UK resident travelling Europe by own car- Insurance?

As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle with
licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to travel,
for example, 18 months using your car visiting various European countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My own
insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )
Secondly - if the vehicle is not returned to UK until 18 months has elapsed
and therefore past it's normal annual licence renewal date (and in the case
of an older car) past it's MOT date, how does this affect matters?
Thirdly- is there such a thing as a European Common Market for Insurance of
vehicles owned by Europeans. ? Or does every single country have their own
rules of engagement making the entire system complicated.?

"Nige" wrote in message
...
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle
with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to
travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting various European
countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My own
insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )

EU law requires that all motor insurance issued in any EU country includes
statutory minimum cover within all other EU countries. You only need to pay
extra if you want more than the minimum cover and you have chosen an insurer
that does not include foreign travel automatically, which is usually the
cheaper ones. You need to speak to an insurance broker to discover the
policy that best suits your needs.

Secondly - if the vehicle is not returned to UK until 18 months has
elapsed and therefore past it's normal annual licence renewal date (and in
the case of an older car) past it's MOT date, how does this affect
matters?

You will be driving the car illegally after either the MOT or the VED
lapses. Your insurance will almost certainly be void in these circumstances.
You can, exceptionally, apply for the VED up to two months in advance when
it will expire during a period abroad, but you still need to have a valid
MOT. However, taking a vehicle abroad for more than 12 months counts as
exporting it, which means you need to import it officially somewhere else,
where it would have to be registered, meet the local standards and laws and
be insured. It would make things a lot easier if you broke the trip down
into two, neither longer than a year, and had an MOT done while the car was
back in Britain.

Colin Bignell

Nige wrote:
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor
vehicle with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when
you want to travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting
various European countries. Firstly- what is the best and cheapest
form of insurance to take ? (My own insurer charges a lot extra even
for one month in Europe ! )
Secondly - if the vehicle is not returned to UK until 18 months has
elapsed and therefore past it's normal annual licence renewal date
(and in the case of an older car) past it's MOT date, how does this
affect matters? Thirdly- is there such a thing as a European Common
Market for Insurance of vehicles owned by Europeans. ? Or does every
single country have their own rules of engagement making the entire
system complicated.?

As Colin said you would have to return to the UK in the middle of the
trip for an MOT. I have no idea whether this would also avoid having to
'export' the car after 12 months.

An alternative would be to buy a car elsewhere in Europe especially for
the trip. It would be an advantage to have a right hand drive car
anyway. You could sell it again at the end. I don't know the rules in
other EU countries, but you would be OK with a French car. You might be
even better off with one bought somewhere else?? In France there is no
road tax or equivalent if you only own one car. The French NCT test (MOT
equivalent but IME considerably less stringent!) lasts two years so
would cover the whole of the trip. My standard French insurance policy
covers driving elsewhere in Europe with no time limit. You would need an
address in France to register the car but AFAIK you don't have to be
permently resident here to register a car here. Worth considering??

--
Holly, in France
Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"Nige" wrote in message
...
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle
with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to
travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting various European
countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My
own insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )

EU law requires that all motor insurance issued in any EU country includes
statutory minimum cover within all other EU countries. You only need to
pay extra if you want more than the minimum cover and you have chosen an
insurer that does not include foreign travel automatically, which is
usually the cheaper ones.

Even the ones that do, limit the cover to number of days or length
of trip.

You need to speak to an insurance broker to discover the policy that best
suits your needs.

The policy required is a 12 month green card.

After ringing a dozen places I gave up trying to find one.
I decide that I had to take an old car that I was prepared to
self insure for its value.

This type of policy appears to have suffered a death due to
'me too' cange into 'directline' isnurance.

I hope that the OP has better luck than me.

tim

"Holly, in France" wrote in message
...
Nige wrote:
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor
vehicle with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when
you want to travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting
various European countries. Firstly- what is the best and cheapest
form of insurance to take ? (My own insurer charges a lot extra even
for one month in Europe ! )
Secondly - if the vehicle is not returned to UK until 18 months has
elapsed and therefore past it's normal annual licence renewal date
(and in the case of an older car) past it's MOT date, how does this
affect matters? Thirdly- is there such a thing as a European Common
Market for Insurance of vehicles owned by Europeans. ? Or does every
single country have their own rules of engagement making the entire
system complicated.?

As Colin said you would have to return to the UK in the middle of the
trip for an MOT. I have no idea whether this would also avoid having to
'export' the car after 12 months.

An alternative would be to buy a car elsewhere in Europe especially for
the trip. It would be an advantage to have a right hand drive car
anyway.

Not with 25 years experience of driving a LHD it isn't.

It is much easier to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road
than sit on the 'wrong' side of the car. Overtaking is only
a problem on minor roads, if one sticks to the motorway
there isn't a problem

I have a hire car this week, I cannot drive it confidently.

tim

tim (in Sweden) wrote:
"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"Nige" wrote in message
...
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle
with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to
travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting various European
countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My
own insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )

EU law requires that all motor insurance issued in any EU country includes
statutory minimum cover within all other EU countries. You only need to
pay extra if you want more than the minimum cover and you have chosen an
insurer that does not include foreign travel automatically, which is
usually the cheaper ones.

Even the ones that do, limit the cover to number of days or length
of trip.

You need to speak to an insurance broker to discover the policy that best
suits your needs.

The policy required is a 12 month green card.

After ringing a dozen places I gave up trying to find one.
I decide that I had to take an old car that I was prepared to
self insure for its value.

This type of policy appears to have suffered a death due to
'me too' cange into 'directline' isnurance.

I hope that the OP has better luck than me.

tim

they used to do 12month green card
http://www.stuartcollins.com/qanda.shtml

tim (in Sweden) wrote:
"Holly, in France" wrote in message


An alternative would be to buy a car elsewhere in Europe especially
for the trip. It would be an advantage to have a right hand drive car
anyway.

Not with 25 years experience of driving a LHD it isn't.

Weeelll, I had 22 years experience when I moved here from Ireland,
having only driven RHD cars before.

It is much easier to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road
than sit on the 'wrong' side of the car.

Yes, you're right, it is to begin with. But you soon get used to it.

Overtaking is only
a problem on minor roads, if one sticks to the motorway
there isn't a problem

An 18 month tour of Europe is going to involve a fair bit of non
motorway or dual carriageway driving. For the first two years that we
were here we had one LHD and one RHD car. It really does make a
difference for overtaking and it doesn't take long until one begins to
prefer the 'wrong' side of the car :-)

I have a hire car this week, I cannot drive it confidently.

For a week that is understandable. I struggle a bit for the first few
hours now when I hire a car in the UK or Ireland because these days I
drive LHD cars all the time. But it really doesn't take long to become
'bilingual' as far as cars are concerned.

--
Holly, in France
Gite to let in Dordogne, now with pool.
http://la-plaine.chez-alice.fr

"tim (in Sweden)" wrote in message
...

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"Nige" wrote in message
...
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle
with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to
travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting various European
countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My
own insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )

EU law requires that all motor insurance issued in any EU country
includes statutory minimum cover within all other EU countries. You only
need to pay extra if you want more than the minimum cover and you have
chosen an insurer that does not include foreign travel automatically,
which is usually the cheaper ones.

Even the ones that do, limit the cover to number of days or length
of trip.

That depends upon how much you are willing to pay. Until a couple of years
ago, when I decided I no longer needed such cover, I had comprehensive
insurance for unlimited travel within the EU, without the need to inform my
insurers of individual trips, and for any vehicle in the car or light van
category. As it was a recoverable business cost, I don't recall exactly how
much it cost, but it was in the £6k-£8k p.a. range.


You need to speak to an insurance broker to discover the policy that best
suits your needs.

The policy required is a 12 month green card.

Green cards are not insurance policies; they are proof that a vehicle is
insured. In most cases, they are not a requirement for travel within the EU,
although most insurers will issue them on request, usually for a fee.

Colin Bignell

"tim (in Sweden)" wrote in message
...

"Holly, in France" wrote in message
...
....
As Colin said you would have to return to the UK in the middle of the
trip for an MOT. I have no idea whether this would also avoid having to
'export' the car after 12 months.

An alternative would be to buy a car elsewhere in Europe especially for
the trip. It would be an advantage to have a right hand drive car
anyway.

Not with 25 years experience of driving a LHD it isn't.

I have over 40 years experince of driving in Britain, but I have no trouble
swapping sides. For the first couple of times of driving a RHD car, I did
occasionally try to change gear with the window winder, but it is a long
time since I did that. Come to think of it, it is a long time since I drove
a car with either window winders or manual gears.

It is much easier to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road
than sit on the 'wrong' side of the car.

I disagree. I find it much easier to keep to the correct side of the road if
I am in a car with the steering wheel on the appropriate side. The only time
I have ever actually got it wrong was driving a British car in France.
Turning left out of a one-way street, having approached the junction on the
left side of the road, I stayed on the left after turning. The British
driver coming the other way found it highly amusing, but I doubt I would
have had to meet an oncoming car before noticing the error in a RHD car; the
proximity of the kerb would probably have given me warning. However, very
occasionally I do have to think which side I should be on - oddly enough
more often in Britain than abroad.

Overtaking is only
a problem on minor roads, if one sticks to the motorway
there isn't a problem

I would expect that someone who is planning a trip lasting 18 months would
have to leave the motorways from time to time.

Colin Bignell

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"tim (in Sweden)" wrote in message
...

"nightjar .uk.com" nightjar@insert my surname here wrote in message
...

"Nige" wrote in message
...
As a UK resident, you are obliged to tax and insure your motor vehicle
with licensed insurers operating in UK. What happens when you want to
travel, for example, 18 months using your car visiting various
European countries.
Firstly- what is the best and cheapest form of insurance to take ? (My
own insurer charges a lot extra even for one month in Europe ! )

EU law requires that all motor insurance issued in any EU country
includes statutory minimum cover within all other EU countries. You only
need to pay extra if you want more than the minimum cover and you have
chosen an insurer that does not include foreign travel automatically,
which is usually the cheaper ones.

Even the ones that do, limit the cover to number of days or length
of trip.

That depends upon how much you are willing to pay. Until a couple of years
ago, when I decided I no longer needed such cover, I had comprehensive
insurance for unlimited travel within the EU, without the need to inform
my insurers of individual trips, and for any vehicle in the car or light
van category. As it was a recoverable business cost, I don't recall
exactly how much it cost, but it was in the £6k-£8k p.a. range.

ouch.

I got a quote for a 12 month policy when I first left the
UK 7 years ago. It was about twice the price of my UK
only one.

You need to speak to an insurance broker to discover the policy that
best suits your needs.

The policy required is a 12 month green card.

Green cards are not insurance policies;

This is the name of the type of policy.

tim