Postal address help please

[JamesWoolcock]

Hi

Been boating a very long time and been living aboard for nearly 20 years and this is my postal story. Winter is mostly spent on my home mooring which is bankside and not serviced at all. Spring, summer and autumn I'm out boating all over the place.

For a full postal service that gives a street address and mailing service for residential boaters try BoatPost. They are in Belper but that doesn't matter in the least.

Call or email David on 07977 597478 or email boatpost2@gmail.com

I have been using their excellent service for years. Quite brilliant. That's where everyone from the Taxman to the kind senders of Christmas cards think I live.

You can use their address as your own for nearly all purposes including for your car insurance correspondence and give the marina as the place you keep it. If that doesn't work, (actuaries can lack imagination!) talk to the marina as there will be little or no correspondence as you can do it all on line. The insurers should only be interested in where its kept and used.

The NHS can be tricky as for them one size fits all so you will have to find an address to use that's where your doctors is. Maybe a friend? If you give a mailing agency's address they'll just remove you from your doctors list and tell you to get GP near there!

Electoral roll is no problem, just speak to the Electoral Services office of the council where you wish to vote. They will want to know about your connections with the area but won't care about you giving a postal only address.

That's it, easy peasy and works a treat for me.

Do message me on here if you have any thing you wish to raise.

James

 

[PCSB]

3 minutes ago, Idle Days said:

With regard to car insurance I simple telephoned the company and explained the situation. So for correspondence they now use my BoatMail address as my abode but recognise my Northampton location where our car is kept and use that for the purposes of calculating the premium.

 

 I had a bit of a tussle with the DVLA regarding changing my licence address to my correspondence address. Initially they refuse, so I explained that I didn't mind if my new licence didn't have an address on it, so they capitulated on that point. 

Thanks Dave, I will be in contact with my insurance company, once I've sorted a suitable "address" out. Hopefully they will take a similar view as yours did.

[JamesWoolcock]

2 minutes ago, PCSB said:

Thanks Dave, I will be in contact with my insurance company, once I've sorted a suitable "address" out. Hopefully they will take a similar view as yours did.

Great, but I'm James!

[PCSB]

3 minutes ago, JamesWoolcock said:

Hi

Been boating a very long time and been living aboard for nearly 20 years and this is my postal story. Winter is mostly spent on my home mooring which is bankside and not serviced at all. Spring, summer and autumn I'm out boating all over the place.

For a full postal service that gives a street address and mailing service for residential boaters try BoatPost. They are in Belper but that doesn't matter in the least.

Call or email David on 07977 597478 or email boatpost2@gmail.com

I have been using their excellent service for years. Quite brilliant. That's where everyone from the Taxman to the kind senders of Christmas cards think I live.

You can use their address as your own for nearly all purposes including for your car insurance correspondence and give the marina as the place you keep it. If that doesn't work, (actuaries can lack imagination!) talk to the marina as there will be little or no correspondence as you can do it all on line. The insurers should only be interested in where its kept and used.

The NHS can be tricky as for them one size fits all so you will have to find an address to use that's where your doctors is. Maybe a friend? If you give a mailing agency's address they'll just remove you from your doctors list and tell you to get GP near there!

Electoral roll is no problem, just speak to the Electoral Services office of the council where you wish to vote. They will want to know about your connections with the area but won't care about you giving a postal only address.

That's it, easy peasy and works a treat for me.

Do message me on here if you have any thing you wish to raise.

James

 

Thanks James I'll defintely take a look at BoatPost. Sorting a GP will be important and keeping everything legal is desirable re the car.

1 minute ago, JamesWoolcock said:

Great, but I'm James!

I was replying to Idle Days in that reply ...

[waterdog]

For car insurance talking to a broker will sort it, we explained that we live on the boat and constantly cruise but our "home" address is in Sussex.

We just email them every week or so with the new post code for where the vehicle will be kept overnight.

We used "A plan" brokers who have an office in Lichfield.

The real test will be if we need to make a claim though.

 

 

[roland elsdon]

I use A plan for the boat insurance (through Mike Stimpson ) initially.

They seem very efficient, but then currently we are on the radar.

Im sure the fun and games will re start when we finally get home to Australia, let  or sell this albatross house thing, and resume 6 months uk on boat and Aus residency again.

We have had insurance nightmares for years. You live on a 1937 boat in the uk are australian residents the rest of the year, and keep and drive a high performance car in the Uk.

Oh and in Australia you live in a vw camper. Joy.

[PCSB]

38 minutes ago, waterdog said:

For car insurance talking to a broker will sort it, we explained that we live on the boat and constantly cruise but our "home" address is in Sussex.

We just email them every week or so with the new post code for where the vehicle will be kept overnight.

We used "A plan" brokers who have an office in Lichfield.

The real test will be if we need to make a claim though.

 

 

Thanks. Nearer the time to getting on the boat I'll do just that

15 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

I use A plan for the boat insurance (through Mike Stimpson ) initially.

They seem very efficient, but then currently we are on the radar.

Im sure the fun and games will re start when we finally get home to Australia, let  or sell this albatross house thing, and resume 6 months uk on boat and Aus residency again.

We have had insurance nightmares for years. You live on a 1937 boat in the uk are australian residents the rest of the year, and keep and drive a high performance car in the Uk.

Oh and in Australia you live in a vw camper. Joy.

Nowt like making life complicated eh 😅

[sueb]

Boatmail seems to be a good postal company. I knew the previous owner. A car can be a pain we found it easier and cheaper to hire. Good luck

[PCSB]

34 minutes ago, sueb said:

Boatmail seems to be a good postal company. I knew the previous owner. A car can be a pain we found it easier and cheaper to hire. Good luck

Thank you.

[BWM]

We use mailbox, etc for post and collect it weekly. This address was acceptable for my driving licence but they required a copy of the boat licence before allowing this as an address. 

 As for car insurance i have heard that NFU might be useful and will be trying them next renewal. 

17 hours ago, Idle Days said:

With regard to car insurance I simple telephoned the company and explained the situation. So for correspondence they now use my BoatMail address as my abode but recognise my Northampton location where our car is kept and use that for the purposes of calculating the premium.

 

 I had a bit of a tussle with the DVLA regarding changing my licence address to my correspondence address. Initially they refuse, so I explained that I didn't mind if my new licence didn't have an address on it, so they capitulated on that point. 

Which insurer do you use and are the prices reasonable?

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by BWM

[Idle Days]

I use By Miles and have done so for a few years. It provides a cost saving for low milage users like me who clock up less than 6000 miles a year.  They charge a basic annual premium plus a milage charge calculated and billed monthly.  The annual cost for me works out at less than half of what I was paying.  Not for everyone but may be worth a look.

[Jim Batty]

I've heard good things about BoatMail. Over 12 years now we've used two private mailbox services -- presently with MBE. They are very friendly, efficient, will forward you stuff, let you know if a special package you're waiting for has come in, etc. They can take delivery of parcels, sign for things ... and we even have a key to a separate postbox room as well as our box for out-of-hour use. (We usually get there once every month or two.) Their address becomes your address ... and your box number becomes 'Flat 123', 'Suite 123' or 'Studio 123'. For us, everything goes through here.

 

Except the NHS, where we have a different private address and regular local GP surgery where we often over-winter.

 

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