Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Jan 12th 2015, 1:17 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: parkdale, melbourne
Posts: 553
Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Hi
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
Jan 12th 2015, 8:51 pm
#2
has lost The Game
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Chippendale, Sydney
Posts: 8,735
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Hi
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
How long are you going for? Can you not take out a policy and get a cover note then cancel the direct debit after you have gone back?
S
Jan 12th 2015, 10:42 pm
#3
Victorian Evangelist
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Melbourne, by the beach, living the dream.
Posts: 7,704
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Hi
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
I have lived in Aus for 11 years now and am returning to the UK next week for a month to visit my elderly parents.
Dad has had a stroke and cannot drive but has a perfectly good car in the garage that he wants me to get insurance on so I can help him move house/get around/generally be able to get out!
He is talking about selling the car to me so that I can insure and drive it whilst here. I'm really struggling to do this as:
a) my uk licence is still valid but photo licence expired in 2010.
b) I can't change my address and update my license as it will take around 3 weeks (Dad only got a letter from insurance today to say he is no longer insured as he will be 80 next month).
Can I get insurance on his car somewhere? I contacted age concern and they quoted nearly GBP2k for dad to insure and me to drive.
As I haven't driven a manual car for 11 years, if I was to hire an automatic from car hire for a month it's quoting me GBP800 which is ridiculous. Particularly as there is a car waiting for me (just needs MOT which it's booked in for).
Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.
We hired a family-size car for 3 weeks over Christmas for about £450 from Enterprise.
BB
Jan 13th 2015, 12:23 am
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 20,821
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Jan 13th 2015, 4:55 am
#5
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Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: parkdale, melbourne
Posts: 553
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Hi Louise, sorry to hear about your Dad's illness. We tried to do exactly the same thing last year and it worked out cheaper and easier to hire a car. We couldn't find any insurance companies that would touch a driver who had not lived in the UK for 5 years +.
We hired a family-size car for 3 weeks over Christmas for about £450 from Enterprise.
BB
We hired a family-size car for 3 weeks over Christmas for about £450 from Enterprise.
BB
I'm thinking that's exactly what I'm going to have to do unfortunatly (there goes my shopping budget
) . Can't believe an auto is 3 times as much as a man to hire. - really don't fancy driving one after 11 years of pretend driving although I'm kind of thinking it may be like riding a bike and come back to me??? But all those Hillstarts in Oldham!It wasn't a problem when he actually had the stroke as he was still insured and I was just an additional driver on his policy.
Thanks for your input anyway. Looks like a rental it is.
It'll be worth it to see my parents again - now to find a car which will fit a wheelchair in the boot...
Louise
Jan 13th 2015, 5:05 am
#6
has lost The Game
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Chippendale, Sydney
Posts: 8,735
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
In the past, my folks have never had any problems adding me as a temp driver to their existing insurance, but this may come in handy in the future if they ever run into problems...
S
Jan 13th 2015, 6:54 am
#7
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Canberra
Posts: 8,378
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
Before coming here to live, I was always a named driver on my dad's policy (he still drives) - some companies now won't do that though - my son included me as a named driver on his policy but when he changed providers they wouldn't accept me as I wasn't UK resident. It may well be cheaper to hire!
Jan 13th 2015, 11:36 am
#8
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 253
Re: Visiting the UK - insuring a car not my own? Help
there was considerable discussion on the 'moving back to UK' thread here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/movin...uk-car-793409/
From my own experience last year, I struggled to find anyone to insure me on my Father's car for a 5 day period (that's all I needed a car for) and ended up hiring from Gatwick Airport - I got a great deal though with Hertz.
