Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

Has anyone ever went back to the UK for lets say, 1month.. and managed to get the use of a friends, or family members car.
If so how did you go about getting insurance cover sorted?
Is the family member able to put you on their insurance as an additional 'temporary' driver?
Or can I arrange something with my canadian insurance provider to do this?

Thanks

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

I tried to do something like this with a motorbike I owned when I lived (and was licenced) in the UK for a Canadian friend who was visiting. My normal insurer would not allow him to be added as a named driver as he didn't have a UK licence. In the end I worked through an insurance broker who did a lot of calling around and managed to get me a temporary policy for him (I think through a Lloyds syndicate). Bit of a PITA!

I am not certain if EVERY UK insurer would adopt this approach. It would be worth your UK friend asking if they can add you as a named driver given that you have a Canadian licence (but don't be surprised if they come back with a 'no').

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

I had some dog/house sitters in the UK while my husband and I had a 5 week holiday. The were from Australia and both had international drivers licences. Our insurer (Aviva) had no problems adding them to our insurance so they could drive our car. Information I had to provide them was name, address, date of birth and a copy of each of their international drivers licence.

They explained that they don't add people to policies on a temporary basis, they just add them to a policy in the normal fashion and charge an extra monthly fee, with periods of less than a month on a pro rata basis. From memory it was very cheap at £28 per month for the pair of them, and I just had to call the insurers when I wanted the couple taken off the policy, with the fee ending on that date.

I remember them saying that they would have offered the same deal if the couple had just had 'ordinary' Australian licences but I don't know if that was because we also drive on the left. Sorry, I don't know whether or not they'd have agreed to add a driver from a right hand drive country.

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

That's because an "international drivers license" isn't a license but a translation of one's ordinary license. It's not important to have one if the language of the original license is English as all it does is explain, in English, that you have the original license. In this case it's the Australian license that confers the right to drive.

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

Oh. Right. Well the insurer and the couple called it an 'international drivers licence' (or maybe it was driving)so that was good enough for me :)

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

My experience was that the ability to do this changed a few years ago. I stayed with my brother about 6/7years ago and his insurance company was happy to add me to his policy for a reasonable premium. We tried to do the same more recently - about 2 years ago- and it was no longer possible. At that time, the message we got was that most UK insurance companies had changed their policy on doing it.

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

You need your own 'standalone' insurance, rather than trying to be added to a relative's car insurance. Here's a few companies that do it -

https://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/short-t...seas-residents

HTH.

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

Sorry if this is a thick question but what happens to your UK licence when you get a Canadian one? Presumably a UK licence has to have a UK address so if you maintain a UK address when you move to Canada is there anything to stop you maintaining a UK licence?

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

you cant hold two licences at once

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

You surrender it, but can easily get it back if you move back to the UK. You can't use a UK DL if you're not resident there anyway, even if you could keep it.

Re: Getting 'temporary' UK car insurance with Canadian licence?
 

Not needed to use it myself but this site seems to offer what you are looking for:

https://www.tempcover.com/temporary-...ce/expatriates