 Poster: A snowHead
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hello everyone
Am planning to do a season and drive out as opposed to flying. My insurance through Aviva will cover 6 months abroad but only a maximum of 3 months per trip. That means I would have to drive back to the UK then about turn to head back to France.
Are there any alternatives like getting European insurance? Also my MOT expires in late March which would be another issue. It might seem like a silly question but I can I get a UK MOT over there or would I need an alternate style, especially if switch to a local insurer?
Thanks for any opinions!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I had a 90 day limit on mine too, but I phoned them up and paid an excess to extend it for a fortnight. It may be worth phoning them and asking, also look into limited mileage options - tell them that you will be based in one or two places and will not be doing high mileages.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Google 'car insurance for 6 months in Europe' and a lot of ex pat forums come up with lists of insurers who do 6 months cover. Find a good quote from one, phone Aviva and ask them if they will match it. If they don't cancel and take out a new policy and give them as much feedback as possible.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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LV do extended trips abroad for an extra £19.90 or so a year (it's who I currently use for my insurance as I take my car with me every season). NFU also offer fully comp abroad. Note that your insurance cover should provide you with the legal minimum requirement for Europe, despite the length of stay, which is third party. The limits the companies refer to are for fully comp.
MOT you would have to get in the UK.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sat 13-09-14 0:29; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Davecon70, You are probably too young, but Saga offer unlimited fully comp European cover as standard in their policies. For the MOT, just get it done a few months early before you leave.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I have used LV for the last few years, 180 days EU cover.
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That's interesting about the Saga cover. I have looked at their policies in the past but found their quotes too high. Our situation is that we have an old UK registered car that still drives brilliantly and has about 60k on the clock. It gets its service and MOT before the season starts. Drive out in December and leave the car in the garage until the next visit and bring it back to the UK at the end of the summer. I looked into the insurance question before we went out the first year and found out from the web that under EU rules the UK insurer has to provide at least minimum cover while the car is outside the UK, ie third party, for the whole time of the policy and not just the 90 days that a lot of them state. With an old car that cover is okay.
I guess we could also argue that we are nowhere near the 90 days anyway as our visits are usually a couple of weeks in December and a couple of weeks later in season plus up to two weeks in the summer. What do snowheads think, are we bulletproof or not? It would be more than unfortunate to have an accident where a third party gets hurt and then discover that we aren't actually covered.
As an aside, the first time we came back at the end of summer, the UK border at Calais had a little word and from their questions knew the car had been outside UK for months. Maybe they or the ferry and tunnel operators have ANPR and a database that logs entry and exits???
There is also the issue of supposedly having to export the car to France after 3 months. it's clearly not practical to export it and then import it a few months later and then have to do same again the next year. I did look into exporting and registering it permanently in france and insuring it through a French provider but the cost of new headlights that point the French way was about £500 off eBay plus fitting cost. Anyway there are a few posers to hopefully tax your collective wisdom.
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Not sure which the questions were andy1234, but i'd suggest that
- yes 100% deginitely there are ANPR at passport control,
- you'd never get away with arguing "i know my limit is 90 days and i've been out the country for 135, but i've only used it for 3
- supposed to re-register after 3months... I thought it was 6 and if you are a resident of that country
Does that add to your posers?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I dropped saga (was also pi55ed off with all the spam) for LV because of the much better euro cover.
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Re the MOT you will not be able to get one over there so suggest you get a new one before you go away.
I also use LV so another vote for them.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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According to the Governemnt you are covered by all UK car insurance for the minimum 3rd party cover in all eu countries - https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/driving-abroad
Not sure if it will cover you in Scotland from next week. 
We take our English car out for the winter and now use saga who provide EU fully comprehensive cover all year. We have always found their quotes to be pretty reasonable.
Their house insurance is also pretty good as it also gives you cover for the house to be left unoccupied for up to 60 days.
Our previous policy only allowed up to 30 days.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Hi marcellus
Maybe I wasn't clear, we only spend about 42 days in total in France over the year, and so far a maximum of 14 days at any visit. Yes, the car is out of the UK for about 9 months, but as its only covered for 3rd party if we are not there then we cant be driving it, so the insurance company are not at risk are they?
My mistake, I think you may be right about it being 6 months and then you are supposed to register in a new country.
skichampcouk, thanks for the reassurance. I will have another look at Saga when the renewal next comes up.
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andy1234, my point stands if you have a 90day limit then if your car is out of the country for 270 days you'd be hard pushed to argue that i only use it for 42 of the 270 days in the event of a claim..... But if you're saying that there's no time limit then there's no issue.
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You know it makes sense.
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LV as already said, best value and 180 days when I used them.
As far as I know if you don't need fully comp then all UK car insurance policies cover you to the minimum legal requirement in Europe (i.e. 3rd party liability).
So as long as you have UK insurance and car is legal for UK you should be able to legally drive the car in Europe.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Insured with Adrian Flux, 12 month european cover - when I asked if they real ment this, they said if it comes back once a year for MOT and tax it's good.
As for 90 day limit before re registering, no problem, form Chamonix it's 25 min to Italy or Switzerland The few of us in Cham with fully legal UK reg cars have been doing a similar thing for a long time. Pity about the super complex road tax rules in the uk, before the idea of SORN I only taxed the car when it was in the UK, I'd even asked the DVLA and they were fine with it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Another solution, is get French insurance (yes you can do this on a uk car) and start the re registration process. Just drag it out for a few years. If you take one step at a time and stay withing the leagal time for that step it can take ages
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We use Stuart Collins who do year-round european cover via Axa. https://www.stuartcollins.com
I pay my road tax in the UK even though I am not there for 10 months of the year and I go back to the UK every November for an MOT.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We use Stuart Collins who do year-round european cover via Axa. https://www.stuartcollins.com
I pay my road tax in the UK even though I am not there for 10 months of the year and I go back to the UK every November for an MOT.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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From my investigations last year, you are not insured if you are out of the country for work reasons. I even looked at gap year insurance and they wouldn't cover me either due to going to Austria to work even though I don't use my car for work. In the end I also had to choose Stuart Collins even though it is very expensive. I'd be very careful as they say that they don't even cover 3rd party if you are there working.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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quick update.
I spoke with Aviva today and they have agreed to a change in my policy that will allow me to stay for the whole ski season in one go as opposed to 3 months at a time. It will cost £130 for this extension which is still cheaper than swapping over to LV who quoted me £550 for 180 days in Europe.
Just goes to show that it is worth asking the question twice. Also regarding the post above they had my occupation as unemployed and I told them I would be working in the Alps which was not a problem.
Now I need to order snow tyres and check out personal insurance as I only have cart neige and am sure my normal policy won't cover a season.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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On the mot you can always get it done before you go.
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Davecon70, Funny enough I was with Aviva and had paid extra for an extension last season. But PolicyExpert (who I have my house insurance with) managed to find another policy through Aviva which had no stipulation of time limits on Europe; I got them to check on this and they confirmed that I am covered for a season.
If you want to save money on insurance maybe take out an Austrian Alpine Club (UK) membership for under £50 which would cover you for the basics of rescue and back it up with a standard travel annual policy. Myself, I never bother with that as in 30 years of travel I have never made a claim, if something gets stolen it's generally cheaper long term to replace it yourself.
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