Getting car tax with French Insurance Policy

vivera01

A the very last minute (!) my daughter has decided to un-SORN her car which she currently has in France and tax it for use in the UK. She's coming back to the UK tomorrow.

She intends to take the risk and drive to the post office from the ferry and get the tax disc there and then. However, she has a French insurance policy on the car provided by AXA France.

I've contacted the DVLA, AXA and the Post Office to ask if the French insurance certificate is adequate for her to tax the car and none of them know the answer. She could take out an on-line UK insurance policy to replace it but as electronic copies of the certificate aren't allowed, she wouldn't then have the documents to take to the post office.

Has anyone been in similar circumstances and what did you do?

TrickyWicky

Actually the post office CAN accept print outs of electronic documents now. They didn't used to but they do now. This is a bit hit and miss though as not all post offices are accepting them.

You'll need to ring the PO nearest the ferry and ask them if they will accept them.

knightstyle

Ok so does the car have an MOT, UK one not a French CT? If not she cannot drive it legally in France or UK unless she is going to a garage to have it MOTd.
Next as the car is on UK plates it must have UK insurance, French insurance companies will take your money and issue a certificate but this insurance is only valid for a couple of months and is a stop gap till the car is registered in France. So as she does not intend registering the car in France the insurance is not valid.
So she needs to get UK insurance, Stuart Collins will let you transfer your French NCD to AXA UK. Once she has the MOT and insurance she can tax it.
All this has been discussed at great length on ex pat forums and the above is what most agree is the law.

skivenov

Do an ask MID check - http://www.askmid.com/

If it shows as insured, and you can still get post at the logbook address, tax it online?

InsideInsurance

So is it a UK or French registered vehicle? How long was it out of the country? If over 12 months did you complete a the export part of the V5 slip as required?

The answer is on https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/home/questions/insurancemot however

My vehicle is covered by foreign insurance. Why can't you accept the Certificate?
Insurance companies conducting business within the UK must be members of the Motor Insurance Bureau. There is nothing to prevent non-UK insurers from becoming members of the MIB but none have, chosen to do so yet.

vivera01

Thanks everyone. It has a UK MOT and is on English plates. We were completely unaware that her French insurance may be invalid because of that. It is however on a SORN which I now know is illegal if the car is overseas. Bit of a mess really but I think the first step is to get UK insurance.

taylor_alan

good avice all round, you cannot use an EU based insurance certificate even if it allows you to drive throughout europe as the legal implementations to tax are not covered within this in the UK.

To tell if you are able to tax the insurance must bear the the legal statement 'I Hereby certify...' at the bottom.

print outs direct from the internet or faxes direct from insurance companies or brokers are allowed to tax vehicles, though you cannot simply take your smartphone and hand it to the clerk, the document must be printed and handed in to be witnessed

knightstyle

When we returned to the UK we found https://www.stuartcollins.com very helpful with the insurance and they transferred our French bonus to AXA uk. We have now gone to a cheaper insurance but at the time couldn't find any one else who would accept our French NCB.

WTFH

If she takes out a UK insurance policy, then she can tax the car online - no need to go to the post office, as far as I know.

Stooby2

But she needs to drive it immediately on the road and it'll take about 5 days to come through from the DVLA. It's not enough to say "tax is in the post" when stopped by the police. So she'll need to get to the Dover Post Office straight off the ferry.