Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Hey

We are off to the UK for the first time since we moved here 5 years ago!!!

My sister in law has offered to lend us her car when we are there but we are a bit confused about how to be insured on her car.

She has sent me an email today saying she can only add additional drivers if they are UK residents and that we will need to add something to our insurance but cant find anything about that type of policy.

Has anyone borrowed a car when in UK and if so how did you go about getting insured on it

many thanks in advance for your help

Nat

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Hello, we just hired a care for the time we were there as everyone was crying about us not being insured and they all needed their cars to go to work etc.... You might find it easier and would probably cost as much to insure ;)good luck

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

My dad has never had a problem adding any of us to his insurance policies. I am on permanently and my husband or son/s are on intermittently as the need arises. I offer to pay any additional but he says he is never charged any extra so not sure what the UK residence thing is.

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Hi

MIL lends us her car each year and has had no problem in adding us on for the few weeks we are there. I think it's cost her a tenner or something daft like that!

She's insured with Direct Line if that helps.

I think because Aussies drive on the same side of the road maybe that's why there isn't an issue - same as when we used to hire cars over here.

Maybe they just don't want to lend you their car!

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Do you still have a UK driving license?

I do and it was easy for my parents to add me on to their UK insurance policy as a driver. It only cost about 10 quid for a week. However, my husband has a NSW licence and it was rextremely expensive to add him on and my brother's insurer wouldn't even consider it.

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

My dad is unable to add me as a driver to his policy as I'm not a UK resident.

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Lie and give them your dads address and renew your UK licence. If anything you have to be a better driver in Oz cos they can't drive for toffee in QLD and the road rules are almost exactly the same. :D

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

There is absolutely no point in lying about it. A lie might get you added onto the policy, however in the unfortuante event that you need to make a claim they will find out and won't pay up.

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

My father in law has had no problems adding me as a driver. The only issue is that if I don't drive with my UK licence on me (i.e. I left it back in Brisbane) then the excess is a lot higher.

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

hey all

thanks for the info

I think it might be the case that she doesnt really want to lend us the car as every insurance company I have looked at states that a non uk resident can be added- but perhaps her insurer doesnt allow it.

We both have valid UK licences still so thats not the problem.

Its really expensive to hire a car for the 6 weeks we are there- about $1200 which we dont have - we have already spent nearly $10k just on flights alone!!

thanks for your help!

Nat

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

technically it's not a lie cos I'm a UK resident who's residing in my country of birth whilst visiting family. Insurance companies are complete gits and I'm not paying more just cos I live overseas now. :D

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

Well I'm in VIC and here you have to give up your UK licence if you are PR - so that didn't make any difference to being able to go on MIL's insurance! Mind you I personally don't know what she's told them but I expect she was honest!

Talking about insurance, I was looking at attending an event in QLD and would need car hire, nearly fell over when the cost of the car to hire each day was around $35 and the insurance was $35 (cheapest level to bring down excess) - have there been loads of hire car accidents up there? The insurance was dearer than the basic car hire! Be cheaper to take a few days out and drive up there!

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

It's just the basic fact that Queenslanders are terrible drivers. You should see the amount of crash repair businesses here compared to Uk or even other states. HUGE business!!!! QLD'ers turn what brain they have off when they get in a vehicle. Scary but true :thumbdown:

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

And I thought Mellie drivers were bad!

Re: Question for those who have visited the rellies in the UK
 

They are! It's just that there are worse out there:frown: