dave1982

Does anyone know whether a vehicle can be insured for say 6 months of the year.....less than an annual policy. I know this can be done in the UK for say vintage vehicles or people with kit cars who only drive their beloved vehicle in the summer months.

The reason I ask is my partner and myself own a property in Hungary and were thinking of purchasing a vehicle to use on the occasions we travel to Hungary. This usually is two to three times a year. This can become very costly in "Car Rental Charges". We would garage the vehicle over the winter months and use during the summer. We've read the advice regarding purchasing a vehicle, looked at prices. Used cars in Hungary are very expensive. A much younger vehicle can be purchased in the uk. The additional tax and registration costs are almost comparable to the difference in price between purchase in Hungary and total costs of a vehicle from UK.

Has anyone had any expearience or knows of any insurance company that may insure for less than an annual policy.

Any advice much appreciated.
Regards
Dave

Peter_in_Hungary

Deliberate - to stop Hungary becoming the graveyard for all the old Western Europe cars

I don't think you can get insurance for less than 1 year however Allianz insurance co (and probably others) give a much reduced rate if you only do 5000km per year or less. If you are thinking of getting comprehensive insurance - the only way to get theft cover then going this route will give 12 months theft cover. Otherwise if you just get the compulsory insurance (that required by law) which is the only alternative to comprehensive then this is actually quite cheap - (relative to UK insurance as far as I know) especially if you can talk the insurance co. into giving you a NCB based on a letter from your UK insurers, but here NCB are paid as a rebate at year end not as reduced premiums as in the UK. Further reductions can be got by paying the annual premium up front rather than quarterly or monthly. You will need an address and address card get a car registered and to insure the car.

PaulinEger

As far as I'm aware you can only insure for 12 months.
Depending on the vehicle, you could insure it 3rd party only which would probably cost less than 100gbp. If it's newer, then fully comp would be in the region of 3-400gbp.

Shotgun

<<The reason I ask is my partner and myself own a property in Hungary and were thinking of purchasing a vehicle to use on the occasions we travel to Hungary. This usually is two to three times a year. This can become very costly in "Car Rental Charges". We would garage the vehicle over the winter months and use during the summer. We've read the advice regarding purchasing a vehicle, looked at prices. Used cars in Hungary are very expensive. A much younger vehicle can be purchased in the uk. The additional tax and registration costs are almost comparable to the difference in price between purchase in Hungary and total costs of a vehicle from UK.>>

I own a house in Hungary which we visit eight to ten times per year (about a week each visit). Originally I thought about buying a car to use whenever we visited, and get someone to bring it to the airport each time, and return it when we went home.

It soon became obvious that the cost of this would be considerably more than renting a car. The hire car would be at the airport every time we came, it would be nearly new and maintained in excellent condition, all at no extra cost to ourselves other than the weekly rental charge.

We usually hire a Skoda Fabia which costs around £70 per visit, sometimes more, but usually less, depending on time of year.

I couldn't own and maintain a car of my own for £700 per annum.

Peter_in_Hungary

If you are prepared to drive a small van - that is a van version of a saloon car you can register it as a commercial vehicle and this does not have the import/registration tax applied and is therefore much cheaper to import.

Peter_in_Hungary

Another thought is that if you are doing renovation on your property then a car with a tow bar can be useful because trailers can be hired quite cheaply (its not worth having your own unless you use it a lot as here they have their own road tax, mots and insurance) and it saves the problems of getting/ organising deliveries which are separate from the shops. Oh and OBI do a 3 hour free trailer loan.

But then when you come to sell the car it will have little value because the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

hobgoblins

Do the authorities base the fact that a vehicle is commercial or not based on the make and model only ?
​​​​​​​I was given an old Mazda Bongo to drive stuff over in from the UK and it was a camper van but I ripped out the two sets of rear seats and kitchen unit turning it into a van with rear side windows and a rear window …. could this now be classed as a commercial van as it will not be a camper van again ?

Peter_in_Hungary

A vehicle can be either commercial or not depending upon its configuration. So your Mazda Bongo if it had no rear seats and a division between the passenger area and the load area it could be commercial. The number of seats is listed on the log book and strictly adhered to. If you took the seats out the log book would reflect this and if you were to subsequently replace them this would need re-registration and inspection.
It is based on make and model type, but some models can be either configuration.

hobgoblins

Ok, Thank You Peter …. so I guess I will need the log book renewing in the UK to state that the seats have been removed ….

Peter_in_Hungary

Assuming the seats were on the V5 in the first place and not fitted as after market without the follow up paperwork.

dave1982

Thank you very much for all the info people have included in their replies.
Can now make a n informed decision on what whats my best option. To import, buy in Hungary or just keep renting.
Regards Dave