# Getting car insurance in the UK on a Spanish Licence?



## Wibs (Apr 1, 2015)

A friend of mine is a singer. She is a UK citizen, with a UK Passport. As she spends 9 months of the year in Spain she has a Spanish TIE, and surrendered her UK driving licence in exchange for a Spanish driving licence in order to drive in Spain.

When she does return to the UK to visit her parents, normally for just a couple of weeks at a time, but no more than 3 months in total during the year, she would like to drive her own beloved car, which is parked in her parents' garage.

Question: can a UK passport holder take out car insurance on a UK car, but who is a resident of Spain with a Spanish driving licence?

Wibs


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## trotter58 (Feb 8, 2017)

Wibs said:


> A friend of mine is a singer. She is a UK citizen, with a UK Passport. As she spends 9 months of the year in Spain she has a Spanish TIE, and surrendered her UK driving licence in exchange for a Spanish driving licence in order to drive in Spain.
> 
> When she does return to the UK to visit her parents, normally for just a couple of weeks at a time, but no more than 3 months in total during the year, she would like to drive her own beloved car, which is parked in her parents' garage.
> 
> ...


I don't see why not. UK residents are able to own, drive & insure Spanish registered cars for use in Spain. Obviously she couldn't drive the UK car outside of the UK.

It might be an idea though to gift the car to her parents and insure it for any driver.


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

What happens in Spain it totally irrelevant but it's not a licence issue.

The stumbling block is that very few UK insurers will offer policies to non residents, it's a prime prerequisite.

Running a con by pretending someone else is the owner or principal user of a car is called 'fronting' and will lead to a refuting of claims when found out - as it will be.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola 
I have known a case where someone owned a car but couldn't drive and the insurance company was happy to have a named driver rather than the owner. 

Davexf


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## dancingspider (Mar 4, 2018)

Go to Stuart Collins | European Car Insurance to get insurance as a non-resident in the UK.

She will be able to get a 12 months policy for a UK vehicle with them. I used them for this.

Other option is to get short term cover every time she returns to the UK.

I've been there, done that and have the t-shirt shirt and researched it extensively. The options you have are above.

Do not consider trying to be tricky as if you have the misfortune to have an accident you will find your cover will be void as insurance companies do check out your details if there is a claim. They are a business and looking for a way out of paying for your claim and they are perfectly at liberty to do this!


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Spanish licence and car at a UK address shouldn't be an issue but it sounds like she wants insurance for only weeks at a time, which is often iffy and expensive. I wonder if it would make things easier, and probably cost the same if not less, if your friend simply said she lived in the UK (at the address cars is stored) and paid for an annual policy as a UK resident with a foreign licence.

If that is an option, I would _strongly_ recommend ignoring price comparison websites and 'specialist' brokers. When we moved back to the UK we didn't want to give up Spanish licences so I did quite a bit of digging and time wasting before stumbling on good old Aviva. We now insure two Spanish licence holders on a 4 year-old UK-plated car for under £300.

The only complication is that Aviva insist on a letter from the Spanish insurer in English (or sworn translation) which notes how many years NCB you have. Spanish insurers don't typically issue documents in English nor quote NCB in years but we're with Linea Directa and they sent what we needed within hours of my request.

See these links:
No Claims Bonus Explained | Car Insurance - Aviva (scroll down to "What if I’ve earned No Claim Discount on motor insurance overseas?") and then Do you accept foreign driving licences? - Aviva


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## Relyat (Sep 29, 2013)

If you have moved to the UK why do you want to retain a Spanish licence?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

alpinist said:


> Spanish licence and car at a UK address shouldn't be an issue but it sounds like she wants insurance for only weeks at a time, which is often iffy and expensive. I wonder if it would make things easier, and probably cost the same if not less, *if your friend simply said she lived in the UK (at the address cars is stored) and paid for an annual policy as a UK resident with a foreign licence.*
> 
> If that is an option, I would _strongly_ recommend ignoring price comparison websites and 'specialist' brokers. When we moved back to the UK we didn't want to give up Spanish licences so I did quite a bit of digging and time wasting before stumbling on good old Aviva. We now insure two Spanish licence holders on a 4 year-old UK-plated car for under £300.
> 
> ...


Wouldn't lying to get insurance be fraud & therefore invalidate the insurance?


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

Yes, unquestionably!

An insurance contract is one of 'utmost faith' meaning that an individual soliciting cover has an absolute duty to be completely honest and also disclose any factor or circumstance - however small or seemingly insignificant - which could cause the insure to reassess their risk, obviously being non UK resident falls squarely into that category as would giving a false residential address for the purpose of obtaining cover. If you have any doubt or question then you must disclose and let the insurer decide whether it's pertinent or not.

Lying to an insurer, and that includes lying by omission, is an exceedingly BAD idea.


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Tbh it would probably be much more practical for the owners of the house where the car is parked to insure the car and then add the foreign relative as a named driver - my family have previously done this on their vehicles when I lived abroad (they use Zurich) so I could drive when I visited. I suppose some people might think this is 'fronting', but the OP could just hand theirs over to their parents if they wished to keep it strictly legal.



Relyat said:


> If you have moved to the UK why do you want to retain a Spanish licence?


1) There was no need to change it: unlike Spain, the UK has retained, post-Brexit, the ability for a UK resident to drive on an EU licence long-term.
2) To avoid the hassle (and expense) of changing it: the UK DVLA is an absolute mess with a huge backlog of angry applicants.
3) We have no intention of staying in the UK long-term and didn't fancy trying to swap a UK one for another EU one on our next move post-Brexit.


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## dancingspider (Mar 4, 2018)

alpinist said:


> Tbh it would probably be much more practical for the owners of the house where the car is parked to insure the car and then add the foreign relative as a named driver


Great plan, except that if that person who you have on* YOUR INSURANCE* is involved in an accident and* it is their relatives who take a hit on their no claims bonus and insurance costs in the future...*

You have to also consider that as they will be driving in the UK and Spain that they will be quite disorientated.

I have been toing and froing between the UK and Europe for years and frequently correcting myself as I am either on the wrong side of the road, have to stop and thing what is the right thing to do and left stumped by roundabouts at times.

I am not a old fuddy-duddy who should be off the road. I used to do 1200 miles a week in the UK driving was so natural I could almost do it blindfolded.

The point is that you don't know what is natural any longer whether it is driving on the left left or right.

I wouldn't personally be including someone like this on my own policy, if I was a UK resident....

Actually, I've never had a bad accident in my life and only had a few minor mishaps, the last of which is best part of almost 20 years ago.

So there we go now!


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

I'd just tick the box for protected NCB and, as is always the case with insurance, hope for the best.

Disorientation could be an issue but it is clearly quite a personal one. I've no idea if your experience is common or not but I haven't had it myself and find it interesting that [decent] insurance companies don't seem to charge any more for EU licences: statistically there mustn't be too many issues with foreigners.


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