# car insurance



## BocaBrit (Jan 20, 2011)

Wondering if anyone here has any advice. I'm British by birth, but live in the USA. I'm looking into a house swap with a UK family, and we want to swap cars as well as homes. 

We'll have no problem lending our cars to our house swap partners; our car insurance policy covers them automatically. But, it doesn't seem possible for the UK family to add non-UK residents to their policy so we can drive their car. 

I know that British car insurance is different from the US, but has anyone had any experience of being added to a UK resident's car insurance policy? Thanks!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

BocaBrit said:


> Wondering if anyone here has any advice. I'm British by birth, but live in the USA. I'm looking into a house swap with a UK family, and we want to swap cars as well as homes.
> 
> We'll have no problem lending our cars to our house swap partners; our car insurance policy covers them automatically. But, it doesn't seem possible for the UK family to add non-UK residents to their policy so we can drive their car.
> 
> I know that British car insurance is different from the US, but has anyone had any experience of being added to a UK resident's car insurance policy? Thanks!


Depends on the insurance company the British car is covered with. Normally only UK residents can be added as temporary drivers, but some may make an exception. If they refuse to extend the cover to house-swap partners, there's nothing you can do, except to hire your own. You can get a small car from around £100 a week from local hirers like Enterprise.


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## Punktlich2 (Apr 30, 2009)

BocaBrit said:


> Wondering if anyone here has any advice. I'm British by birth, but live in the USA. I'm looking into a house swap with a UK family, and we want to swap cars as well as homes.
> 
> We'll have no problem lending our cars to our house swap partners; our car insurance policy covers them automatically. But, it doesn't seem possible for the UK family to add non-UK residents to their policy so we can drive their car.
> 
> I know that British car insurance is different from the US, but has anyone had any experience of being added to a UK resident's car insurance policy? Thanks!


My UK policy covers everyone who drives my car, and every car I drive worldwide. But that's very unusual, AFAIK only USAA Ltd does that though I understand AIG did and maybe still does. 

But the answer to your problem may be here: Aviva short-term car insurance (1 to 28 days): Short Term Car Insurance. Insure your car for up to 28 days with Aviva UK

Satisfy yourselves that you are indeed covered under the circumstances of a home exchange: ask your insurer. (And bear in mind that your insurance agent technically works for you, not the insurer, so if s/he makes a mistake that does not bind the insurer.)


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Punktlich2 said:


> My UK policy covers everyone who drives my car, and every car I drive worldwide. But that's very unusual, AFAIK only USAA Ltd does that though I understand AIG did and maybe still does.
> 
> But the answer to your problem may be here: Aviva short-term car insurance (1 to 28 days): Short Term Car Insurance. Insure your car for up to 28 days with Aviva UK


_Eligibility - drivers
The customer and any other person who will drive must:

Be resident in Great Britain, Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man._

Short Term Car Insurance - General Exclusions


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## BocaBrit (Jan 20, 2011)

Yes, we'd tried Aviva already, and found that they might cover EU residents, but not US residents. I've tried companies that cover US/Australian/NZ residents who buy a car to travel around Europe, and companies here in the US who cover US citizens working/stationed in the UK, but these will only cover a car that I own. Very frustrating! But thanks for the advice so far. I still have both a UK and a German drivers license, but, no legal address in either country, so they don't really help me. I'll try USAA Ltd. and AIG too, so thanks for that tip.


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## Punktlich2 (Apr 30, 2009)

BocaBrit said:


> Yes, we'd tried Aviva already, and found that they might cover EU residents, but not US residents. I've tried companies that cover US/Australian/NZ residents who buy a car to travel around Europe, and companies here in the US who cover US citizens working/stationed in the UK, but these will only cover a car that I own. Very frustrating! But thanks for the advice so far. I still have both a UK and a German drivers license, but, no legal address in either country, so they don't really help me. I'll try USAA Ltd. and AIG too, so thanks for that tip.


For USAA, you, your parent or grandparent has to have been a US military or diplomatic officer or (in recent years) servicemember. AIG used to take anybody, but of course they were bailed out by the US Government and I don't know what they do now.

Don't make any assumption about the meaning of the word "resident". Ask Aviva if you haven't already. If they know your status (i.e. temporary or tourist) and issue a policy then you are covered.

Another source of help might be the AAA in the US or the AA in Britain. Here's why: the AAA issues "Carnets de passage en douane". Actually almost nobody gets them anymore, but I did many years ago to take a car to the Middle East. The AA issues "Q" plates to unregistered cars and those with unreadable (usually means Arabic numbers) arriving at Dover. (I've done that too). You have to get insurance to continue driving into the UK, so they sell it. Or did when I last did it, in the early 1990s.

As it happens, UK car registration is so full of loopholes that it's one of the favorites places in the world to steal cars, re-register them (Q plates are fine) and then take them to another country for re-sale. 

I've never done what you propose to do. But I have had both UK & German insurance with foreign (US usually) licence plates over the years. That was before I joined USAA.

FWIW you aren't supposed to have more than one valid EU licence unless you got one of them before that country was an EU member. Also, they aren't usually valid in the UK unless you took an EU/EEA/Swiss road (practical) test to get it. (Never mind, I have two EU licences too, but the French one wasn't valid in Britain b/c I got it without taking a road test.) The German one doesn't have to have a current UK address to be valid there (assuming you aren't yet age 70); in principle the UK one does. Anomaly of EU law.


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## fifinella (Dec 21, 2010)

*Insurance*

Do you need to have a British drivers license before you can buy and register a car in the UK?


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

fifinella said:


> Do you need to have a British drivers license before you can buy and register a car in the UK?


No. Just money.


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