Yes health cover in europe is a bit of a mine field now, I agree if your under retirement age and living outside the UK you have to pay, however if your working and are paying into the system you should receive free cover. It should be pointed out that the employer MUST have you on the books and not black for obvious reasons. The big problem is for instance in Spain employers are reluctant to take you on contract as the charges to them are very costly. eg a 40hr work contract will cost the employer about 425 euros per month, thats not tax or salary but the UK equal of NI. A pretty hefty chunk as you can see. Alot of employers will want to take you on "black" or offer part time casual which is of little use if you want benefits. The other thing you must consider is you cannot claim any kind of unemployment benefit in Spain unless you have enough credits, full time 40hrs per week for 6 months is as I understand the minimum. Be warned you cannot stay on unemployment benefit in Spain they wont have it, 6 months is about the max. "No Work, No Live" !.
Thanks for the replys to new rules, would that be the same if person is still paying a voluntary stamp i wonder.???? however best to be covered in any case. thanks again.
The voluntary stamp only works if you in the UK, Europe (Spain) dont care as they not getting the money. Good Try!.. Life never easy, funny thing is we thought we were in europe but experience shows me were not. There are so many pit falls moving to a different country, some you would not believe. Its good all the same but remember "expect the unexpected" and have enough cash to deal with it. I meet people every year and its the same advice.
Hi everyone, I have just joined and love the fact that so many are thinking about or are actually already living in their vans.
I am thinking about doing the same but am very new to all of this. My 2 questions, concerns are a) I am female and would be by myself. Would the security be ok on the whole? b) I have my 2 dogs with me. Do most sites allow long term stay with dogs?
Hi Feel Free! During our travels we've met a lot of single females of varying ages, some with dogs and some without. Without exception all of them have been travelling throughout Europe without any problems and in fact most said how helpful the locals had been when things went wrong. However, that doesn't mean that you don't have to be careful out there! We also heard (second hand) a few horror stories about folk being robbed of everything (mostly families though)while they slept (some having been gassed with SonoGas) so it's not all sweetness and light, but then neither is normal life these days eh? As to sites accepting dogs long term, I haven't come across any dog friendly sites which worry about the dog long term, more about it's owner! To conclude - you only have one life so live it, but use your head and be safe out there - have fun! :)
------------- Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt and Dance like nobody's watching!
This thread is 10 years old but a lot of it is still relevant. I would never have dreamt that I would be living in a motorhome in 2015 back in 2005,we have everything sorted we think, an address, a ehic card and we spend all winter in warmer climes. Portugal for the last 2 years but it's going to be spain this year. My Hubby is 72 and I'm 62,weer thought we'd be sitting inside 4 walls when we were this age, shows you what the future can bring, I'm just glad we have our health.
Quote: Originally posted by Feel Free on 01/10/2015
Hi everyone, I have just joined and love the fact that so many are thinking about or are actually already living in their vans.
I am thinking about doing the same but am very new to all of this. My 2 questions, concerns are a) I am female and would be by myself. Would the security be ok on the whole? b) I have my 2 dogs with me. Do most sites allow long term stay with dogs?
Thanks for any advice
Have a look at this blog:
http://lovelygreyday.blogspot.co.uk/
From October 2014 until July 2015 this lady lived full-time in a Knaus motorhome.
You have to have a bricks & mortar address. This can be the home of a friend or relative. You pretend you live there & all your banking & insurance is done from there. There is no other way to do it although it is Micky Mouse of course.
You can get fulltiming insurance from "Comfort" but its not cheap, mine when we fulltimed 3 years ago was about £1800 a year. I believe most go down the route of pretending they live at a relations address, as long as you are aware that this carries a risk (small admittedly) of the insurance company finding out, that's fine.
All banking can be done online so very easy nowadays. You can have all mail delivered to either a relation or a postbox.
Their several companies who run postbox services at different levels. The basic is to store it for you and forward it on to you at sometime, anther option is for them to open and scan all your mail and email it to you.