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UK auto insurance and Driving License

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Tonibme
  7/5/2016 16:08 EST

I have a USA driving license and am unable to get automobile insurance in the UK. I can buy a car but can't insure it. (Here's the rub - I'm a UK citizen that lived in the USA for the last 14 years!!!).

OldPro
  7/17/2016 11:57 EST

Is there supposed to be a question here?

First, I disagree with your statement that you CANNOT get insurance. That's simply not true, but it may be at a price you aren't happy to pay. That's because you will be treated as someone with no UK driving experience. So no 5 year accident free discount for example.

I bought, registered (without having a UK address, used seller's address temporarily) and insured a car in the UK, all in one day with no difficulty at all but the insurance did cost an arm and a leg.

Getting a UK driving license was not nearly as easy. You can drive on your USA license (as well as be insured) for the first year. After that, you need a UK license to continue being insured.

While you can exchange your license if it is from a country with a recriprocal agreement, that is not the case with the USA. You will have to do the theory and driving tests.

As a former UK resident, if you have your old UK license, you may be able to just renew it though.

Funny twist. As a holder of a Canadian driving license, I could exchange it for a UK license. However, since it did not state on my Canadian license whether I had specifically been licensed to drive a standard shift car, they would only exchange it for a UK license that allowed driving an automatic shift car. So to be able to drive either, I had to take the theory and driving tests.

Here's the funny part. I was able to drive my standard shift car for the first year on my Canadian license without any problem. So I asked them (not expecting any real answer) why they considered it safe for me to drive a standard shift car for a year but after that year, insisted I needed to pass a test to show that I was capable of safely doing so?

Bureaucracy is an amazing thing.

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Tonibme
  7/18/2016 04:40 EST

Thanks for your response, but we were unable to get insurance at any price. Sorted it by registering, insuring and paying tax on the car in our daughter's name. Glad we had a relative willing to do it.

OldPro
  7/18/2016 11:28 EST

How then do you plan to deal with next year? You still need to get it registered, taxed and insured in your name at some point.

Read here:
https://www.directline.com/car-insurance/buyers-guides/foreign-drivers

And here:
http://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/car-insurance-new-to-uk

And on any of the other numerous links here:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=insuring+car+in+uk+for+foreign+driver&ie=&oe=

Obviously, it is quite possible to get insurance. So I can only guess that something about how you chose to look for it or who you talked to was not appropriate.

Tonibme
  7/18/2016 11:37 EST

I now realize the confusion - sorry for not clarifying - we are not permanent residents of the UK; we have a mailing address in the US and are traveling indefinitely, staying as long in each country as our Visa allows.

OldPro
  7/20/2016 22:55 EST

Well yeah, if you post in an EXPAT forum rather than in a TRAVEL forum, the assumption is likely to be that you are resident, not just travelling. So consider yourself slapped on the wrist for that.

It is actually also possible for a traveller to buy and insure a car to do what you want to do. However, it is neither simple nor cheap.

The issue I see with going through your daughter, is the question of whether a claim will be paid or not. It is one thing to buy insurance and it is another to have a claim honoured. Insurance companies are not stupid and you are in effect attempting to go around what they are willing to insure for. So insurance may have been bought but IF they decide to contest a claim and IF it is for a serious amount of money, then you can see how it might put a kink in your plans.

Who is listed as the primary driver on the insurance policy and are you even a named secondary driver? If you are named, is your US address listed as your residence? If not and you are listed at your daughter's address, can you see how an insurance company might decide you have 'lied' about your 'residence'? Get my drift?

If your daughter is the named primary driver which I'm guessing she is and the insurance company suspects you are in fact the main driver of the vehicle they can claim the policy is invalid as that constitutes fraud. This applies to parents who give a college age child a car to drive for example while away at school. The child becomes the main driver in that case and the car must be insured in his/her name as the primary driver.

Where is the car insured to be driven? Most UK policies provide very limited coverage outside of the UK. Whether they would cover a secondary driver who has spent say 2 months in France and then had an accident, is a question I would want a specific answer in WRITING from the insurance company for. A common policy would cover a UK licensed driver for a trip outside the UK and in an EU country for not more than 30 days in ONE trip and no more than 3 times in a year. I consider your apparent 'solution' to be very risky and perhaps even totally unworkable if you intend to take this car to the mainland for several months. At best if you take it, you would probably have to return to the UK between trips etc.

Read this typical UK insurance site under the various headings as well as to what has to be done when driving in the rest of the EU.
http://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/motor/make-sure-youre-insured

Even if you only intend to drive this car in the UK and then sell it when you leave, if it is insured in your daughter's name as the primary driver, do you realize that IF you have an accident it will affect HER 'no claims bonus'? In other words, her insurance will go up.

There are definite differences between UK car insurance and US car insurance. When you throw driving it in other countries into the mix it becomes even more complex. I would not ASSUME that having found a way to buy insurance means you will be COVERED by that insurance in the event of a claim. Again, insurance companies are not stupid and what they do have in common between the US and the UK is that there is an unnamed department in every insurance company that all claims go through first. It is the 'deny the claim department'. The greater the claim amount, the more scrutiny the claim gets.

Be very sure the insurance company has agreed to what you intend to do and are covering you to do it. Be very sure, in WRITING.

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Tonibme
  7/21/2016 10:26 EST

A tad sanctimonious - I stopped reading. I appreciate your concerns. We are responsible people. It is sorted. Thanks for your thoughts. I'm sure you will have to have the last word on this.

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