Car Insurance (UK) Residency issue for liveaboards

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A UK insurance broker has advised me that all UK insurance companies that he knows of stipulate that the Insured must be a permanent resident of the UK, which is defined as the Insured (nothing to do with the car) being in the UK for more than six months of the year. Therefore he is unable to offer us any kind of cover.

I mentioned that I know of others who seem to have such insurance and his comment was that they should check very carefully because this changed a while ago and he thinks that there are now common rules across the EU.

Can anyone enlighten me?

Many thanks.
 
I can't personnaly, but I am sure there will be something ambiguous an a government department's website somewhere. ! (Only joking /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

There is the ABI - Association of British Insurers - I believe. They might be a good starting point.
 
I had a similar problem, girl friend not UK resident, UK registered car that belonged to her.

We were told by many insurers that this was not possible but after much phoning I think it was churchil or Footman James who came up with a policy.

Each insurer has their own rules on this so keep trying.
 
Ran into this problem last year.

Arranged a policy that gave me full coverage on my UK registered car anywhere in Europe including Norway for the whole year. After seperation from wife and no more UK address just house in Norway, was not able to renew.

Norwegian insurance would only insure on norwegian plates which required an import (and tax) So although Norwegian law allows up to 2 years without having to import, I was faced with an impossible position after 6 months!

Car is worth abt £700 and they wanted £6000 to import. Guess what I bought a norwegian car instead at £3000 for something that you would consider you had been seen off for at £300 in UK.
 
Tiga - Thanks, will follow up tomorrow.

Talbot - Thanks but we don't actually have a country of residence. We move around so if the basis is spending more than 183 days in any country, normally that doesn't happen and if it does, it is only for one winter. As soon as we settle then there won't be a problem.
 
Came acroos this recently. I know of a chap (heard the story in a pub Guv.) who works for a multinational and is working for a fixed term in the EU. He has a house and a car in the UK where he returns alternate weekends.

When he gave the correct information the big insurers (Norwich Union Direct etc.) said they could not insure him.

He tailored the information to give all UK details and has recently had a claim paid!! This is a UK born bred chap,educated got degree and long term employed by one of the largest UK/multinationals, with no family abroad anywhere.

Is there any sense to it?
 
It doesn't surprise me at all. According to the broker I was speaking to, the claim form requires a declaration that you are a resident of the UK (by their definition) but no doubt they don't check every case. As for changing the details I did ask the broker whether, if I gave him all my details now, I would have trouble getting insurance later if we are living in the UK full time. He said not -- people do have changes in circumstances. He seemed conscientious and knowledgeable.
 
Why don't you just rent them when you need them?

You'd end up with something newer, no maintenance, no worries if it gets a ding, and can pick a vehicle appropriate to how you're going to use it.

If you do it for less than 6 months then it's probably cheaper than ownership.
 
second that suggestion, I don't have a car. Live within cycling distance of most things I need, but occasionally rent a car when I need to transport something I can't get delivered or carry myself. Last time I had a little car for the weekend I spent more on fuel than I did on the rent.

However, a lot of lease companies are now insisting on two different documents to prove your address, has to match your license, can be bank statement, bills etc, which is likely to be tricky in your situation.
 
I've searched in Spain and Italy and nothing is even vaguely affordable. Then, when we come back to the UK a couple of times a year we still have to rent...costs hundreds. Unless you know differently?
 
We live in US virgin Islands and bought a truck locally and have no trouble getting insurance with UK international driving license, with postal address on island and passport to prove I'm not local.
Police cant get all this through their heads and when we get stopped as they do in this POLICE state they always let us through as long as we have all documents relevent to the vehicle.
 
Hi Lemain,

Slight thread drift - sorry - our experience was the same as yours. We had an old, lowish mileage car that was only worth about £600 last year. It was worth more to us to keep than to sell. My father in law was concerned about the storage costs (only £200 a year) which seemed to him to be a waste.

I explained that the storage, RFL for the brief periods we were in the UK and insurance for 12 months was less than hiring a car for 5 days.

I blew the head gasket last year and as the repair costs were more than the car was then worth we let it go. Big mistake! We spent over £1k last year on car hire during two brief visits to the UK.

Cheers,

Bob
 
Well, I'm sure you've done the maths and I can only guess but...

Car died sold as scrap for what? 100? so loss of about 500?
Storage 200
Insurance 300?
Tax 120?
MOT, Servicing & Tyres 150?

Total 1270. For about the same price you get a newer car where you don't care if it breaks down and you can rent the vehicle that's most appropriate for your use.

I accept that my estimates may be way out but it's more borderline than it first appears when you say over a thousand.
 
bob and jb -- we did the same, Bob, and I gave the old dog to a relative. I could see that the numbers didn't stack up with ferries, maintenance, tax, ins., etc.

But we want to do a fair bit of travelling around France, Spain and Italy. So we need a car. You cannot hire a car at anything like a reasonable price to do that. I am looking at some of the deals open to the Ozs and Kiwis at the moment -- they often come over to 'do' Europe. Buy and re-sell.

Seems to me that some of the deals on offer now are approaching the lowest we will ever see. Stock clearance, fire-sale prices. I'd like to buy a nice little Japanese car (you don't have to maintain those /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif) and keep it for a decade. I'd like to buy one before Christmas, when we are over in a couple of weeks....but insurance is the problem /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Only paid RFL for 2 separate months. No tyre cost as my mileage was so very low. Insurance was a bit less than £300 cos I am an old git and the car value was low. The 'loss' on the scrapped car does not come into it.

Had I repaired the car, for about £500, the costs in that year would still have been less than my car hire and I would still have it in the following years.

I take the point about the newer cars but since I became a liveaboard that really does not matter to me any more. Until the head gasket prob the old thing had been VERY reliable and I hope would have continued to be so for a couple of years more.

If there is an advantage to the hire car it is that last point about reliability. However, so far I have regretted the extra costs of car hire over my previous ownership costs over 4 or 5 years. So much so that one of the reasons I have started to shorten the visits to the UK is the impact car hire has on the costs!

Cheers,

Bob
 
Yes, back to the original point of your post. The insurance.

I must say I didn't realise about 'non residency' bit with insurance co's. We just paid annually although we reduced cover to third party and theft whilst we were away. We had a Uk correspondence address which seemed to help.

Not much use for you though when trying to set up new insurance! I wish I knew the answer - good luck.
 
Just checked the local (Algarve) free paper ad in there for Ins for UK & Portugese reg. cars. Could be worth a try.

Free phone 0800 860653
email: getreal&ibexinsure.com
 
[ QUOTE ]
I must say I didn't realise about 'non residency' bit with insurance co's. We just paid annually although we reduced cover to third party and theft whilst we were away. We had a Uk correspondence address which seemed to help.

Not much use for you though when trying to set up new insurance! I wish I knew the answer - good luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

We have a correspondence address and a designated room so we can genuinely say that we have a 'home' to come home to -- albeit owned by a relative. We can be reached within minutes via satphone, mobile or email, we continue to pay tax as if we spent all our time in the UK and we do not avail ourselves of any state benefits in the UK or anywhere else.

According to my broker, most insurers have a 'residency' ruling [Oh God! Not back to this, please!!!] that states that the Insured needs to be be living in the UK for at least six months of the year. The broker says that nobody is likely to check on this until there is a claim. Apparently, according to the broker, when you submit a claim form you will be asked to sign (?in the small print, dunno) to the effect that you are resident (in accordance with THEIR definitions).

Now, I am only repeating what has been explained to me by the broker and I have no idea of the legal situation nor have I researched the law so I don't have much more in the way of facts or information to add at this stage.

The broker said that many people are uninsured because they are overseas for longer than their policies allow. One would need to read the small print very carefully indeed, if one had UK motor insurance covering a vehicle when the Policyholder/Insured is "not resident in the UK" according to the rules of that insurance company.
 
I got rid of my motorhome after moving to France because of this problem. I know Brits who spend time in Spain but are not resident who leave Spanish reg cars at Alicante airport and insure them there. Whether this is totally legit I couldn't say.

There are car dealers in Spain who seem to specialise in providing cars to foreigners, Willem Cars comes to mind.

When we moved to France we bought and insured a car, but it was necessary to show we were buying a house as I remember. There was no need to be resident though.
 
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