motor Caravan. Please please don't take my word for that and I'd suggest that you contact the DVLA for confirmation. Unfortunately there is a strong likelihood is this will be yet another blind alley but you never know. Fingers crossed.

That is much better, the answer you received from ‘Mike’ is the one I would have expected to hear. It is not good that I and others have been given very different answers. Comfort need to brief their staff and ensure consistency or they will continue to lose business.

 

[Comfort Insurance]

Hello everyone,

We note that that there’s been some discussion in this thread on Californias that are specified as MPV on the V5C document.

We are delighted to confirm that we can and do provide cover for Californias, if the V5C shows MPV. We would however recommend that where you can, you try and get the DVLA to register your vehicle as a ‘van with side windows’. We say this because not all insurers are able to provide cover for a California registered as a MPV and we like to treat customers fairly and give them the opportunity to maximise their options and have access to the widest possible choice of insurers, to get the most suitable and affordable cover available. We’re always happy to speak to California owners and to offer assistance, as we know at times vehicle classification and insurance can be confusing.

 

[LemonDrop]

We've got a Beach (MPV) and since the start have been insured with Safeguard under their motor caravan policy with full camping cover. Never had a reason to claim so can't comment on that but they have always been very straightforward and helpful to deal with. The underwriters are LV who get very good customer feedback in the event of a claim.

 

[Broch Hunter]

Hello everyone,

We note that that there’s been some discussion in this thread on Californias that are specified as MPV on the V5C document.

We are delighted to confirm that we can and do provide cover for Californias, if the V5C shows MPV. We would however recommend that where you can, you try and get the DVLA to register your vehicle as a ‘van with side windows’. We say this because not all insurers are able to provide cover for a California registered as a MPV and we like to treat customers fairly and give them the opportunity to maximise their options and have access to the widest possible choice of insurers, to get the most suitable and affordable cover available. We’re always happy to speak to California owners and to offer assistance, as we know at times vehicle classification and insurance can be confusing.

I am pleased to see that Comfort have now confirmed that they do in fact provide cover for all Californias, including MPVs. It was unfortunate that several of us were give different advice, but having spoken again with Comfort I am confident that this should not happen again.

 

[Scanacali]

Hello everyone,

We note that that there’s been some discussion in this thread on Californias that are specified as MPV on the V5C document.

We are delighted to confirm that we can and do provide cover for Californias, if the V5C shows MPV. We would however recommend that where you can, you try and get the DVLA to register your vehicle as a ‘van with side windows’. We say this because not all insurers are able to provide cover for a California registered as a MPV and we like to treat customers fairly and give them the opportunity to maximise their options and have access to the widest possible choice of insurers, to get the most suitable and affordable cover available. We’re always happy to speak to California owners and to offer assistance, as we know at times vehicle classification and insurance can be confusing.

My 2019 California Ocean is registered as an MPV and has been insured with Comfort for over a year. I did tell Comfort when taking out the policy that it was shown on the V5 as an MPV. I was a bit concerned when I read the statement from Comfort above, that not all their insurers cover vehicles classified as body type MPV. I phoned them to check that the insurer they had placed my California with did cover the vehicle. The person I spoke to on checking, confirmed that my policy with Aviva fully covered me. They were also aware of the Comfort statement made on this forum.

 

[dazcleveland]

This incorrect V5 registration issue seems very similar to a situation which occurred over 10 years ago with our 2007 Cali. Around that time new Cali’s were being registered with the DVLA as “diesel cars” so when the new policy of charging car tax based on emissions was introduced, the cost for Cali’s was ridiculously high. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe VW eventually got involved and arranged for owner’s V5’s to be reclassified as PLG / Motor Caravan with a corresponding reduction in car tax. We even received a bit of a refund for the previous overpayment!! I believe the original classification error was VW’s fault so this situation is not new to them and it should be possible to rectify it retrospectively!!

 

[ColliePops]

Interesting. A couple of question if I may:

1. Is your Ocean registered as an MPV?
2. Were you insured with Comfort last year?

My understanding is that the registration body type cannot be changed retrospectively from MPV to Motorhome. It was a quirk of 2019 for which VW blame DVLA and DVLA blame VW

1. Yes
2. Yes on purchase in 2019 and Yes on renewal 2020 (around £270 which I consider fair) .

And no the classification won't be changed retrospectively. I applied under the "old rules" as they were still valid policy at the beginning of 2019. DVlA held the application for five months - then published the changed rules -then simply sent my log book back.

 

[BeeBee]

I’m finding this pretty concerning. We insured our California Ocean 150 DSG with Comfort last year, reg 2019. The V5 states MPV but I just checked all of my Certs from Comfort and they keep referring to ‘Motorhome’. At the time of insuring I emphasised that this was a Campervan and V5 MPV ( at that time I didn’t know that this was a glitch only 2019 !) but they assured me that’s what they referred to California’s as !!!
Should I be worried , it’s due for renewal in February ?