Sometimes trailer tent owners don’t realise this but it is a legal requirement that any vehicle or trailer which is driven or pulled on a public road has appropriate insurance. The legislation which governs the legal requirements pertaining to towed trailers is The Road Traffic Act 1988 and in some cases, motor insurance policies already include cover for any attached trailers. Have a look at your car insurance policy to see if it includes insurance for trailer tents.
This sort of ‘towed trailer inclusive’ insurance is not always part of a policy, so it’s prudent to check to see if yours includes it and make arrangements to take it out if it doesn’t. The minimum legal level of insurance which is required for using a trailer tent is third party insurance which is intended to provide cover for any accidents that befall other people either as a result of, or otherwise involving your trailer.
If you do have car insurance cover which includes towed trailers then that insurance only ever applies when the trailer is attached to the vehicle. So, if the trailer wasn’t attached to a car and an accident occurred then the policy would not apply. It also doesn’t provide coverage for theft or damage, it only offers cash towards a third party accident, not any other kind of mishap. That means that with the minimum legal level of insurance, if there were a crash, fire, theft or natural catastrophe which damaged your trailer tent or its contents you’d have no insurance money to buy replacement items or fix the damage.
Also, because third party cover (as sometimes included with a car insurance policy) doesn’t cover the trailer when it is detached from the vehicle, accidents can happen outside of the jurisdiction of existing policies and cause major problems. If a detached trailer rolled on uneven ground and damaged someone else’s property such as a parked car or caravan an ordinary towing inclusion on a car insurance policy would not cover that accident. Ordinary towed trailer, third party insurance policies which come with car insurance only cover accidents which occur when the trailer is attached.
Apart from third party cover, which must either be included in your car insurance or added if it isn’t, there’s no legal requirement for any additional types of insurance. However, you could find that taking out additional cover for your trailer tent offers assurance and peace of mind. For example, trailer contents insurance or insurance which protects your trailer from theft or vandalism might be a good idea.
Legal experts advise that unless you know for certain you have third party insurance which covers your trailer tent, you shouldn’t take it out on to the road whatsoever. This is because you would be breaking the law and also putting yourself and others at great financial risk. In the event that you had an accident involving an unsecured trailer you’d be legally obligated to pay potentially large sums of money to the third party who was involved in the accident for any medical and court costs.