Obtaining French Insurance having previous UK driving ban.

[bernie the bolt]

I served a six month driving ban in the UK 30 Months ago  under the 12 point tot up system (9 SP 30,3 TS 10) which were wiped off following the ban.I'm sure this will increase the premium when obtaining French Insurance, but anybody have an idea by how much? Would I be better waiting another 6 months until a 3 year period has elapsed since I obtained the ban,any advice greatly appreciated.

[AnOther]

There is no requirement to declare your UK driving convictions in order to take out French insurance.

[Chancer]

You will be pleased to know Bernie that you have not shot your bolt [:D]

[bernie the bolt]

Thanks for the advice but sounds too good to be true! The insurance company have requested a copy of my UK licence which shows the disqualification so I would have thought the premium will be affected by this if French insurance companies are remotely like their bloodsucking counterparts in the UK, any further thoughts greatly appreciated.

[Chancer]

Insurance company or broker? I bet the latter and they have no real reason for doing it.

I know you have to answer for any claims in the last X (cant recall) years but not sure if they ask about perte de points.

For gods sake dont tell them that you lost 12 points in one go a couple of years ago [:P][:D]

Seriously if the question is asked just tell them about any offence within the time period and how many points were added which wil confuse them anyway.

Get the quote price first and I doubt that the premium will rise because of the ban, they are more likely to refuse to insure you if you say that you were not insured during the period of the ban, they seem to want continous uninterrupted cover, even a few weeks can cause problems.

Finally a French insurer is not allowed by law to load a premium more than 50% (might be 100%) because of a persons age or driving record, notwithstanding bonus/malus of course.

[Chancer]

Alternatively go to another broker/on line insurer, I am with my 3rd insurer and have never had to produce my license, its an old style one and they wouldnt understand it anyway, I reserve it to Wind people up when they ask for une pièce d'identité [:D] 

[woolybanana]

[quote user="bernie the bolt"]Thanks for the advice but sounds too good to be true! The insurance company have requested a copy of my UK licence which shows the disqualification so I would have thought the premium will be affected by this if French insurance companies are remotely like their bloodsucking counterparts in the UK, any further thoughts greatly appreciated.[/quote]

Which insurance company has asked for your licence, it seems highly irregular?

[bernie the bolt]

Thanks all for advice,as initial quote was a very reasonable 240 euros .From the info I gathered the max the previous UK ban could increase the premium to is 480 euros which is still a lot more reasonable than UK companies

[Chancer]

Assuming its multi-risques it sounds a good deal, its less than what I was paying several years ago when I dropped to tiers only cover and that now has crept up to €170.

What company and how many CV is the vehicle please?

Bet that you dont pay any more than the €240 and remember that it includes breakdown cover as well [;-)]

I assume that your premiums are really loaded in the UK after a ban.

Another advantage, once you are on French plates you wont have any more worries about getting points on your license when driving in the UK, unless you are pulled over that is, I have just got my first camera speed ticket in 9 years and it only takes one point off a license that I dont have, even if you were to run up 12 points you can go on a course and tell them that you have seen the light, are a changed person and you will lose half of them.

The way I was going on and with the explosion of speed cameras in the UK I would have lost my license had I stayed another couple of years.

[YCCMB]

Desperately trying to work out why any of the above is a good thing.

[AnOther]

Why, are you suggesting that the OP be bankrupted for insurance in France because of his past indiscretions ?

[YCCMB]

I was referring to Chancer's post.

[PaulT]

Betty

I bet Mr Farage is very happy when Chancer is in France

[NickP]

[quote user="AnOther"]Why, are you suggesting that the OP be bankrupted for insurance in France because of his past indiscretions ?

[/quote]

Unfortunately it's very often other peoples indiscretions in cars;  that causes lots of other people to spend money subsidising the rule breakers. Just because someone changes address doesn't mean they will change their habits.

[Chancer]

No not a good thing and whilst it may have seemed as such not boasting either Betty, I did once drive like the road was my personal race track but I never ever go fast enough to trigger speed cameras these days, apart from the exception I will speak of.

Whilst I dont knowingly go through UK speed cameras fast enough to worry about them my GPS is howling warnings at me sometimes every 200m, I recently did one of my old commuting to the city runs and they had multipled from a couple to probably 50 or even more, the points I got back then probably like the OP were from driving when the road was empty (as in traffic it all slows for them) at a little over the limit and not knowing that a new lower limit had been invoked and a camera installed.

Here in France I am the slowest vehicle on the road and just ignore the less frequent alerts from my GPS but finally got caught in the small hours of the morning on the rocade de Lille as they had dropped the limit from 130kph to 90kph and i was doing kmh which became 95kmh retenu.

I didnt understand the comment re M. Farage, can the prson explain? It wont upset me but I just dont get it.

[Pickles]

Probably going off-topic but re Chancer's last post, a couple of years ago I went from using a Medion GPS to a Garmin. Different warnings used between the two devices - Medion politely requests you to observe the speed limit if you go a certain amount (adjustable) over. Garmin goes "bong" to warn of camera (or "dangerous road" in France) and then repeated "bings" (higher note) if you go above the posted limit AT ALL - there seems to be no tolerance adjustment. Trouble is, if you have cruise set so that you are going at say 70 mph exactly as measured by the GPS, the GPS treats you as if you are speeding and so in an average speed camera zone, you either put up with the repeated "bings", throw the damn thing out of the window or drop the speed to 69 or whatever.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Chancer"] Another advantage, once you are on French plates you wont have any more worries about getting points on your license when driving in the UK, [/quote]

Well, not for another year or so....

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27293493

[Chancer]

Confusing article, the law which the UK refused to adopt has now been annulled but will remain in force for a year albeit ineffectively for UK regsitered vehicles.

Unless a new law has already been drafted and is going through the legal process there is no way that in a years time the UK will be sharing its vehicle owner détails with France or other countries.

I think the stumbling block was, and will remain that in France you are assumed to be guilty and must pay the fine before appealing, they consider the registered keeper to have committed the offence and he must pay immediately even if he wasnt the driver and furnishes the identity of the alleged transgressor, I say alleged because in either country no offence his deemed to have been commited until decided on by a court, all speeding fines sent out by post are an invitation to pay tand to admit guilt o prevent a possible court appearance.

I have no doubt that cross border info exchanges will happen in time, indeed they should do but there is a wide gulf to cross first, i will applaud it when it happens but I dont expect it to happen in one years time.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I have no doubt that cross border info exchanges will happen in time, indeed they should do but there is a wide gulf to cross first, i will applaud it when it happens but I dont expect it to happen in one years time.

[/quote]

A cross border ingormation exchange system is already in force (SIS) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Information_System  and SIS II is on the way.

As you say, it probably won't happen in a year.

[Salty Sam]

Continuing the off-topic theme, many GPS offer the personal choice of setting the overspeed warning. If the audible warning is set for 5kmh over the limit, you'll get warnings as your speed creeps up to whatever speed restriction is applicable for the road you're travelling on, and overspeed warnings when the limit is exceeded.

Now of course within France, we cannot benefit from the old system of warnings [Www], but with regular updates most GPS devices will still provide an audible warning when approaching a stretch of road requiring lets say, you paying more attention to your speed!

However while concentrating on the GPS, let's not forget the simple instrument on the dash designed to give an indication of your speed, and which will in the greatest majority of cases, indicate a speed higher than that actually being travelled, whereas the GPS will indicate the true speed.

So I suppose the simple answer is, stick to what the road speed says, and what your speedo indicates - not what the GPS indicates, and turn the audible warning function off! But if you're one of those who believes the speed camera warning signs are in place within GB as a deterrent, there being no camera actually in place - be warned! One day you just may fly round the corner at your usual speed, only to find a mobile camera unit taking your photograph!

Don't forget to smile![:)]

[Chancer]

Interesting point re the overspeed limit, it was set on my GPS, perhaps it is now turned off.*

Because I so rarely exceed the limits I would not know if it was working, that said I dont slow down as vigourously or as much as the French when coming from a 90kph to a village at 50kph my GPS is so old it only recognises the limits on the main roads which should include the rocade de Lille.

In the UK its useless for the above reason, in a conurbation, Croydon for example it should know that everything is 30mph with exceptions like 20mph around certain schools and 40mph etc on dual carriageways, instead it only knows the limit on the main roads like the A23, A232 etc and indeed it changes as they do but on all the other roads, the important ones at 30mph it gives no warning that you have exceeded the limit as it does not know the limit.

[Pickles]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]Continuing the off-topic theme, many GPS offer the personal choice of setting the overspeed warning.[/quote]

I was surprised that my Garmin only allows on/off overspeed warning rather than being able to set it at 1km/h over (which would be enough to stop the unwanted "bings" when you are travelling at, but not over, the limit).

Now you've mentioned it, I've realised that when you are not in a speed camera zone, with the Garmin that I have, if you go over what it thinks is the limit, the readout turns red but there is no audible warning.

[quote user="Salty Sam"]Now of course within France, we cannot benefit from the old system of warnings [Www], but with regular updates most GPS devices will still provide an audible warning when approaching a stretch of road requiring lets say, you paying more attention to your speed![/quote]

I think that this was quite a sensible stance for the French authorities to adopt: if cameras are supposedly sited on stretches where there is an increased danger, then a GPS warning that covers the whole strech of road is not a bad idea, pedagogically speaking.

[quote user="Salty Sam"]However while concentrating on the GPS, let's not forget the simple instrument on the dash designed to give an indication of your speed, and which will in the greatest majority of cases, indicate a speed higher than that actually being travelled, whereas the GPS will indicate the true speed.[/quote]

I'm used to the speedo over-reading of the cars I normally drive, but very recently had the misfortune to hire what must have been a two-year-old run-out model 206 with 50K on the clock, non-working horn and 8km/h over-read at 50 km/h!

[Théière]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

So I suppose the simple answer is, stick to what the road speed says, and what your speedo indicates - not what the GPS indicates, and turn the audible warning function off! But if you're one of those who believes the speed camera warning signs are in place within GB as a deterrent, there being no camera actually in place - be warned! One day you just may fly round the corner at your usual speed, only to find a mobile camera unit taking your photograph!

Don't forget to smile![:)]

[/quote]

If only it would be that straight forward, I travel across France at near as the legal system states but occasionally as the journey wears on and on I have seen my speed creep up and the audible warning is handy to remind of the fact.  I have been flashed several times in different places and on occasion needing a stop to stretch my legs I walked back to check if I had mis read the sign, No but the camera had flashed none the less. If that was a French registered car would I have got a ticket?

One evening a yougling in his golf overtook me at way over the limit but didn't get flashed, my van did and I was again under the limit and by a margin.  I have re instated my speed camera database as it prevents me infringing the law which is what I want obey, not to get caught out by some smartass civil servant hiding a camera and speed sign where it is a far bigger distraction to drive actually looking for cameras and signs so making me take my eyes off the road for longer than listening to an audible warning. The law is very much about intent and leaving home a free person and returning a criminal is not part of the routine. Changing the speed limit frequently for no apparent reason is becoming part of a game on both sides of the Channel. Thankfully putting up signs when no cameras are present is not allowed and the police now use existing signs to hide additional mobile units close by some of those are legal some are not, you are at least allowed to be almost innocent until proven guilty although slowing down a fraction is the best idea.