An Insurance Question

[Annabell]

Does the car need to be registered to be able to get car insurance?
Our Green card and English Insurance will run out on April 16th so need to get something sorted.

[Will]

LAST EDITED ON 23-Mar-04 AT 01:56 PM (GMT)

You can certainly insure a car on UK plates through several French insurers - AGF for one. As to the legality of it all, frankly it's a bit of a grey area. But from previous discussions it seems the main question is whether or not you need British road tax for a UK-registered vehicle overseas to make it legal. As the UK authorities will not accept French insurance for obtaning a tax disc, and if you do as DVLA recommends and get an export certificate for the vehicle before leaving UK you automatically surrender the tax disc and won't be able to renew it, this indicates that it should be OK. The major problem is if you return, even for a quick visit, to the UK.

Of course, this all assumes that you set things in motion to register the vehicle in France within a short time of arriving. Those who maintain UK plates for years without UK tax, MoT etc, even if the insurance company will take their money, are surely treading a rather uncertain path.


Will (50)

[S8J]

We have just spent a morning getting quotes from insurers for our car which has uk plates, as the insurance is due to expire. All the companies insisted we change the plates to french and only 1 was prepared to insure us before this was done.(AXA) Just one other point all companies were quoting the same as my renewal in London, although they did include breakdown cover worldwide but had high excesses. I thought insurance was supposed to be cheaper here in France? Perhaps its because we drive a Merc? Must think were rich english. If only they knew...

Jackie
www.longhousefrance.co.uk

[Annabell]

Just to let you know. I insured the car today with no problems whatsoever re the English plates.
In fact I was totally shocked. In England our car insurance was 2,500 a year. Here its just 500.

[Dj]

Hi Annabell.
The following may be of interest,Am in the process of insuring a Peugeot Partner HDI this is classed as a 6cv group car,it would appear if it were a 8cv group it would be cheaper to insure,
As reccomended in an ealier string we requested a quote from
Sellier on 05 45 82 03 20
They break the quote down to various additions at extra cost,example Full comp cover E402 Road side assist E27 replacement Vehicle E37 and various other options,our vehicle was quoted at 451.98 euroes .
All the rellevant detail can be forewarded by Fax and a quote
will be Faxed back.
To get the cover if required you must supply the following.
The fax duly signed on every page,A copy of the vehicles registration document(carte grise) a copy of the named drivers driving licences,Proof of your No Claim Bonus and yor payment.
At present rates the cost in sterling is 305.00 not bad as it includes breakdown cover and full european insurance cover.
I do hope this helps DJ

[Bryanskinner]

i am moving to france within the next 6 weeks. i have an old stag for which the green card for 12 months was little problem. i was expecting to be able to insure my 807 as it is a french car no problem at all with uk plates. this is proving very difficult. many people say it is easy to insure in france, others say the cert when it comes to an accident is not worth the paper etc. i must admit knowing the french as i do i can quite believe the latter. the best answer must be to buy a french registered car. however for now does anyone know a uk broker who will insure for 6 months+ until we settle in...many thanks bryan

[Penny29]

Hi,

We insured with our local branch of AXA & they gave us three months to get the re-registration process completed.

We did get the car through it's controle technique before asking for insurance cover so we weren't unnecessarily complicating things by expecting them to accept a British MOT as prof of roadworthiness!

I'm sure they would have extended the 13 week deadline if the bureaucratic process had delayed the issue of the carte grise, but in our case we found that it all took very little time and was not at all complicated.

If LF haven't "lost" it I did post a step by step description on the South West France Board under a topic heading "Re-registering a car in the North Dordogne" which may be of some help to you, although the process seems to differ from Dept to Dept.

 

 

 

[Penny29]

Hi,

We insured with our local branch of AXA & they gave us three months to get the re-registration process completed.

We did get the car through it's controle technique before asking for insurance cover so we weren't unnecessarily complicating things by expecting them to accept a British MOT as proof of roadworthiness!

I'm sure they would have extended the 13 week deadline if the bureaucratic process had delayed the issue of the carte grise, but in our case we found that it all took very little time and was not at all complicated.

If LF haven't "lost" it I did post a step by step description on the South West France Board under a topic heading "Re-registering a car in the North Dordogne" which may be of some help to you, although the process seems to differ from Dept to Dept.

 

 

 

[Jonzjob]

I finished up buying a new LHD Citroen C8 from Holland before we came over. It was good fun trying to insure it in the UK on Dutch transit plates, but that's another story! We insured it here in the Aude through a brokers called B.I.B.A. It's run by English folks living over here specifically for ex-pats. It was all done over the phone, took a few minutes and I was covered from the time of the call. The cover note arrived the next day and the full paper work a few days later. We have been given 6 months, if my memory serves me right, to register the car in France...

If you would like the details of the brokers, just either e-mail me or send a private message.

John.

[Monsieurmousseux]

I have a month's cover note from MMA. I was not required to get French plates, but was asked if we intended to to re-register in France, to which I answered (honestly) "yes".

I was lead to believe that should a delay occur in the bureaucracy, another cover note could be issued on expiry of the first.

However, I have been asked to provide paper evidence of my car insurance over the last 13 years! This was in order to obtain the No Claims Bonus at the appropriate level.

The one thing I haven't been given is some idea of the year's premium!

[Val_2]

[quote]I have a month's cover note from MMA. I was not required to get French plates, but was asked if we intended to to re-register in France, to which I answered (honestly) "yes". I was lead to believe ...[/quote]

Re: Premium quote. they are probably waiting for the details of your previous NCB to arrive so they can assess what sort of risk you are. We have three out of our five vehicles insured with MMA and have always found them very helpful, flexible and on the spot quickly in cases of accidents and repairs. All french insurers will ask normally for paperwork relating to your previous UK insurance record and I always tell people coming here to get this sorted before they leave to stop any holdup in the process here.  Don't expect to get a further insurance sticker until you have provided the paperwork being asked for and you will then find that you will be charged for the time you have already been insured for. I would also shop around for other quotes,you will be amazed at the difference some charge but watch the excess (franchise) each one intends to charge you in case of a claim.

[Monsieurmousseux]

Thanks, Val.