Motor Insurance.

Information and questions about driving in Andalucia, buying or importing cars and motorbikes plus legal issues surrounding taxes and licenses.
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pigs-might-fly
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Motor Insurance.

Postby pigs-might-fly » Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:47 pm

Has anyone any experience of insuring a UK plated car (with MOT & VED, so fully legal) currently here in Spain for permanent return to the UK?
UK insurers will only consider if the proposer is currently in the UK and is a permanent resident at the time of application.
Both we and the car - a proposed purchase - are in Spain.
Our current car is Spanish & insured in Spain, so any NCB will be Spanish, this precluding any pretence that we are in the UK already!
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lulubel
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby lulubel » Sun Nov 28, 2010 9:47 pm

This might seem a bit simplistic, but why does having spanish insurance and NCB mean you can't be in the UK? Presumably you could have driven it over on spanish insurance, and then be insuring it with a UK insurer once you got there. (I understand it could be problematic to ACTUALLY do that, but is there any reason you couldn't "have done" it in theory?)

The other thing is, you don't have to prove the NCB when you set up the insurance. Most insurers will wait a couple of months for the documents, so you shouldn't need to deal with that until you ARE back in the UK.

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Enrique
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby Enrique » Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:43 am

Hi P-M-F,
My understanding to be "fully legal" the car must have all the relevant UK bits ( MOT,Road Tax, UK Insurance with European cover ) if its UK reg.
No doubt peteroldrace will have the definitive answer :thumbup:
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pigs-might-fly
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby pigs-might-fly » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:10 am

@Enrique - yes currently it has all of that, but I am finding next to impossible to arrange cover for us, as (for now) residents of Spain, on a UK car which WILL be going back to the UK permanently and therefore will need proper cover there - not just on a 90 day green card basis from an insurer who specialises in insuring UK plated cars kept permanently in Spain.
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Devils Advocate
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:13 am

Pigs, could a relation/friend living in the UK not insure the car with you as named driver for now?................not technically 100% but a safer bet than most in an awkward situation
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Enrique
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby Enrique » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:24 am

Hi P-M-F,
Can't quite see this.................."specialises in insuring UK plated cars kept permanently in Spain."

From the DVLA site....................you can use for up to 6 months in EU , from 12 months you have to export.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Bu ... DG_4022582
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olive
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby olive » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:39 am

This area is one where in my opinion the EU just is not up to speed at all with the needs of its now mobile serfs. There are so many barriers to the many people who want to insure and use legal cars in different countries at different times. EU Wake Up.

Most UK insurance companies have menu driven applications and the computer say NO but a specialist underwriter might be able to help.

To the OP. When you buy this car it will have to be registered against a UK address to be "legal". I would suggest you use that address for your insurance too. There are UK products available for just a few weeks or days including ones specifically designed to buy a car and get it home.

As far as getting NCB, I know for a fact that ASDA expect the proof of NCB(translated into English) no later than 23 calendar days after the policy goes live. That isn't very long. I suspect some other insurers do likewise.

Good Luck, olive

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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby masterob » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:48 am

Have you tried insuring it with a Company such as Ibex who insure UK plated cars here in Spain? Once the car is back in the UK and you have a permanent address there you can re-insure with a UK Company in the usual way.

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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby Devils Advocate » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:49 am

Pigs, out of interest and to back up my earlier suggestion with actual happenings.
OH and I were/are executors of an estate where probate has just been granted after 3 years.

One of the chattles was a car which at the time of the death was 10 weeks old, anyway it was willed to a relation in Jersey................he finally picked it up a couple of weeks back, what a nightmare to arrange a legal way for him to drive it back....and this was only to Jersey.

Same old story, Couldn't insure in Jersey for a UK plated car, couldn't insure in UK with a Jersey address :? .....snookered.

Both the DVLA and Jersey equivilent could not offer a "right of passage" so to speak but both under questioning said the only 2 options were to trailer the car back, or go the named driver route via insurance in the UK.........that came straight from the horses mouth at DVLA HQ in Swansea.

Agreed, EU members should not have this impossible situation thrown upon them, whats the point of the EU when things like this exist all over the place? No wonder people want out.
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pigs-might-fly
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby pigs-might-fly » Mon Nov 29, 2010 11:55 am

If you tell IBEX that it's going back to the UK permanently they won't touch it.
I have found a more helpful company....................... :silent: :silent: :silent: :thumbup:
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Re: Motor Insurance.

Postby gus-lopez » Mon Nov 29, 2010 3:56 pm

masterob wrote:Have you tried insuring it with a Company such as Ibex who insure UK plated cars here in Spain? Once the car is back in the UK and you have a permanent address there you can re-insure with a UK Company in the usual way.
One of the problems with that is that many police forces view a UK reg. car that has foreign insurance as un-insured due to the fact that their interpretation of insurance legislation where it states that the insurer 'must be a member of the motor insurance database',which the majority of spanish companies aren't.
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