Uk driving in holidays | ExpatWoman.com
 

Uk driving in holidays

21
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 10:44

Hi my sister was going to let us use her car in the holidays but sadly her insurance company won't cover us as we are not UK residents. Has anyone found a company that would insure them? How do you get around in the Uk- car hire is sooooooo expensive when you are there a long time!

21
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 July 2011 - 19:11
It's great that you are both getting insurance cover, we now have Kuwaiti licenses - I wonder what they'll make of those....Thx again
251
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 07 July 2011 - 08:31
I'm insured on both my parents' cars and each time they call to add me to the insurance, they tell the insurance company I'm not a UK resident - although I hold a full UK driving licence - and that I also have a UAE driving licence and UAE residency. I think there's a premium because I'm not a UK resident, but they're fully aware I'm not and insure me as such. I think last time we called they asked if I was a UK resident and when Dad said no, they asked where I am a resident and noted it down. This is exactly the same as me. They even took down our UAE address and visa number too, so we are giving them the full information.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 07 July 2011 - 01:21
I'm insured on both my parents' cars and each time they call to add me to the insurance, they tell the insurance company I'm not a UK resident - although I hold a full UK driving licence - and that I also have a UAE driving licence and UAE residency. I think there's a premium because I'm not a UK resident, but they're fully aware I'm not and insure me as such. I think last time we called they asked if I was a UK resident and when Dad said no, they asked where I am a resident and noted it down.
21
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 21:19
Oh I think maybe it's not worth it then- would hate to get caught out. Many thanks ladies for all your help!
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EW GURU
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 12:49
I used to set up and change policies all the time and never had to ask how long they were resident for. The questions they ask are: Are you a UK resident? Do you hold a full UK license? How long have you held a full UK license for? etc. For a additional driver if we indicated No for UK resident it would not allow us to process it, but if on adding a temporary additional driver, they could be resident or not. However, we were always told for a temporary additional driver who was non Uk resident, we had to process their license as being an international one - as a non UK resident is not supposed to drive in the UK on their UK one only an international license (which incidentally also had the effect of loading the premium a little more, funny that, lol!)
Anonymous (not verified)
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 12:36
Still a very "grey" area technically a temporary driver still should be a uk resident, as the key question is "how long has the driver been resident in the UK" as detailed on insurance application forms not the same as how long held a UK licence. But if they don't ask, or it's not made clear then lots of people get away with it, but I wouldn't like to challenge this in the case of an accident and more detailed questions or information is required. We used to get added to DD's policy, but as we were usually talking to some call centre in India a lot got lost in translation and I was never too sure that they understood the answers we give them as we were being totally honest? My brother asked his insurance broker about getting added to one of their spare cars and after a lot of investigation he said it couldn't be done in the strict sense of the law, only "legal" way is to hire a car, which we now do just to be on a safe side.
511
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EW GURU
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 12:33
You wouldn't be able to take a separate policy to cover yourself as the insurance is attached to the car and a second policy would mean the car is dual insured which is not allowed and in the event of a claim there are big squabbles. Sometimes if you have a full policy on a car you (the driver) are insured to drive other people's cars on a third party only basis, this is the only situation I know of where the insurance is attached to the person (but obviously it wouldn't apply here.) I would say have your sister call her insurer and say she needs to add a temp driver for X amount of days (sometimes the cut off is 30 day intervals of up to 90 days as PP says) and they will add you for that period. If she is adding 2 people you might only get 45 days each as 90 days is usually the total you are allowed in the policy period and not per person.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 11:46
From our experience, the policyholder has to phone up and do it , but the key very much is to say temporary driver. My Dad the 1st time we did it was happy for us to just be on the policy year to year and that's what they won't do, but if you say to add a temporary driver it *should* be fine, but your sister will need to call and add you on. You can't just take out a "temporary policy" yourself (I'm 99% certain, but I will stand corrected).
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 11:38
Thank you so much BellaUK and pilotsprincess. I wonder if the key is to say it's for a 'temporary' driver?! Bella, if I contacted one of those companies do you think they could arrange seperate cover (to my sister's policy), or does it not work like that. Thanks again.
251
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 11:12
We always get added to my Mum and Dad's cars exactly as BellaUK says - done this with Saga (yep - my parents are of that age), Direct Line, Priviledge. One of them (can't remember which one) you could only do a maximum of 30days at a time for a maximum of 90 days. But we've done this for a few years now. Not tried it this year tho (in case any rules have changed), but we certainly have done it many times before. eta - to change one of the companies as I wrote the wrong one.
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EW GURU
Latest post on 06 July 2011 - 11:06
Most companies will insure non residents as a temporary driver - for a set period up to 90 days per policy year. I used to work for Churchill back in the day and all of the RBS ones allowed this (Churchill, Direct Line, Priviliege etc.)
 
 

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