Driving in Europe with Dad's car

varnishkis

Hi Guys,
It is my first post here and hoping you will be able to help me out here.
Me and my girlfriend are planning on visiting few Baltic states next month going Dover-Callais-Germany-Poland-Lithuania-Latvia-Estonia and round back. However the issue I am facing now is that the car is actually under my Dad's name and I am using it as a secondary driver and also included as secondary driver on his Full Comprehensive Insurence. I know all these countries are in European Union and theoreticly there should not be borders, but practicly if I get stopped by police in any of these countries and would show car documents showing my Dad's name on it would I get in to trouble?

Thanks in advance!

shaun_from_Africa

The police in other countries shouldn't cause you too many problems, (I've driven a company car in Europe, and have had my documents checked a few times and never had any problems) but your insurance may be a different matter.

Generally, named drivers are only expected to make occasional use of the vehicle concerned, and insurance company concerned may be of the opinion that taking the car on a foreign policy exceeds what they consider as occasional use.

varnishkis

So then there comes a second question if any of named drivers have previously tried to travel in Europe without the main driver and whether there were any problems. My policy has full European cover and it also states that any named drivers are able to use the full benefits of the policy. Any thoughts on that?

Woody._2

Why not ask the insurance company that question?

vikingaero

You need to take the V5C(log book), insurance certificate, preferably take the MOT if it has one, and a letter from your dad stating that he has given you permission to drive the vehicle. I sometimes take my Dads cars abroad and we type up the letter and scan both our driving licences onto the same page. I've never been stopped yet but it's better to be safe than sorry all for the sake of 10 minutes on the PC.