2bretired

We are coming back to the UK to take cars of my parents for 6 months. While there I was thinking of buying a used car. When I went on line to get a insurance quote one of the question was "are you a permanent resident".

How do you get car insurance in the UK when you are not a permanent resident and my wife only has a California license I have both UK and Californian.


Thanks Brit

Gabgoeshome

Well your wife can drive on just her American one.

To my mind, if you are staying/living somewhere for 6 months you are a resident?

Try phoning Direct line ...they are reasonably helpful ;-)

2bretired

thanks Gabgoeshome,

Yes I know she can drive there it was the insurance that was the problem because she does not have a UK one.

Thanks for the Direct line info, the problem I have, all these UK company only give a 0845 number which is a toll free in the UK but when I call from the USA it cost me extra. I use a Magic Jack which works fine for local UK calls but gets expensive on these toll numbers. Due to coming over for 6 months we gave up our land line and only use the magic jack. This will allow us to have a local USA number while in the UK. We use google voice to redirect calls to magic jack.

Brit

Gabgoeshome

I only have an American one, my DH too.

Direct line have said they will insure us on those alone- for ONE year!

We will get our UK ones in that time.

What about a phone card? you can buy them in the supermarket.

2bretired

I also have a phone card and will try to call tomorrow as there offices are closed now.

All I was trying to do is make sure I can get car insurance before we got back and budget for it.

Brit.

Gabgoeshome

I understand ...I spent AGES doing the same

Victor Meldrew

Regards the cost of a phone call, I would consider waiting until you are back in UK.

The calls will be cheaper, particularly if you can use a landline. As soon as you agree to a company on the phone, you are then insured. Many will email the policy documents to you so you get them immediately. The documents will be necessary if you need to tax a car you are buying.

I do this (insurance) regularly when I come back to UK.

I am with the AA (breakdown). They ask me if I am non-resident and have got insurance for me. You can suspend the Breakdown insurance when you leave and resume it when you are next back. The insurance phone call with AA takes about 20 minutes maximum.

One thing you might want to look into is how the 6 months in UK will affect your non-resident status. My (basic) understanding is that your yearly allowance of days in UK in order to remain as non-resident status is around 90 days.

I am sure someone else can clarify this part.

Tr1boy

i keep saying this and nobody seems to do it. The best decision when you've been away for a while and want to convert foreign NCB (as we did), and other things like a non resident driver without a full UK licence (as one of us were), is to go and see a broker. They'll do all the running around for you and get the best price given the circumstances, and the insurer goes back to them for clarification without bothering you.

Forget online for your first year back, get a broker, explain everything to them and then when the first yerar's renewal is up, then go online. You pay a bit more for the broker service but it saved us ££££ in the long run and a lot of headaches.

we used Higos as a broker but I think they are only in the west country.

Gabgoeshome

Well I will try your advice. Thanks!

2bretired

I vaguely remember you are allowed 6 months at the first trip to take care of parents then only 90 days after that. When we come over we will enter the UK with USA passports as tourists with a max of 6 months stay.

To be honest after thinking about it, the only reason we are returning is to make sure my parents are taken care of, I do not think we would return to live in the UK permanently, the weather is cold/rain, I have lost touch with a lot of old friends the others are dead. We live in southern California always sunny, with a small paid for house, and have been here for more than half my life. I have a good retirement medical insurance with prescription benefits. The only ties I have to the UK is my parents.

Brit
Brit