Cost of insurance in France

[Llantony]

I've read all the arguments about whether a UK car should be used in France. Still confused! Our motor insurance currently covers us for up to 45 days but we are going for 2 months before returning to take some more stuff over.  It would make sense to sort out re-registering the car after that.  We will probably come and go so would need French insurance that covers us on trips back to the UK.

What I'd like to know is:  how expensive is motor insurance in France compared to the UK?  Looking at all the battered vehicles one sees in France, I get the impression most people don't have fully comp as they don't bother to get their cars repaired.  Does that mean fully comp is very expensive?  If 3rd party only, what happens if our car is damaged by someone uninsured/unknown?

[AnOther]

Hi, I'm not an expert but as no one seems to have replied to you yet here's my tuppence worth. Someone will undoubtedly correct me if I'm mistaken anywhere [;-)]

The cost of insurance seems to vary enormously and for everyone who says it's cheaper someone else says the opposite.

Ours for instance was about 50% more than it had been in UK. Fair enough we had a good postcode in insurance terms and the family car was insured in the OH's name with full NCB.

For starters the NCB system works differently in France and it takes 13 years to earn 100%. If you cannot prove that level (and who coming from the UK can) then your premium will only be proportionally reduced. The proportion relative to how many years UK NCB seems to vary from insurance company to company so shopping around is still essential, if your French is up to it that is !

Our unfortunately was not, besides which we changed our car almost as soon as we arrived last year and with all the other things going on we settled for cover via a recommended English broker which I'm sure was not the cheapest but was acceptable to be able to put at least that item on the 'done' pile. We'll definately be looking around before renewal. Overall I'd say that if you have got a decent provable NCB from UK and you shop around then insurance is probably on a par with UK.

I think you're right about battered cars. On the whole the French don't seem as precious about their cars as do the Brits and are prepared to put up with the odd scratch and dent the likes of which would have your average Brit running straight for the body shop. Another factor is that they tend to hang on to their cars for a lot lot longer and are therefore not so preoccupied with resale values.

Uninsured drivers are allegedly a much bigger problem here than in UK but I believe a similar system to the MIB in UK operates to compensate affected motorists.

The question of blame is a bit different too. If you have an accident you're expected to fill in an accident report on the spot which both drivers should sign. You should carry one in your car at all times. On the form is a tick box for who was to blame and you should try to get the other driver to tick it thus admitting liability. If not, then unless you have an independent witness or irrefutable proof that the other drive was at fault, photos of their skid marks on your side of the road for instance then you will likely find it being dealt with on a 50/50 basis. Needless to say the last thing you want to do if at all avoidable is tick that box yourself. There is no legal obligation to complete the form but if you do not then you could find yourself being held at least partly responsible even if you were completely innocent.

The 45 days you speak of with your current insurance are for extension of your comprehensive cover exactly as you have in UK. Outwith that you still have 3rd party cover, or more correctly, the minimum insurance required in the country which you are visiting, so if you're prepared to take that risk then you need do nothing and just insure and reregister your car when you come over proper. There is no confusion about this. If you become French resident then you have one month in which to reregister your car, plain and simple, everything else people may tell you is either bullsh*t or lies [:D]

Hope this helps.

 

[Ron Avery]

I think nobody bothered to answer because it seemed that the OP should just change his UK insurer, most give 90 days in a year,which would adequately cover his trip to France. 

 Ernie, you cannot get 100% NCB anywhere, even France, you would pay no premium would you?  The maximum is normally 50% based on no claims in last three years, it used to be 13 years as this was based on the number of years it took to discharge a claim through enhanced premiums, which is what happens if you have a blame accident. Premiums vary and are pro rata cheaper in France for French made cars but do climb steeply for foreign made cars.

[AnOther]

I think you've misunderstood his post Ron.

My reading is that he's preparing to move over to France but visit UK fairly frequently, hence the plan to register in France.

Thanks for the extra info and a bit of a play on words perhaps but as for 100% NCB - whether it's 50% or whatever, you can still get 100% of that which was my meaning, just for you though let's call it FULL NCB instead shall we [;-)] [:D]

 

[Sharkster]

It takes 10 years to earn 50% NCB in France according to Aviva.  When we moved, I had full NCB from the UK which was 5 years and this was converted to 25% discount. 

On the accident front, be extra vigilant to physically take down the persons insurance details from their window screen sticker, and do not expect your insurer to try and track the other person down.  They just payout and do not work on recovering the losses.

Also French loss adjustors are very thorough and will try and reduce the payout wherever possible (I know from personal experience).

French car insurance seemed a lot higher to me, but we live in Languedoc and it is my understanding this is the highest risk region in France.

[Clair]

[quote user="Sharkster"]It takes 10 years to earn 50% NCB in France according to Aviva.  When we moved, I had full NCB from the UK which was 5 years and this was converted to 25% discount. [/quote]

My full UK-earned full NCB was translated as 50%.

[Cerise]

The secret is to ask your UK company to give you a letter expressing your NCB in percentage not years.  Worked for me anyway.

[Jay]

When we moved permanently to France we ran our UK registered

car with UK plates, French CT and insurance for approximately nine month before

changing it to French plates. We were given full no claims discount by the

insurers here after providing a letter from our UK based insurance company confirming

we had full discount and that we had not had an accident in the previous 3

years. When we bought a second car we also got full discount on that too. An

imported car will obviously cost a little more to insure, just as it does in

the UK.

Prices here compare favourably with the UK I think and

breakdown/recovery is included in the price and usually the car is insured for any

driver (check policy!).

If you have the car on finance you are supposed to inform

them or pay it off before you move the car here permanently.

[Bob T]

[quote user="Jay"]

When we moved permanently to France we ran our UK registered

car with UK plates, French CT and insurance for approximately nine month before

changing it to French plates. We were given full no claims discount by the

insurers here after providing a letter from our UK based insurance company confirming

we had full discount and that we had not had an accident in the previous 3

years. When we bought a second car we also got full discount on that too. An

imported car will obviously cost a little more to insure, just as it does in

the UK.

Prices here compare favourably with the UK I think and

breakdown/recovery is included in the price and usually the car is insured for any

driver (check policy!).

If you have the car on finance you are supposed to inform

them or pay it off before you move the car here permanently.

[/quote]

Wise words in the last sentence Jay. Shame that you illegally drove your car on UK plates for nine months though.

[AnOther]

[quote user="Cerise"]The secret is to ask your UK company to give you a letter expressing your NCB in percentage not years.  Worked for me anyway.[/quote]Better still is to get one which simply states FULL or MAX [;-)]

The question is will your existing company do it and in my experience neither of our's in UK would (2 cars) as it was outside the 'box' [:'(]

The trouble is that the systems these people have tend to just churn out preformatted letters where it is impossible to change anything so if the bonus is stated in years it cannot be changed to say something else.

What is MAX NCB anyway, there seems to be no industry standard and every company has it's own idea be it 4, 5, 7, 9 years, or whatever [8-)]

[quote user="Jay"]An imported car will obviously cost a little more to insure, just as it does in the UK[/quote]In UK that'll be about 99% of them then [;-)]

 

[Llantony]

Many thanks for the replies, they do help - though it sounds as though French insurance companies operate in different ways to UK ones and each other!

I've a feeling that as our current motor insurance is via M & S it may be hard to get a NCB letter.  They change the company every year to get the cheapest.

We'll be keeping the battered Citroen Berlingo as long as possible as the pension will be pretty small.

Someone assumed I'm a man - I'm not.

[Ron Avery]

But NCB is really just a myth in France, its a starting figure.  As others have said,  the max is generally about 50%. There is not protected NCB that I have come across and if you have a blameworthy accident you will pay a very high premium for a number of years before you get back to your original status.

What does vary is the rate of recovery, so if you are in that situation it pays to shop around and ask how your insurer calculates it, I moved from Groupama to Pacifica as the period and rate of recovery was quicker and less loaded respectively with Pacifica.  But a word of warning for all yet to have an accident, they do not argue the toss over blame for years, if there is any element of doubt as to blame its 50 - 50 and a lot of accidents like hitting whilst changing lanes on an autoroute that would be treated as being the fault of one driver are treated  50 -50, you can say and do what you like, they decide and that is it, even if the other party admits blame,  Be very clear what you write and draw on the constat it cannot be changed when you get your senses back!!

[Jay]

[quote user="Bob T"]

Wise words in the last sentence Jay. Shame that you illegally drove your car on UK plates for nine months though.

[/quote]

Why a shame? I was actually stopped by the police 6 months

into our stay and breathalysed, they looked over the car, checked the plates

and insurance/CT in the windscreen and wished us a good day (in perfect

English) – no problem. The insurance company didn’t see it as a problem either,

they gave us insurance for 6 month then extended it for another 6 when we hadn’t

completed the changeover to French plates.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

But NCB is really just a myth in France, its a starting figure.  As others have said,  the max is generally about 50%. There is not protected NCB that I have come across and if you have a blameworthy accident you will pay a very high premium for a number of years before you get back to your original status.

[/quote]Not so, Ron.  MAAF offer NCB ("Bonus a Vie") to anybody who is accident free for 3 years.  They keep their 50% rate for life, once the three years is up.

[Clair]

[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="Ron Avery"]But NCB is really just a myth in France, its a starting figure.  As others have said,  the max is generally about 50%. There is not protected NCB that I have come across and if you have a blameworthy accident you will pay a very high premium for a number of years before you get back to your original status.[/quote]Not so, Ron.  MAAF offer NCB ("Bonus a Vie") to anybody who is accident free for 3 years.  They keep their 50% rate for life, once the three years is up.[/quote]

You beat me to it! That's what we have had since last year.

[AnOther]

I've heard good words about MAAF so will likely put them high on my list for next time round.

 

[Clair]

We started off with Pacifica (CA insurance) then when I had more time, I started looking around. MAAF came out slightly cheaper but mainly they were so approachable, there really was no debate.

I have the house, gite, car and scooter insurances with them.

[cooperlola]

We are also impressed with MAAF and in fact insured the second car with them this year, as you get a further discount as a result.  What's more, they did all the cancellation letters for the old policy on our belhalf - even coughing up for the registered post costs.  Very efficienct thus far but, of course, you never really know until you make a claim, do you?

[AnOther]

On Coops recommendation we went with Nick Chubb of Asttral and he was a great help with a somewhat unusual situation of bringing a Belgian registered car from UK to France whilst towing a large unregistered (UK) trailer; and needing it quickly and doing it all over the phone from UK !

The insurance wasn't the cheapest, I knew that at the time, nor was it outrageous, but the idea of getting the cover I needed for this situation through a non English speaking broker wasn't worth contemplating [blink]

[cooperlola]

I reckon that using an English speaking broker is really useful when you're in the throes of moving and have so much to sort out - for that reason we found Nick (and no doubt there are plenty of others) a real godsend.  The sale of our UK reg RHD fell through 2 days before we were due to move, and of course our UK insurer did not want to know.  But a couple of faxes and phone calls later and it was all done, and we drove to France with legal insurance, and had enough breathing space to re-register it once we'd got here.  But, now we're established, I've got a bit more cost conscious and have moved to MAAF as a result for both cars.

[Ron Avery]

I had a quick look at MAAF, it seems it only started in November 2007, so perhaps the others will do something similar.

It certainly gives a form of protection in the event of an accident if you have two years prior blame free motoring.  However, what it appears to do is use the no claims bonus element of the premium to pay off and limit the additional premiums that normally follow a blameworthy  accident, but doesn't that mean that you effectively lose you NCB of 50 % and now pay 50% more the following year?