Foreign cars - insured where?

robatwork

I see a lot of cars from abroad on the roads, especially from Poland and Romania.

Are these registered in their country of origin, and where would they be insured from?

vikingaero

From Poland or Romania! Or not at all!

Iceweasel

Same as UK cars in other countries.

Londoner_1

Foreign cars do not need to pay road tax/mot/insurance in UK providing they do not stay for more than 6 months.

Most europeans drive to France and re-enter the UK in order to get round this rule.

Some drivers i know buy UK cars, take to their countries, re-regester them in europe and then drive back to UK, no tax, no mot or insurance to pay in UK whilst the fees they pay in their countries are minimal.

dacouch

Londoner_1 wrote: »

Foreign cars do not need to pay road tax/mot/insurance in UK providing they do not stay for more than 6 months.

Most europeans drive to France and re-enter the UK in order to get round this rule.

Some drivers i know buy UK cars, take to their countries, re-regester them in europe and then drive back to UK, no tax, no mot or insurance to pay in UK whilst the fees they pay in their countries are minimal.

Taking the car to France and back periodically does not get around the international laws on this. It's to do with whether your resident in the UK or not. If you're resident then you need to reregister the car in the UK

Iceweasel

Londoner_1 wrote: »

Foreign cars do not need to pay road tax/mot/insurance in UK providing they do not stay for more than 6 months.

Most europeans drive to France and re-enter the UK in order to get round this rule.

Some drivers i know buy UK cars, take to their countries, re-regester them in europe and then drive back to UK, no tax, no mot or insurance to pay in UK whilst the fees they pay in their countries are minimal.

I sincerely hope that this does not change any time soon as the 2,000,000 Brits who live in other EU countries - and further afield - will not be amused.

I would doubt that all the many thousands of UK cars currently scattered about Europe would pass the local equivalent of an MOT test.

Many are in Spain where there are 1 million Brits - a favourite ploy is to nip over the border for a holiday in France for a couple of weeks and then return to Spain for another 6 months of no worries.

Loads of UK cars haven't been back to the UK for years, and would be put off the road pretty quick if they were to return.

rev_henry

The legality of it is rather complicated hence why they often get away with it. As I understand it there is the 6 month rule OR if they're properly resident here they must register it as a UK car immediately. There is also the difficulty in proving it. I noticed Central Motorway Police Group seem to have had an operation on this recently and have seized loads of cars for no tax: https://twitter.com/hashtag/opjessica?src=hash

Iceweasel

The DVLA is currently running an 'experiment' - but only in 6 counties.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11149851/Foreign-drivers-tax-loophole-to-close.html

vikingaero

Information/data on foreign cars is collected at the ports. Any car overstaying 6 months should theoretically be flagged as such..... but the ports/DVLA/Police have no system in place to bring up the offenders.

robatwork

Thanks all.

If a for example citizen of Poland comes to work in the UK and becomes a British citizen, shouldn't they register their car in the UK and be subject to UK MOT and UK insurance laws?

vikingaero

robatwork wrote: »

Thanks all.

If a for example citizen of Poland comes to work in the UK and becomes a British citizen, shouldn't they register their car in the UK and be subject to UK MOT and UK insurance laws?

Yes. But not doing so give them access to cheaper insurance, better Euro cover where some UK Insurers have it as an option, and most importantly a form of immunity from PPC and traffic wardens.