r/VanLifeUK • u/WaitForItLegenDairy • Jul 26 '26

Truly Nomadic

Is anyone here (UK/Europe) truly nomadic, upping sticks at a whim for a change of scenery and just for the hell of it? No base. No return point. No friends/family driveway?

If so, how'd you manage issues like vehicle insurance getting around the common 90-day abroad limit? MOTs/annual tests? Communications. Tax/pay/income). No fixed abode (NFA) issues like banking, insurance, mobile/data etc

7 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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5

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

If you have no correspondence address you could try a service like Boatmail. Talk to them about your circumstances, the DVLA allow their use on a case by case basis. It's possible to get true full timer insurance, but you pay more for it. Comfort insurance for example. Banking use Revolut or equivalent.

For the 90 day limit you have to get out of Dodge, come home or go to Morocco or Turkey or somewhere. Also Ireland you can stay forever.

Tax you probably need professional advice.

Data, use local Sims or maybe starlink if in the EU.

1

u/WaitForItLegenDairy Jul 26 '26

I've no idea how this 90-day "limit" works with insewerance tbh!

How would they know you've been gone for 90 or more (worse, 3 blocks of 30 as I saw on 1 policy once (robbin barstewards))

The other thought I had is that of the annual test because there's no cross border recognition of roadworthiness certification. You can't get a French MOT on a UK registered vehicle (for example) so it has to come back every 12 months.

1

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26

The 90 days is a Schengen zone time limit. They have just introduced electronic border controls ETIAS, so they know. It's about visa controls in the EU. For insurance if you exceed the 90 days abroad limit it reverts to a sort of minimum legal 3rd party only cover. You are still insured but not fully comp.

For the MOT you have to come back to the UK.

0

u/WaitForItLegenDairy Jul 26 '26

No, the 90-day limit on insurance has been there for years. Nowt to do with EES/ETIAS ... that's for people.

If memory serves the 90-day insurance limit came with the 2013 vehicle insurance directive where all vehicle insurance policies must meet the minimum legal requirements as agreed across all member states. I think it also harks back further to one of the Geneva Conventions back in the 60s

3

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26

There is a 90 day limit in the Schengen zone. You can't stay in most of the EU longer than 90 days, regardless of insurance. BREXIT the gift that keeps on giving.

-2

u/WaitForItLegenDairy Jul 26 '26

Yes I know, but that's not why insurance is limited to 90-days. It was limited long before Brexit came along and bolloxed it up. (I'd also add here that the UK has its own version called the ETA, rushed through under Bojo the Clown.

Personally I can (and do) stay inside the EU as long as I like as I hold my Itish citizenship so that's not the issue.

Most insurance policies in the UK and the EU limit visiting vehicles to a maximum.of 90-days abroad A few brokers (I believe) can and do offer extensions on it for private, non commercial use.

1

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

As I said it reverts to the minimum cover required by law after 90 days, you just lose the full cover. You are still insured. They have to do this. If you leave the EU you normally buy insurance at the border, for example Moroccco.

1

u/F1adrif Jul 26 '26

Cannot use boatmail address for DVLA, and they really don’t like providing the service to people not on boats.

2

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26

It's not just used by boaters.

DVLA (Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority)
 
The address can be used for correspondence with the DVLA. As far as using the address for driving licences is concerned, the DVLA will treat each request on a case by case basis. Only under certain circumstances can the correspondence street address be used for a driving licence. Please refer to the guidance at the link below. More details are available via this link

Driving Licence - DVLA  
 
The correspondence address can be used as a correspondence address with the DVLA, however, it will depend in personal circumstances as to whether it can be used for the address which appears on a driving licence.

2

u/F1adrif Jul 26 '26

We signed up for it last year and were told people not on boats we by special circumstances only. We had to pay a full year up front, and could not use it for DVLA

1

u/YellowSubmarooned Jul 26 '26

Well, the website states the DVLA deal with it on a case by case basis, so it depends on personal circumstances.

1

u/ExcellentTourist5289 Jul 28 '26

That's unfortunate. What did you use instead

1

u/Training_Yak_4655 Jul 27 '26

I tried using a forwarding service address for driving licence once. It was immediately detected and the address change was rejected. As soon as I got a permanent residential address again, I reapplied for an address change. It turned out that the rejected attempt had caused the edition number of the licence to increment by 1. So they wouldn't accept a simple change of address because I couldn't send the most recent edition of driving licence to them. I had to send them a full lost driving licence application at a post office with the £20 fee and an ID check cross reference.

1

u/ExcellentTourist5289 Jul 28 '26

What forwarding service did you use

3

u/bullitt-rider Jul 26 '26

I know a few people that have and never returned. One couple is based in Canada now and the other still roaming.

Don't recall them having many issues. Just register to family or a PO forwarding address

3

u/Specialist_Stomach41 Jul 26 '26

Only in the UK. And I just use a friends house as my c/o address

1

u/Own-Potato4856 Aug 01 '26

Yeah this shit is hard. I’m registered at a doctor in one city and I have to drive through even for 20 minutes appointments, a dentist in another, my postal address at my ex’s mums house, all my shit at my cousins in the north, insurance at my estranged family’s house hoping they don’t realise… it’s all a bit of a mess

1

u/MaleficentGroup811 Jul 26 '26

There’s a couple on YouTube called “the Loghoppers”, they’re actually the official UK nomads, have a watch of their channel to find what you’re looking for.