Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Hello folks, out of curiosity I wonder if anyone else drives a Historical car in Spain? The insurance I am being offered (Spanish car, Spanish resident) only covers the EU + Ireland. I understand it is not legal to hire two insurance policies on the same vehicle in Spain, but I wonder, if I were to cross over the border from the Republic of Ireland to the North, is there a short-term insurance policy I could opt for to cover me for a short holiday in the "old country".

Has anyone ever been in this situation?

Many thanks.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Depends if the car has Spanish H plates or not...
I had a nightmare of a job getting the Moke insured with any Spanish insurance company in the first place due to its age and only being offered third party.
That was one of the reasons for my wanting to put it on H plates BUT then I found out that the Km's were low for any fully comp insurance.
Which meant a drive to the Uk and back would see the Km's for the year taken by that one trip (we drove back to the Uk earlier this year and did 4000km in a week)
That and the cost made me leave the car on its Spanish reg (1988).

I can take the Moke to the Uk but cannot drive it there.. It has to be trailered and the insurance I have will only cover third party while there.
I have a fully comp plus insurance here (and Im a resident) from Zurich and I asked them as I wanted to take part in the London to Brighton Mini run the other year.
Zurich were the only firm I could find who would give a full purchase value with fully comp if the Moke gets stolen or written off.

Now the DGT and the Gov have finally sorted stuff out there will be no more H plates given to Spanish reg cars, just those imported.
Which has reminded me I have to sort out getting the moke on the register...

I doubt you could get a Uk based insurance company to cover you as you are not a Uk resident and any short term from here would have more holes than a colander if you needed to claim.

Saying that my normal car has no issues being driven to the Uk as Linea Directa allow that (again third party plus though).

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

The car is from 1988, was imported in 2009 from the UK. It has a number plate beginning with the letter "M". It is a historical vehicle with the INFORME DEL VEHÍCULO stating so: "PART-VEHICULO HISTORICO".

Sounds like using the "regular" car with third-party only might be the only way, how boring! I'm sure I've seen a tonne of vintage German and Dutch campers all over the Highlands of Scotland. Perhaps different rules or drivers oblivious to rule breaking.

Thank you for your thoughts Barrie.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

No worries, Classic cars here are not as widely regarded as those in other countries.
Mainly because most 'normal' Spanish keep cars forever. There are 40 year old cars in the village as daily drivers...

If your reg is M 4 numbers, two letters.. Then its a standard Spanish reg plate.
Only those with H 4 numbers two letters are considered fully Historic and can be insured as such. And will have lots of silly rules to follow.

Mine is A 1111(not really) BG where the A is Alicante reg and the two last letters indicate 1988. (well the B is the G is approx month)
Mine was reg from new direct from the factory in Portugal where British Leyland had the Moke factory.
The H pates will also the the same whereby the last two letters indicate its age.

So yours would have been first registered in Madrid. The M.

Talk to the insurance company as the car is technically still a 'normal' car they should still insure it.
I originally had the Moke on with Linea Directa and while it was only third party I still had a green slip to drive it to the Uk as I asked for this.
There was no `km limit on that policy either (nor on my Zurich one) but that has other conditions, like sending them pictures of the speedometer and the outsides every year.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

I have no idea whether they would cover Spanish registered(?), but you might like to try here > One-day car insurance - Compare Cheap Quotes at Confused.com

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

No, these UK based companies won't be keen. I am not a resident of the UK, car is foreign too.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Seems my car is in fact viewed as historic - even without the H plate. Perhaps due to my car being an import? This is confirmed by the existing insurer (current owner has it insured with specific, dirty cheap Historical insurance) and they are happy to insure me to, as long as my other motor is not historic and Spanish. They are familiar with the vehicle and class it as historical.

However, I came across the solution to my query... it is possible to insure my historic vehicle with a non specialist insurer, who just view it as an old banger, this is almost three times the price but does give me full comprehensive anywhere in the world, they're also happy for me to drive beyond 5,000km which is likely if I consider visiting pals in the Scottish Highlands then driving back to Spain again. Not sure what we will actually do, food for thought.

Thank you for your input.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Did you try?
Are you insured with anyone in Spain? Have you asked them?

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Yes, thank you. That website only covers British cars, with UK registrations. I am making progress with the Spanish insurers now, in particular AXA seem to offer an incredibly comprehensive policy, including the possibility of extending to a short trip to the UK on request. Price is eyewatering but hey-ho... keep shopping around.

To solve my own question; I could not find a specialist historic car insurer in Spain who would allow me to drive outside of the EU with any form of coverage. I would recommend searching for normal car insurance (forgoing the historical bonus) where you can find comprehensive cover and a UK coverage "bolt on". Only three times the price of historic insurance, haha! Three times the price I was paying for UK insurance on my old UK reg classic, which allowed 90 days in the EU, and in the good old days they (Admiral) let me extend that for 30 days at a time for an additional fee... anyway, the B word.

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

Sounds like a plan.
I pay a fixed cost of €380 a year for the Moke (never goes up or down) with unlimited Km's
In the UK I had a 1968 Mk2 Cortina 1600E Series 1 and the fully comp on that was £70 a year (3,000miles) and an XR3i cabby (1992) which was about £120.
I got rid of the other cars as the insurer wanted me to have a commercial plan even though I could only drive one car at a time..

Who do you have the historic insurance via,if you dont mind me asking as I might shop around when it comes up for renewal as it should by then be on the new classic register (if I pull my finger out)...

Re: Historic Car with EU Coverage - trip to UK!?
 

I receive impecable insurance services from Santiago at Sergio Romagosa SL in Madrid. They are true professions, there’s nothing like their common sense, humane customer service when dealing with British insurers these days (you could extend that most other so called “professional services” in rip off Britain sad to say). Breathe of fresh air.

Reminded me how lucky I was to live in such a fine country. The premiums are good value too, note this is not the company who offer insurance for travelling outwith the EU, for that I’d go AXA.