Car Insurance - New Driver and Foreign Citizen joint policy

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone,

I passed my practical test today and me and my girlfriend are now looking to buy a car.

I'm a brand new driver (obviously) but we're both 30. She's an Italian citizen and has an Italian driver's license (i.e. not exchanged for an English one). What would be the best way to go about insuring a car cheaply? I know literally nothing about car insurance, but should she be named as the main driver and then add me onto the policy? Would it make things cheaper for us if she exchanges her Italian license for a British one?

Bonus question: What's a fair way for us to split the cost of the insurance policy? I don't want her subsidising me based on the fact that I'm brand new, I want to pay my fair share.

Thankyou!

Sandtree

Who is going to be the owner and registered keeper of the car?
Who will be driving it most?

Given she can drive until 70 on her EU license then there is little incentive to change it... if she did then her "how long have you held your license" defaults to 0 years and she still has to say shes only lived in the UK for X years. Each insurer will be different but were I betting person I;d predict this would give higher premiums in the short to medium term than being able to say shes had an EU license for 10 years (or whatever the number).

Bonus answer - there is no right answer and too many factors to consider... one for you to agree amoungst yourselves.

Grey_Critic

Any person with a valid driving licence issued in their country of origin is permitted to drive in the United Kingdom for at least 12 months.

After this period, you will need to exchange your documents for a UK licence, or pass the DVSA’s UK driving test.

Not sure if that means you do not have to take UK test but according to one report UK licences in Italy are only valid until end of 2021

[Deleted User]

Sandtree said:

Who is going to be the owner and registered keeper of the car?
Who will be driving it most?

I thought we could do this jointly - she will be using it to get to work, so I guess she'd be the logical choice, but we can go with me if it makes thing easier in some way.

macman

You can be joint legal owners, but there can only be one registered keeper (because they get sent all the speeding tickets).

Car_54

Grey_Critic said:

Any person with a valid driving licence issued in their country of origin is permitted to drive in the United Kingdom for at least 12 months.

After this period, you will need to exchange your documents for a UK licence, or pass the DVSA’s UK driving test.

Not so. Non-GB EU licences can be used in the UK until you're 70, provided you passed your test in the EU (i.e. didn't get the EU licence by exchanging a non-EU one).

This may change post-Brexit, but hasn't so far.

PRAISETHESUN

Sandtree said:

Who is going to be the owner and registered keeper of the car?
Who will be driving it most?

Given she can drive until 70 on her EU license then there is little incentive to change it... if she did then her "how long have you held your license" defaults to 0 years and she still has to say shes only lived in the UK for X years. Each insurer will be different but were I betting person I;d predict this would give higher premiums in the short to medium term than being able to say shes had an EU license for 10 years (or whatever the number).

Bonus answer - there is no right answer and too many factors to consider... one for you to agree amoungst yourselves.

This tends to vary on an insurer by insurer basis. I used to hold an exchangeable foreign licence (non-GB, non-EU) and I contacted a few insurers directly when getting quotes to see how they would treat me in this situation. For what it's worth, Admiral and Aviva have both been happy to take my foreign licence history into consideration so when I first insured by car I had 10 years of driving history instead of only 6 months were I only allowed to use my UK licence history. In any case it's worth getting that in writing from your insurer in case it ever needs to be proven (eg. in the event of a claim) and also worth getting a statement of your foreign license history from the foreign driving authority, but it is by no means a huge issue.

Sandtree

PRAISETHESUN said:

Sandtree said:

Who is going to be the owner and registered keeper of the car?
Who will be driving it most?

Given she can drive until 70 on her EU license then there is little incentive to change it... if she did then her "how long have you held your license" defaults to 0 years and she still has to say shes only lived in the UK for X years. Each insurer will be different but were I betting person I;d predict this would give higher premiums in the short to medium term than being able to say shes had an EU license for 10 years (or whatever the number).

Bonus answer - there is no right answer and too many factors to consider... one for you to agree amoungst yourselves.

This tends to vary on an insurer by insurer basis. I used to hold an exchangeable foreign licence (non-GB, non-EU) and I contacted a few insurers directly when getting quotes to see how they would treat me in this situation. For what it's worth, Admiral and Aviva have both been happy to take my foreign licence history into consideration so when I first insured by car I had 10 years of driving history instead of only 6 months were I only allowed to use my UK licence history. In any case it's worth getting that in writing from your insurer in case it ever needs to be proven (eg. in the event of a claim) and also worth getting a statement of your foreign license history from the foreign driving authority, but it is by no means a huge issue.

It will vary by insurer but its getting increasingly common to ask for driving license number only in which case everything else is as supplied to the insurer by the DVLA and I dont believe the DVLA considers the period of a foreign license held.

There can also be challenges with NCD and license period, though not in this case probably. Back in my Motor day's our systems simply werent set up for those that took 4 years to pass their driving test and so had 4 years NCD but only 1 month holding their license. It would throw an error if NCD exceeded license held length.