Uk car insurance to cover extended period in France

[JeanS]

We will be spending 5 months at our house in France this year. However checking our car insurance we only have a max. of 90 days cover for European travel - they cannot extend it. Has anyone had this problem and how did they resolve it?

[AnOther]

For the record the 90 days your insurance allow relates only to the extension of the level of cover you enjoy in UK. If this is comprehensive then that will apply in the EU for the stipulated period after which it will revert to the minimum required by law in France which is 3rd party. All current UK policies provide this minimum cover by law. Assuming then that your policy does not actually run out  - at no time are you left without insurance.

It's obviously up to you if you are prepared to accept this risk or not. If not then your only option is to switch insurers to one who gives you the period you require. You do not have to wait until renewal time to do that as you can cancel your current insurance whenever you like although don't bank on getting much, if anything, back from the premium you have already paid.

[JeanS]

Thanks for your response - looks like we'll be going back to SAGA

[Gardengirl]

One of our previous insurance companies extended our cover beyond the 90 days - I think we only needed about an extra 20 days. The fee for this wasn't horrendous. However, this year we've moved to Saga, so we could be sure we were adequately covered for any length of stay within the year. It was a pretty competitive price, although no doubt it will rise steeply on renewal, as is often the case. However, as we had to fly back to UK unexpectedly over Easter and were then stuck because of the ash, it was good not to have to start counting days and phone insurers up for extra cover.

[Pierre ZFP]

Marks & Spencer and The Young Farmers Club (yes honestly!) do or at least did an insurance that wasn't limited to 90 days and was very competitive too but I am going back about 5 years now. So for a couple of years I was a young farmer, despite the fact that I am no longer young and have never been a farmer !

 

[Gardengirl]

Pierre, your Young Farmers' insurance has reminded me that the Caravan Club also do extended periods of cover; we haven't had a caravan for many years, but kept up membership for the insurance cover. It wasn't cheap, and there was also that membership fee, but we found it very good. We broke down just inside Sommesous services a few years ago, and the CC was marvellous. If we hadn't been able to do so ourselves, they'd have found us a hotel, but luckily I had our Routard with us, and the taxi provided by CC club took us to Challons, where we had a good choice of restaurants etc. The garage reckoned they couldn't get the Saab part for about 2 weeks, so CC repatriated us - hire car to tunnel, changed to a UK plated hire car, and we were kept well informed by phone all through it.  The car was later driven back from the garage near Sommesous by a CC volunteer driver, and parked on our drive; all I did was provide the driver with a drink and sandwiches and drive him to the station to catch a train to his home. That level of service was worth a fortune!  [:D]

CC have a choice of periods of cover; it could be worth a look, but it isn't cheap.

[Pierre ZFP]

That's the thing isn't it. When you need it the most, it has to work.

It sounds that although your insurance wasn't cheap, it was good value.

[powerdesal]

When we had a UK car and UK insurance ( Churchill, I think - could be wrong) we were told that the 90 day could be extended by a further 90 days by a simple phone call, no extra cost.

[JeanS]

we're with Admiral - I called them before I put this post. They said we couldn't extend.

[frexpt]

[quote user="JeanS"]We will be spending 5 months at our house in France this year. However checking our car insurance we only have a max. of 90 days cover for European travel - they cannot extend it. Has anyone had this problem and how did they resolve it?[/quote]

We had been round the block several times with this problem as well, but Saga offered by far the most competitive and comprehensive outcome.

[Megan le Fey]

When we arrived here we with (then) Norwich, which is now Aviva I believe. We needed just a few extra days before we completed the registration of our car in France but the broker said that Norwich would not extend the period by so much as 2 weeks. Someone made the point that you would not get much back on a pre-paid premium. The insurer paid back all of the remaining 4(ish) months but the broker took most of it as a "handling fee". Lucky broker, we would have been paying monthly except that we had had trouble opening a UK band account (money laundering regs.) and so could not give a direct debit.

[michelin79]

Liverpool Victoria do 180 days as an option

Mike

[Bas]

I have managed to talk my insurance company into extending my full cover to 135 days (at which point my annual cover runs out) but they will not do this for me again. So I am looking for a new insurance company who will cover me for 5months each year. Any ideas please

[JMB]

Try www.stuartcollins.co.uk

[frexpt]

We have one of our cars with Stuart Collins, but they are very expensive.  As I have said above, provided you are over 50, look no further than Saga.  They offer unlimited time abroad and also do not differentiate between right-hand and left-hand drive vehicles.  Their customer services are UK based and a pleasure to deal with.

[michelin79]

Bas

If you look at the post immediately above your own post you will see that Liverpool Victoria do exactly as you require. Reasonably good value as well.

Regards

Mike

[RicandJo]

Footman James will give you extended cover for as long as you like.

http://www.footmanjames.co.uk/