# Car insurance while visiting UK



## huntleym (Aug 18, 2011)

My wife and I own a small appartment in southern england and own a Honda Civic parked there for use when we visit. This year there has been a change in the Motor Vehicle Insurance and Taxation laws which now makes it impossible (or virtually so except at astronomical expense) to obtain the requisite insurance which will allow us to tax and drive the car. There are many anomolies in the law, for example I can legally drive on a Canadian Licence here in the UK for up to 12 months, I could exchange my Canadian Licence to a UK licence BUT only for an automatic car ! (The Honda is Manual) It is possible to obtain temporary insurance for up to 28 days providing you DON'T have a CANADIAN DRIVER's Licence (go figure)

Has anyone else experinced this "Catch22 situation" and/or know of a possible solution.


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## rifleman (Jun 24, 2011)

If you are going to keep a car on the road then must be insured, and not just when you are here and using it. 

The only way to avoid that is to keep it off road, but that means sending a notification to DVLA every time gouging away and every time you want to put it on the road again. Hardly convenient!

It seems to me that unless you are here an awful lot you would be better off renting when you need a car. Or if you are here enough to warrant funding a permanent car then think about insuring it in a friends name with you as a named driver.

If the keeper is away a lot the risk for the insurer is greater. Even when we add visiting relatives to our insurance and lend them a car the cost is much the same as renting a car with insurance.


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