bramblebush

For the last 4 years we have insured our car and van with an english speaking french insurance company.

In the early days it was very convenient to do this because of the language however I am now thinking that maybe we pay for this priviledge in the premiums.

I would like to now have a go at shopping around like I would have done in the UK.

Does anyone know if French insurance company's will insurane a UK registered car.

And can anyone recommend any company's

val50

Can I just ask - do you live permanently in France, because if you do, then unless the law has changed recently, you might want to look at this old thread:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=491588&page=2


Car insurance for French residents.
If you are a permanent resident in France you are bound by French law. French law states that if you are resident in France, insurance on your vehicle is part of your “responsibilité civile”. If you are a French resident, to comply fully with French law you must register and insure your vehicles within the French system, which means changing your UK plate to a French plate. It is possible to legally drive an English registered vehicle which is insured with a French insurer, but only for six months, and only when you are involved in the process of changing the registration of the vehicle to a French plate.

bramblebush

Yes we do live permanently in France and from what you have quoted then we have been illegally insured for the past 4 years

Back to the drawing board

Thanks

Ka Ora!

If you have been on English plates for four years, Then yes you are breaking the law. There is also a new law coming in that will allow the Gendarmes to seize your Car, Force a special CT on you that costs 350 euros then they return the car when you turn up with French plates for it

As they phase in the ANPR system they are going to log Overseas plates on a database so that they can see from their records how long a car has been in an area.

bramblebush

Thanks for the info. when we first arrived in France we had an english car and we registered it with french plates but then when we changed the car we didn't bother to change the plates.

val50

at least that answer's your original question - you wont be able to get insurance from a french company and you are driving illegally in France at the moment. If you have an accident, the insurance company you are with at the moment wont pay out.

TandT

I read all of this information in the two threads far too late! I am not resident in the France, but do keep my cars there as I work away from the UK from long periods for UK companies and when I have some time off, I spend it in France. I have had my car and van insured by AXA for the last 3 years without any questions asked.

I had an accident earlier this year which wrote off our van, the 3rd party's (brand new) car and injured (not seriously) the other driver. The other driver's insurance company has just written to me to tell me that AXA will not pay the claim as my vehicle was still on a UK plate. I have a controle technique, but as I do not have UK MOT and Road TAX (I don't take the car there at all, so it seemed a waste of resources) it seems that I was not legally driving the van and have not been doing so for nearly 3 years.

I expect I will be roughly £30 thousand pounds out of pocket for this error!!! Not money that I have, as actually due to the current world climate, I am out of work.

Please, please, please, if you are a UK resident, make sure that you have a current MOT and road tax. If you are a French resident, get the paperwork started immediately to change the number plate. Get to the Hotel des Impots on Monday to let them know that you are starting the process!!

val50

Hi there and welcome to the forum. Really sorry to hear about your problems with insurance, but thank you so much for sharing and reinforcing the need for expats with UK registered cars to change them over to French plates.

dennerlymum

I too am really sorry to hear of your situation. For those not sure of what to do it is relatively simple to change the plates on a car with a visit to the hotel des impots and the Prefecture and a small amount of money.