linda Coyle

Can anyone help? My car insurance in UK expires 17th April, I am driving to Spain 26th (arrive 27th) April, my company won't cover me for that couple of weeks, they want a full year contract then a cancellation fee. Obviously I will get insurance in Spain, does anyone know of a company that covers me in Spain that will cover me in UK from 17th to 26th April then into Spain?

snikpoh

You raise a number of points;

1) Is the car UK registered (on UK plates)? If so then you MUST have UK insurance no matter where you drive!

2) If you intend matriculating it, then a number of insurance companies will insure it under the UK reg. in the belief that it will soon be Spanish registered. (I did this with ours.)

3) There are some insurance companies that do NOT charge a cancellation fee and will give a 'pro-rata' refund.

There are many on this forum that would advise against importing a UK car. It really is a personal choice but you must appreciate that it's not cheap.

There has also been a lot of discussion recently about the fact that you can NOT keep in UK registered vehicle in Spain for more than 6 months. I won't bore you with that discussion again - just do a search and see for yourself.

linda Coyle

The car is LHD, UK registered but will be changed to Spanish within the first 2 weeks. I just need insurance to get me to Spain and would continue with same company in Spain if I new who to go to

Mitzyboy

OOoeeerrr we dont want another is it / isnt it legal thread

You had a couple of choices, although I'm not sure you have them now.

1. Take out a full year cover on monthly payments and then cancel after month 1

2. I told my insurance company when I came that I wasnt sure if I was coming back or not (almost true) and therefore they gave me 90 days cover.

You can get a UK car insured here it seems, if you do search there was just a huge thread on it. However theres a difference of opinion as to whether its valid in the event of an accident.

linda Coyle

Thanks Mitzy, the car will be legal in Spain, as soon as I get there it is top of my list. If I take out a full year on monthly my company has a penalty to cancel. I simply want to be insured to drive in UK from 17th April to 26th April and be covered for my journey in Spain on 27th April, and would continue insurance over there if I could have the name of a company that does this

chrismortley

You could try the AA insurance.
They do short term insurance & also 90 days free insurance cover while driving n Europe, I am not sure if the offer is only on a 12 month policy though
worth a try ?

linda Coyle

Thanks Chris, short time insurance would be great, just didn't know if it could be done, I will try AA and hopefully I can get cover for 2 weeks to get me over there then I can sort out the Spanish stuff

snikpoh

We used Horizon Consultants who insure using Lloyds or IBEX.

We used them for our UK car which we then changed to Spanish plates - we had no issues at all.

linda Coyle

Have sent you a PM

tomarense

Linda,

If you have an address in Spain you could try Knight's. They have an office in Torrevieja.
You should then have no problem changing when you re-register the car.

BTW, have you asked Swansea for an Exportation Certificate as it will save you Spanish Importation Duty?

Hope you get it sorted out

Nige

I bought a UK registered car and later matriculated it in Spain. It took longer than anticipated so don't always think you can sort the paperwork out quickly !
You can use one of the Agents for Lloyd's as mentioned above, or IBEX in Gib who also use Lloyd's I believe. http://www.ibexinsure.com/ or whoever. Lloyd's has a Licence to carry out motor insurance in the EEC and Spain. I used IBEX for the UK and the 'new' matriculated Spanish car.
You will find that they will say you can have a policy for the UK registered vehicle, but once you get it 'matriculated' and onto Spanish plates, you will need a Spanish policy. I think the Spanish policy will automatically including a roadside breakdown recovery number to call which is a good idea because it does mean that the motorist through their insurance can get the car off the road !
When the UK registered policy needs switching over to the Spanish one, the new premium will be calculated and a credit given for the old policy which I think should be pro rata and a new 12 months contract once you know the Spanish registration number can be initiated.
Then once you are 'settled' in Spain and get all your papaers you can go for a search of alternative insurance providers at renewal if necessary !

battlezone123

I have just received a letter from my insurance company (Liberty Serguos) saying that all UK registered cars they insure will now be entered onto the UK governments data base. This will mean that you can tax your car over the internet. The question arises now if you have permanently exported your car why are you insuring it with UK plates when it should be on Spanish plates. It would mean that your car does not have an MOT or road tax.

Hondon Voyager

Direct line ,might be worth a call ,I had insurance with them in Uk and when I moverd to Spain I contacted Linea Directa (quite some time after my uk insurance expired)but they gave me my full no claims bonus entitlement accrued in the uk .It is about 5 years ago but worth a call they might do u a deal .I still use them in Spain and have had no probs infact I just renewed it today (or my wife did anyway)

jdr

Exactly , who runs the HM Excise and Customs, Liberty Serguros ?

I think people will get a few nasty bills coming through from HM.

linda Coyle

I am in the process of getting a quote from Spanish insurance company. They will insure my car using my Spanish address and also have european cover which will allow me to drive my car in the Uk for 9 days I have left then cover me in Spain. My car is taxed and MOT'd here in th UK and will matriculated first week I am I Spain. It is not exported until 26th April,so should be legal with tax and Mot here with the Spanish insurance giving european cover