# Breakdown cover for move to PT



## dalmar21

We will be making the permanent move to Portugal in January :clap2:

We will initially be bringing a van of furniture over in December and then drive our car down (a 16 year old UK reg car) in January.

We need some breakdown cover for the car journey in January and struggling to find someone who can cover us.

We currently have bog standard AA cover which is about to expire that covers us for the UK. We have decided it isn't worth renewing it for the year as we won't be here!

We will get single trip cover for the van trip and we can find a few choices for that.

The issue is finding cover for the car for the trip through France/Spain and into Portugal and then any options for ongoing cover until we replace our car with a PT one (or at least for the first 90 days)

Are there any breakdown cover companies (UK or PT ones) which will cover a one way journey with a UK reg car through Europe? We have looked at some single trip ones that would at least cover us for the initial journey but some say they don't cover single direction trips.


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## canoeman

No Portuguese insurance companies would insure a UK registered car unless they've started the matriculation process.

Your current car insurer should supply "green card" for no cost but UK insurance companies are reluctant to cover more than 90 days and possibly not the same cover as you have in UK, you need to check with current insurer, you don't have to buy 12 months cover but generally cheaper, check whether you can get refund on unused balance, to be road legal driving in EU with a UK car you must have valid MOT, road tax and insurance with a min of 3rd party.

Try one of the comparison sites for either insurance + green card and or + breakdown
Breakdown insurance for a 16 year old car might be expensive

Breakdown cover try a web search money compares 10 companies Top 10 European Breakdown Cover - Compare Cheap Europe Break Down Cover UK

Bring proof of your no claims discount some insurers here will accept it.


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## Jeff TT

Hello dalmar21,

Wow I am so jealous your about three months ahead of us, we should have put our UK house on the market much earlier!! 

Anyhow have sorted my insurance through the details below, UK based company with a presence in Portugal, filled in a form on their web site and got a phone call back within the hour, very nice and knowledgable lady explained everything I needed to know, even about registering the car in Portugal and even the matriculation process. 

She quoted me £450 for a year and to cover the trip down with breakdown cover and after 6 months would give advise with the registering, she went on to say once on Portuguese plates the cover will probably cost less, and any money due would be refunded!! 

Give then a go seem very fair, my car is a BMW 544i with a V8 engine so was well pleased with the quote.

Good luck with the move and do report back here.


Jeff TT



ABBEYGATE INSURANCE 

Insurance in Spain in English

[email protected]

Telephone 0034 956 795 453

Free Phone Portugal Land Line 800 813 639

Portugal 00351 916 481 687


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## noserhodes

hi, there is a uk insurer in gibralter who specialise in car insurance and breakdown cover, for both portugal and spain, and it will allow you 180 days usage in either country with a uk car so long as you are not a resident, as this is not allowed, after the 180 days you for sure have to take the car out of the country for the other 180+days, ie back to uk, where it will still remain insured with breakdown cover.
as canoeman says the car must have current mot and current tax for the full period for the insurance to be valid.
no uk based insurance company will allow you more than 90 days cover abroad, and most of that time it will be third party cover not fully comp, whereas the gibralter one is fully comp.
hope this helps you?


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## noserhodes

hi jeff tt it may well be the case that your insurance premium will come down in price after you have matriculated and insure in portugal, what you will find though is you will absolutely pay through the roof on portuguese road tax with a big engine and what could be high emissions, have you looked into this thoroughly because i think you will be shocked, so yeah cheaper insurance, ridiculous road tax, equals no savings!!


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## Jeff TT

Yes I know about the heavy taxation on the engine size etc.
Here is a copy of the email from Abbey gate

Jeff TT

Dear Mr. Turner 

Thank you for your On Line quote enquiry , further to our conversation please find details of the cover offered and Premium . 



Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have . 



Fully Comprehensive Cover €459.00





The above is inclusive of European Breakdown Recovery, Legal assistance & Windscreen cover up to the value of €650.00.



* No Excess on Windscreen replacement.

* Twelve month Green card with 90 day Maximum stay out of Portugal.

* Any driver over 30 up to 70 (Provided they have held a Clean Valid UK or EU Licence for a minimum of 2 years with no recent Claim History )

* Named Driver added free of charge.

* Optional Protected No claims. Allows for 2 claims in 3 years without effecting your bonus.

* Fixed excess €500.00

* Based on Proof of 4 or more No Claims Bonus 





Kind Regards 

Elaine


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## noserhodes

the fact still remains under portuguese law you are allowed a maximum of 180 days with a uk reg car, and then it has to either be taken out of portugal for the remainder of the year or be matriculated within the first six month period and if caught flouting this the penalties are severe.


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## canoeman

Road tax for 2012 would be 733,20€ with 10% increase announced for 2013, should you decide to sell after the obligatory 1 year (without repaying ISV saving) IUC seriously affects vale of car, apart from RHD.


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## noserhodes

thankyou canoeman, in my opinion, and we all have our own ideas, its just not worth the hassle, if you were to pay those kind of taxes say over a four year period, the money would have been better spent purchasing a pt car, complete with cheaper insurance way cheaper road tax and of course the steering wheel on the right side of the road!!!!!.


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## dalmar21

thankyou for the replies :clap2:

We will have fully comp car insurance through my normal car insurer (as well as tax and MOT, both expire December) , it is just the breakdown aspect that needs sorting as my insurance doesn't have a breakdown aspect (which is why we have separate AA cover).

I will have a look at the links.

Yes, very exciting times - we got married 2 weeks ago and now it's all full on for the move!! :clap2: It will be a cold few nights in December (we will be in a little old Quinta on the edge of a village near Monsanto) as we won't have any power or heating other than anything we can plug into the generator so once it gets dark it will be time to snuggle under a mountain of throws


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## dalmar21

The AA will offer a year of European breakdown cover for UK, France, Spain and Portugal (amongst other countries).....with Annual Long Stay of visits up to 350 days so we wouldn't need to provide a return ferry ticket if we do break down........for .......£356.......... and that doesn't include any parts or labour if the car can't be fixed by the road. Annual Multi trip is £211 but you need to show the return ticket if you break down to prove you are travelling back to the UK within 90 days.

The age of the car is the biggest stumbling block with regards to the price. The thing is though, we will be getting rid of the UK reg car after 6 months as we aren't going to bother with matriculation and will be swapping to PT one so we would waste half the breakdown cover anyway.

Think we are going to get short strip for the van run in December and then just not get breakdown cover for the car. It's a reliable (shouldn't jinx it!) with relatively low mileage (89k) and will have just had an MOT. If we break down on the way, we will just have to sort our towing ourselves if needed.

Mr Dalmar21 is very good with cars and it isn't worth paying almost the value of the car for what will be - in effect - 6 months cover!

I am going to call my insurer tomorrow to get the low down on the limits of the insurance policy and will ask about any kind of breakdown cover that could be added to the policy. I'm not hopeful about that though but worth asking as I need to find out about taking the car across Europe anyway.


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## canoeman

Just to point out you can only keep car in Portugal and drive for up to 183 days as a *NON *Resident, once you register your Residence which you are required to after 3 months you can no longer legally drive a UK registered car.

Please also remember you must register your UK Driving Licence (if photocard renew in UK before leaving so you get max 10 years ) with IMTT once you register your Residence.


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## dalmar21

Yes, having all that factored in as well, makes it even more eye watering as a price!!!


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## oronero

is the car that unreliable that you envisage a breakdown in the next 1,000 miles?

Provided that you are not driving 'flat out' on the way down, the vehicle should not be under any strain, give it a thorough 'once over' before setting off, perhaps a proper decent service.


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## dalmar21

oronero said:


> is the car that unreliable that you envisage a breakdown in the next 1,000 miles?
> 
> Provided that you are not driving 'flat out' on the way down, the vehicle should not be under any strain, give it a thorough 'once over' before setting off, perhaps a proper decent service.


That was our thought also. It has never broken down in the 3 years I've had it, last MOT passed with no advisories, previous 2 were the change of a tyre and has a low mileage on it. Exhaust is less than a year old (that is the only thing it has gone wrong with the back box snapping one day). We are going to give it to the village garage when it has its MOT and ask for the transmission fluid to be checked (automatic) and give it a basic oil change. Mr D is an HGV driver and has planned the journey to be around 200 miles a day.

We have the first 2 nights booked for south of Calais and then near Reims. We are having the journey down as a proper road trip over 4/5/6 nights as part of the whole experience of moving


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## canoeman

Reims? Rheims? wrong side of Paris for Spain, Portugal, or is it Rouen if it is that's a bit close to Calais for a second night.
Plenty of places on the E402/5 route either motorway or A roads to make an interesting road trip, like LeMan, Poitiers, La Rochelle, Cognac, Bordeaux, Biarritz just as a few


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## Guest

dalmar21 said:


> That was our thought also. It has never broken down in the 3 years I've had it, last MOT passed with no advisories, previous 2 were the change of a tyre and has a low mileage on it. Exhaust is less than a year old (that is the only thing it has gone wrong with the back box snapping one day). We are going to give it to the village garage when it has its MOT and ask for the transmission fluid to be checked (automatic) and give it a basic oil change. Mr D is an HGV driver and has planned the journey to be around 200 miles a day.
> 
> We have the first 2 nights booked for south of Calais and then near Reims. We are having the journey down as a proper road trip over 4/5/6 nights as part of the whole experience of moving


Hi,

I've driven down a couple of time this year with an old diesel estate car which I paid the scrap price (£185) for, carrying a fridge, gas cooker,girl friend etc. The car broke down so there was a delay of 2 days and 130 euro for a new water pump and cam belt to be fitted but it's all part of the experience. If you have a problem you'll find small garages and good helpful mechanics if you stray off the motorways into rural France,Spain and Portugal. Just check over the engine, water pipes, spare tyre (I got a second spare for £5) and you shouldn't have a problem.


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## canoeman

January Spain you might well need snow chains which are compulsory on certain roads or you might not be allowed to proceed without them.


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## dalmar21

yes, Rheim . We are making a mini holiday of it and we are going to stay in a little village near/in the champagne route near Chateau Thierry. Rather than plough straight down , we want to take the time to have a week before hand travelling down and through. We'll only have a case of clothes each, a few toiletries and the last of the dried food from being back mid -December to leaving again on the 9th Jan. We will be away from 24-27 and 30/31 Dec so won't be back home much. We are seeing where we live now as living in a holiday cottage - it's a part furnished rented place so we can bring all our own cutlery/crockery/pans etc in December and use the ones already here etc.

Spoke to car insurers and they have said the car is insured for 90 days fully comp in Europe so that's another little thing ticked. We are having a few days back in the UK in April so there are plans to get rid of the car then.


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## canoeman

Nice area, just don't underestimate getting around Paris or through it if your brave, we generally try to make at least one way a mini holiday, but tend to stay clear of Paris.


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## dalmar21

canoeman said:


> January Spain you might well need snow chains which are compulsory on certain roads or you might not be allowed to proceed without them.


When we get to Toulouse we will make decisions as to the route we take, Andorra or Lourdes and then cross the Pyrennees to Pamplona ... I presume these are the routes that could need chains ? If all else fails then it will be the West Coast route ( MrDalmar21)


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## dalmar21

canoeman said:


> Nice area, just don't underestimate getting around Paris or through it if your brave, we generally try to make at least one way a mini holiday, but tend to stay clear of Paris.


We'll be heading directly South from Chat Thierry..... will avoid Paris!!


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## canoeman

Yes any of the Pyrennes routes unless you follow northern coast, you certainly are going long way round, you could take in the condors at eagles raptors park birds owls french show rocher des aigles rocamadour learning parrot condor falcon kites vulture zoo ornithologic species brink of extinction protection conservatory nanciyaga refuge and Lourdes


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## donovan

If you are taking up permanent residence in Portugal, check out the situation of bringing your own car from the UK you did not have to pay the import tax that may have changed if not buy a nearly new car and left hand drive its safer and easier to drive.


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## dalmar21

donovan said:


> If you are taking up permanent residence in Portugal, check out the situation of bringing your own car from the UK you did not have to pay the import tax that may have changed if not buy a nearly new car and left hand drive its safer and easier to drive.


oooh, I've researched massively the car situation over the last 11 months......to the point of it making my head explode!! 

It isn't worth bringing the car in permanently - it's a 97 reg car so will cost around the same price of its worth to import through matriculation! 

We will be back in the UK for a week next April, so looked at bringing it back on the ferry, getting rid through a scrap company in the UK and then going back on the ferry and train but it was verrrrrry expensive, would take days and we would still be a long way from home in PT without public transport unless we then hired a car in Castelo Branco. We will drive the UK car as long as we can and during that time research for a replacement. We will then probably keep the UK car on our land until it finds its destiny!

We will be looking to buy an old runaround in PT, we are in a rural location and don't need anything flash, just something with some ground clearance that isn't too wide (we have a pinch point on our access road that will just about get a narrow van up) and a strong engine. Mr D has spotted a few contenders already on the Castelo Branco free-ads and when we are out and about here and see local farm vehicles he says 'oh, that would be perfect for Portugal' - we might need more land for the fleet !!

We have also changed van hire companies since my initial post; they have changed insurers since we booked and they don't do european hire any more  but it worked out ok as we found one of the big companies that would hire us one for virtually the same price - and we don't have to find our own breakdown cover for it :clap2:

Roll on next month to get the van packed and over there!!!


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## canoeman

Nothing to stop you scrapping it here officially, but whether you let rust away or scrap tell DVLA, unless you do your still the registered owners.


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## dalmar21

yes, we are going to keep the DVLA updated. We only have 90 days non-UK insurance on it anyway from early January which ties in with becoming resident etc etc. It will have 6 months tax on it when we move so will do that properly and get the remaining tax refunded when we get rid. Don't want any fines etc for it not being taxed in the UK and don't want to SORN it either because if anything happens - ie an accident - we would be completely stuffed. We are going to change the log book and our driving licences to the property still owned in the UK (we don't live there - a friend tenants it) in mid December when we get back after the van run so that means when we are back in the UK and have a hire car then the driving licences have a UK address on (and will register them with PT driving authority). We are renting at the moment so obviously can't leave this address on our UK licences as it won't be correct. Also means maximum amount of time on UK licences before leaving.

Scrap company in PT - another line on the 'to do' list


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## canoeman

you can only SORN a UK car if it stays in UK

these are some of authorised scrap yards which would supply certicate needed for DVLA

Valorcar


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## donovan

Just for your information when I came to live in Portugal I came with nothing I could not carry, rented an apartment to make sure I liked the place took over a half built house, sourced everything locally apart from a gas fire for the lounge but that was 25 years ago I never regretted doing it that way best of luck to you.
Michael


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## dalmar21

canoeman said:


> you can only SORN a UK car if it stays in UK
> 
> these are some of authorised scrap yards which would supply certicate needed for DVLA
> 
> Valorcar


excellent, thankyou :clap2:

We are coming over with very little - a transit van full and after that we will locally source or make what we need. We bought last March and have been over twice since then for a weekend to start to clear bits and pieces. There's no power and Mr D is putting in a solar system he has been planning etc over the year - we picked up the batteries last weekend - the last piece of the jigsaw - hell, they are heavy!!!. The place is small and needs tiling and painting and we are on a well for water and need to put some windows in as it has lots of steel doors but not much in the way of windows. After that it is a new life of being as self sufficient as possible - Mr D has a farming background and upbringing and we can't wait to upgrade from our current allotment to the land we will have!! Our grapes were amazing when we popped over in September and were harvested whilst we were there. They are now with a load of other grapes from the village in a nice big vat fermenting :clap2: Whilst there in December we will oversee the local cafe owner harvest the olives (seems this has happened there for a few years) and we will have some of the resulting oil. We've arranged then that for next year and on after that we will do our own harvest 

Big changes and a huge unknown but after a year of research into as many elements of possible (ie was looking at PT PAYG sim cards for phones this morning as we won't have a landline), we are now ready to get over there and start getting on with our new life!! :clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:


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## canoeman

best of luck. look at the home telephone internet options from Vodafone and Optimus cheaper than PAYG SIM


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