How are EU vehicles checked for insurance tax etc in the UK?

davidwood681

Iceweasel wrote: »

Have you really seen a vehicle showing a BL plate?

AFAIK a BL registration code doesn't exist - the nearest would be Bolivia which is BOL - I wouldn't expect to see many of them in the UK.

Would you perhaps have meant Bulgaria? - which is BG.

The only way the insurance can be checked is if a Police Officer stops the car and asks - same as a UK vehicle in other European countries.

I know for sure that Belgian police for example can certainly access the UK data base at Swansea to check a keeper's home address details - even before the vehicle is stopped.

But they have no access to the insurers data base AFAIK

My scooter in Barcelona was impounded for expired road ''tax''

AdrianC

davidwood681 wrote: »

My scooter in Barcelona was impounded for expired road ''tax''

Was that in the days of tax discs?

Car_54

AdrianC wrote: »

Temporary import is internationally defined by the Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic, which the UK is a signatory to.

If a vehicle is temporarily imported, then some of UK road traffic law does not apply.
If it's not temporarily imported - and if the keeper/driver is a UK resident, then it kinda isn't by definition - then all of it applies, including the registration requirements.

Thanks, that makes sense, but ...

If, for example, my French friend brings her French-registered car over here for a holiday, what law stops me (a UK resident) from driving it?

davidwood681

AdrianC wrote: »

Was that in the days of tax discs?

No, that I'd understand. It was in February this year

They fined me, made me prove I've renewed it and and charged me a removal fee but that was it. Never heard anything from the DVLA.

jimjames

Johno100 wrote: »

Suppose they are checked the same way UK vehicles are checked when they are taken abroad.

Or is this just another thread to have a go at Johnny foreigner before the drawbridge comes up upon Brexit?

If only the UK hadn't opted out of having vehicle checks and penalties across the EU. Daily Mail would go into meltdown if that happened

jimjames

Car_54 wrote: »

Thanks, that makes sense, but ...

If, for example, my French friend brings her French-registered car over here for a holiday, what law stops me (a UK resident) from driving it?

Presumably none if you're insured to do so

knightstyle

We have a house in our road let to guys from Poland and Lithuania. They have several foreign cars none of the cars have left the UK for at least a year and they are not insured but no-one checks.
One guy told me his Polish car was owned by a previous tenant and has been in the UK for six years, no tax, no insurance, cheap motoring for them.

m1kjm

It does annoy me too, given how much I have to pay to lawfully run a car.

There was a Spanish car parked on my road that hadn't moved for about a year with grass growing around the tyres. I tried reporting it to the council as an abandoned car and I was told that they can't do anything about abandoned foreign registered cars.

I was also annoyed because parking spaces are hard to find around here.

I stopped and chatted to a traffic warden about one of my many annoyances. I told him the location and he said he'd visit the area to log the foreign plated car. He said the next time he sees foreign plated cars he logs them again and eventually that triggers some action.

I don't know if that's true or if he was just fobbing off the crazy lady, but it might be an idea to find a traffic warden to speak with to report your concerns.

AdrianC

jimjames wrote: »

If only the UK hadn't opted out of having vehicle checks and penalties across the EU. Daily Mail would go into meltdown if that happened

It happened last May.

patman99

If the UK wanted to, it could negotiate keeper detail access rights with any country it wished to. And in return, allow that country to access DVLA records.

As for Tax, MOT and insurance, some countries operate a different system to the UK. For instance, in Portugal the car is insured rather than the driver (just like in the USA). Whilst France has no VED (it collects money via road tolls instead).
France,Germany and the Czech Republic (amongst others) have a bi-annual vehicle safety inspection (MOT).

As some Countries have VED that is managed by individual states or provinces, it would be very hard for the UK to negotiate access deals for MOT/VED/insurance databases.