John Boy

My wife and I have our visas in hand and will be moving to PA in June

I spoke to our insurance broker about which car I should keep in the UK.
We're keeping a (downsized) house here for when we visit family & friends and so a car would save the cost of hiring and be a useful spare for our sons to have access to.
However, the broker said that our insurance company (and the others they deal with) wouldn't provide cover as we would not be UK residents.

Anyone successfully taken out cover?
If so, what company?

Thanks.

P.S. I've thought about giving the car to one our sons, and being a named occasional driver, but at age 24 & 25 combined with a 2.5L engine the cost is getting on for a grand...

Jerseygirl

After many, many phone calls I found one insurer who would insure me...Wise Owl.

My sister named me as a named driver for just under a month...cost about £100.

BTW have you informed your insurance company that your house will be empty?

Bob

How often will you be over there to use it?

Might just be cheaper to rent, don't have to worry about MOT/road tax etc on top then...

lapin_windstar

Congratulations on your move!

I'm sure you've thought it through yourself but I'd echo that last suggestion - cars are a pain in the ring anyway, and doubly so when they aren't driven regularly.

We just didn't tell our insurance company that we'd left, just kept the direct debits going, but we never had a reason to claim, so I don't know if they would have spat the dummy about us not actually living there at the time.

TimNiceBut

IIRC there are some indicators of UK residency/ties with the UK and one of them is having a car in the UK. Just keep in mind that this might work against you as I think these are the indicators used by HMRC...

I'm also planning to keep the house and a car here, at least initially. If it proves too much of a pain the in backside I'll probably get a mate of mine to sell the car for me, though...

Renting a car is all good and all that, but if you're an enthusiast it's a little less than thrilling, plus the car I have in mind is already paid for.

John Boy

Thanks for the inputs.

I have e-mailed Wise Owl (and Saga, as they must deal with absentee UK citizens) to see if they will quote for the insurance.
You would think it would be good business for them as the car will be parked up for 80-90% of the year...

WRT the UK house being left empty - I had checked with the insurance company and they specify we have to turn off the gas and water in the summer months, but keep it heated (or totally drained down) in the winter months. We also have to arrange for someone to look in on the house every couple of weeks. So no major drama here.