What other difficulties? well it can be difficult to get a CRB check if you have lived abroad for a length of time...when you return to the UK if you need one for work...apparently your time in France cant be checked...
Its a fact that 'aged people' often decide to finish their days in the country of their birth...no idea why...but the statistics support that.
This is an interesting discussion,you somehow dont imagine there would be difficulties going back to our,as Diana said 'own country'.What other kind of problems have people come up against?
Hi Alan ,thanks that sounds like a plan, will give them a ring later...
The last time I moved from France to UK in 2010 Aviva accepted my three years car insurance in France towards NCB. I simply provided copies of the insurance certificates.
You dont have to move abroad to lose your NCB....I had a company car for 3 years, taxed and insured by my company. When I bought my own car....I had to start again....(I checked with half a dozen insurers first, this was about 12 years ago....) wasnt impressed!
Hi Michael and Diane, we are going back to sell our house and whilst doing so we can evaluate what works best for us France or England...as we rent out our UK house we have had big tax bills here in France, so if we actually bought a house here then it would just be our pensions that would become liable to tax (I hope!)so whilst we are waiting for the house to be sold, (I am thinking perhaps up to 1 year)we can decide once and for all, but this insurance thingy is really annoying me and this is just the start...I will probably be asking loads more questions before I am finished!!!!!
I like you had to go back to UK (hated it too!) a couple of years ago because my father was failing in health. I had such trouble but what I did was to contact a local broker (see phone book when you get there and know your area) and they sorted it for me. Very difficult and found going back into my "own country" more difficult than coming here! Suffice to say, now back "home"in France and intend to stay put but good luck. Uk has changed a lot since I left originally but perhaps, it was me that had changed and become Francaise.
I would have thought that being in the EU would make motoring and insuring rules the same all across the board but evidently NOT !! Good Luck Michael on selling your house....
A footnote perhaps. Zurich Insurance will hold NCB for three years rather than two - this for a second named driver. We have just gone from two cars to one car in London and were concerned about the fate of NCB of the second named driver who is not the primary policy holder. Most insurers will keep the second named driver's NCB for two years. Zurich does it for three. Our experience with Aviva in France is that they will honour an NCB letter from a UK insurer and credit the years accumulated without problem. Good luck.
Hi everyone, thanks for suggestions...MMA have given us a letter confirming no accidents but Churchill who we used to be with will not accept this and said we have to start again from zero bonus. Have phone Direct Line which said the same...am going to phone a broker tomorrow who deals with MMA so fingers crossed. Think it must be as Sue said and it is the car not the person that is insured here in France that makes it so much easier to get insured here in France...Will try Saga tomorrow....
We went with Churchill when we moved over from Australia to the UK. They simply asked us for a No Claims letter from our old company in Oz and we retained our NCB. It should be the same for the French-to-UK.
I insure with AXA- a french company who have branches in the UK too. Maybe!
We went with Saga, if you are or your other half is aged 50 or over.They said as long as they had a letter or the no claims certificate could be easily translated they would accept it and we had no problems with them. Good luck
You will find that there isnt any UK insurance company that will honour your old UK NCB i allowed mine to lapse after two years its gone no record on the system cant get any at all now got to start all over again thats after over 10 years with the same company whether they will note your French NC i dont know, the French companies take into account any uk bonus so in theory the UK should do the same
I was asked for proof by Direct line then our insurance company over here wrote a letter to say no claims - and that was fine - however as it is the car that is insured over here - not the person - they then asked hubby, as his name is on French insurance to send a letter to say they could treat his no claims as mine! I guess if he had then wanted his own Uk policy he would be treated as having none!
MMA should give you a certificate of no claims
Have you tried the company you used to be with, if you were with them for a while, then they should have a record of you and do some sort of discount for you. Good luck.