I do not think that anyone should confuse the legal position of an owner of an illegal car and the position of the insurance company in the event of an accident. I think that the term "money grabbing insurance broker" sums up most people attitude to the insurance industry, but having worked in it for all my life, I can assure you, avoiding a claim is not easy and those who have had a claim declined are usually partly to blame themselves.
The problem is one of legality, I think. A car on UK plates MUST conform to UK rules when driven abroard, so it must have current road tax, a UK mot and be insured. So none of this driving on a SORN nonsense, then. Add to that the law which states that a resident of one country cannot own a car registered in another country (except cross border workers) then it really does not matter what the insurance company do - in the event of an accident one would be very vunerable!
According to the FFVE you have 6 months to register your car here.
French law also says that if you are driving a car whose number plates are not attributed to your home address it is a fraud. So if you no longer live at the address shown on your car logbook & cannot prove that you are in the process of re registering, you are not meant to be on the road - a great insurance getout clause! If, like some, you have a car that has been "permanently exported" and are driving on the old plates then you are really untraceable, so if you committed a serious crime with your car & drove away or dumped the car you could not be traced & I don't see any authority finding that acceptable whatever your money grabbing insurance broker might tell you!
On the question of insurance for a UK registered vehicle I asked our insurer (Allianz) this very question. There is no problem insuring a UK registered vehicle here in France provided you are attempting to have it French registered. If you do not do so within the time limit stipulated by your insurer then your insurance may be cancelled by the insurer. If, however they do not cancel the insurance, they are deemed to be aware that it is not French registered, of having taken no action as a result, and, therefore, liable for any claim arising out of any accident involving that vehicle.
I agree that it can be difficult sometimes. I am having a real hard time trying to import my motorcycle, as it is just over the French 100 bhp limit, even though the EU rules say that when you move country, you should be able to bring your vehicles without having unnecessary changes imposed.
It is a mess, but I suspect that a lot of Brits just don’t bother and because they get away with it carry on. All well and good until they hit someone and they have no insurance.
My original comment was aimed at the ones that cannot be bothered to even try.
The EU needs to get its act together on this and the driving licence rules, which are also a mess.
Right, time to settle down for MotoGP. Bye for now!!
Thing is - the one month rule is all very well - if all goes to plan. I have an insured but not taxed / MOT’d Land rover sitting in my drive that I have been trying to import for around 8 months now and we are not there yet… The prefecture gave me a document at one point that allowed me to drive for four months whilst the next lot of paperwork was at the DRIRE…
I suspect more people would import their vehicles if the process was simpler and cheaper. I’ve just got rid of an old banger as it simply wasn’t worth importing it.
But yes, all down to the EU. The whole system needs to be harmonised so that you can register and drive any vehicle anywhere in the EU and insure it anywhere. Imagine the joy if we could get insurance from competitive UK insurers…
It also means the car is illegal in France! It’s not registered in either country and it is effectively uninsured since it is SORN’d and you cannot get tax or MOT while it is off the road.
Why Brits insist on trying to find ways around registering their cars I do not know. I suspect the majority would never think of doing it in the UK, but for some reason move to France and think it is okay.
The rules are simple; if you are resident in France, then you have a month to register the vehicle. Most registrations are pretty straightforward, but there are exceptions and if the vehicle has never been produced in or imported to France it will be difficult.
Its simple really - if you move to France you have to obey their laws. The vehicle must be registered and insured here.
This is one area (amongst many) where the EU has just made a complete pigs ear of it!
My insurance company offers ex-pats insurance on their foreign registered vehicles providing they give UK ( or foreign ) address as well as there French address which in the case of the UK should be shown on VSC (Log Book)- “only problem is” explained my insurance rep - if they have an accident and cannot prove they have a UK address or otherwise they will not be payed out. They dont actually tell you this but its somewhere in the small print .
Now this is interesting because if you have insurance for your car outside the UK you cannot tax as the insurance is not recorded on the UK database. therefore you have to submit a S.O.R.N. and cannot use the car in the UK legally.
Which means that you cannot legally drive the car in the UK.