Insuring a uk car in germany

[griff7]

My friend and i are going to store our cars near to the ring this year and our insurance only covers us for unto 90 days.Is it possible to insure the cars with a german company or has the car got to be registered in germany?

Thanks Andy

[LeoZwalf]

I would expect it's only possible for short term.
A friend here in Germany recently bought a UK car and drove it back to Germany - he was allowed to drive it all the way on UK plates but on his D insurance however that was only for a few days or so.

You can only register a car in D if you live here so that idea's out the window.

It might be worth talking to a "Ring Experience" company like RSR as their cars are D and NL registered, maybe they can give you a tip.

Or speak to Stewart Collins insurance brokers. They offer insurance (via AXA normally) for UK cars to spend an unlimited number of days outside the UK. However what the UK and D laws say about cars staying more than 6 months outside of the country to which they are registered, I am not sure (legally I don't think it's ok but you will most likely get away with it as long as they car is totally legal in UK).

[tim-b]

LeoZwalf said:

Or speak to Stewart Collins insurance brokers. They offer insurance (via AXA normally) for UK cars to spend an unlimited number of days outside the UK. However what the UK and D laws say about cars staying more than 6 months outside of the country to which they are registered, I am not sure (legally I don't think it's ok but you will most likely get away with it as long as they car is totally legal in UK).

+1 for Stuart Collins.

As I understand it, there is no issue from the UK (insurance-wise) about cars being kept outside the country (assuming you have enough days cover - Stuart Collins gives you the full 365/6), provided it's road legal in the UK (so you must still tax it and return to the UK to MOT it. The Germans laws state you must register it in Germany (i.e. new reg plates, new front lamps and sometimes rears and TUV test) if it is in the country for 6 months or more. Don't know if this is 6 months of a year or 6 months full stop. But I know several Brits who don't bother with this for years and have never been challenged about it. Another friend swaps his 2 cars over (every six months) and is pretty confident that it's allowed.

[griff7]

tim-b said:

+1 for Stuart Collins.

As I understand it, there is no issue from the UK (insurance-wise) about cars being kept outside the country (assuming you have enough days cover - Stuart Collins gives you the full 365/6), provided it's road legal in the UK (so you must still tax it and return to the UK to MOT it. The Germans laws state you must register it in Germany (i.e. new reg plates, new front lamps and sometimes rears and TUV test) if it is in the country for 6 months or more. Don't know if this is 6 months of a year or 6 months full stop. But I know several Brits who don't bother with this for years and have never been challenged about it. Another friend swaps his 2 cars over (every six months) and is pretty confident that it's allowed.

Hi Tim,thanks for the reply.when you say your friend swaps every 6 months did you mean from uk to german insurance ?

[JMGS4]

Reregistration of UK cars to D-Plates for german residents must take place within 1 year of import. However it does not seem to be checked often, depending on the area. (We have intrusive Beamten here who even told me my passport was running out and had to be renewed otherwise I could be deported, and that after 37 years here! So it depends on the area and how lazy the local Beamten are)

German law does NOT allow non-german insurance coys to cover D-reg cars (exception being Ins coys with a registered office in D but foreign owned as the insurance then falls under D regulation)

[tim-b]

griff7 said:

Hi Tim,thanks for the reply.when you say your friend swaps every 6 months did you mean from uk to german insurance ?

If it's not too late to be of use....my friend swaps his cars over every 6 months...i.e. Elise for the summer, Focus for the winter. (his dad maintains/drives/keeps the Elise over the winter and Focus during the summer). So ideal if you have someone/somewhere to do this, and can run 2 cars, but not really an option otherwise. He's happy to do that as the Elise in winter is not much fun anyway, so chances are it's be off the road and he's be doing something similar regardless of where the 'spare' car was kept.

[Munich]

To OP, did you find a solution?

I had a UK-reg 911 over here and my UK insurance company would only insure me for a month at a time for a maximum of 5 months, and it cost a fortune. My DE insurance company will not insure non-DE registered cars so I ended up having to register the car here, which was not what I wanted to do. I now want to bring my 205 across and really want to keep it UK registered so if you were able to find a solution then I'm interest to know.

A friend of mine that lives in Italy seems to "get away with it", but only because he tells his insurance that he doesn't actually work out there. Apparently once you work in the foreign country you are no longer able to keep your car insured through the UK.