UK resident to drive a foreign car on UK roads
Discussion
Gareth79 said:
Mandat said:
lenard said:
the polish bloke living opposite me who has lived here for years has been driving around in a polish Toyota for the last year. wonder if he has insurance etc. its on polish plates
Do you think that there is no requirement for insurance in Poland, or any other EU country?Polish insurers give a 365 day green card, In fact all insurers within the EU have to provide the minimum 3rd party element of the policy for 365 days a year including the UK (Read the small print).
The European cover stipulations on UK policies is connected to the Comprehensive part of the insurance. IE if you have 30 days cover and stay for 60 you are only covered 3rd party for the excess days.
As for driving a foreign registered car in the UK as a resident if its Hired or is a company car you will be fine, If you are just visiting from abroad where you spend 50% of the year you'll be fine. It seems its just there to stop people taking the piss and keeping cars on foreign plates for years at a time. However look how many UK registered cars seem to be permanently living on the Costa's, It works both ways.
I know it is a long time since the last post but I deal with this on a daily basis as I run rally cars in different countries in Europe. The problem is that cars such as the Irish rental car driven into Northern Ireland by a UK resident are treated as being smuggled and the Customs impound the car. Getting it back is almost impossible. One of my customers has Swiss residence and his road cars are Swiss registered. One needed moved in Italy and one of the UK mechanics was driving it. The Italian Finance Police stopped it on a random check. It is now impounded. Could be years before it is released. Nearly new €100k vehicle.
The Polish situation is quite different. The driver is a Polish citizen and he can drive a car owned by him in the UK for a maximum of 6 months. It then needs UK registered or it becomes an Illegal import and if picked up will be impounded and probably scrapped. I would suspect that his insurance provides only the most basoc cover after that period.
The Polish situation is quite different. The driver is a Polish citizen and he can drive a car owned by him in the UK for a maximum of 6 months. It then needs UK registered or it becomes an Illegal import and if picked up will be impounded and probably scrapped. I would suspect that his insurance provides only the most basoc cover after that period.
I know it is a long time since the last post but I deal with this on a daily basis as I run rally cars in different countries in Europe. The problem is that cars such as the Irish rental car driven into Northern Ireland by a UK resident are treated as being smuggled and the Customs impound the car. Getting it back is almost impossible. One of my customers has Swiss residence and his road cars are Swiss registered. One needed moved in Italy and one of the UK mechanics was driving it. The Italian Finance Police stopped it on a random check. It is now impounded. Could be years before it is released. Nearly new €100k vehicle.
The Polish situation is quite different. The driver is a Polish citizen and he can drive a car owned by him in the UK for a maximum of 6 months. It then needs UK registered or it becomes an Illegal import and if picked up will be impounded and probably scrapped. I would suspect that his insurance provides only the most basoc cover after that period.
The Polish situation is quite different. The driver is a Polish citizen and he can drive a car owned by him in the UK for a maximum of 6 months. It then needs UK registered or it becomes an Illegal import and if picked up will be impounded and probably scrapped. I would suspect that his insurance provides only the most basoc cover after that period.
phil y said:
If you can prove that you are driving a car rented for a fixed term, and it's clear that you will be returning it to the country of origin, I can't see how the police could justify prosecuting you.
I'm British, and I've flown to Dublin, hired a car on Irish Republic plates, and arranged to leave the car at Belfast and flown home from there!martinbiz said:
Why would customs have any issues???
ha ha just spotted how old this post is
Because you have to tell HMRC you have brought a vehicle into the UK & register it with DVLA and pay VED BEFORE you can drive it on the road unless 1) It is for less than 6 months & 2) YOU DO NOT NORMALLY LIVE IN THE UKha ha just spotted how old this post is
Driving on the road is the same as any unregistered untaxed car.
It sounds like the situation the OP was talking about way back when was not envisaged - but of course if all you had to say was I am only borrowing the car from outside the UK and I will take it back soon that might cause problems,
Edited by Graveworm on Monday 7th January 22:21
Despite the law appearing to be very clear, there are some grey areas.
A good example was the wife of a US airman, stationed in the UK who married a British lady. She had never lived in the USA and was stopped whilst driving her new husband's US registered car. There was a lot of trouble as she was deemed a Brit who was normally resident in the UK. After the US Embassy became involved it all sort-of went away. I don't know how this is treated these days. This happened to someone I knew in the 1970's at Mildenhall.
In the case of rally cars, it used to be the case that a foreign-owned rally car could be brought into the UK and driven by UK resident personnel so long as the car was being used for competing in and preparation for rallies. A 'Temporary Import Permit/Dispensation Certificate' was issued which specified what was allowed, who the team owner was and this lasted for 12 months.
The real problem comes with those who have residence in both the UK and another EU country. Until a couple of years ago my son was resident in France and lived there with his wife and two kids. However, he would come to work in England for periods of between 4 and 8 months at a time and fly home on every 2nd or 3rd weekend and drive home around once every couple of months for a week or so. His car was UK registered so no-problem here. However, he was always concerned that in France he could be identified as being a permanent resident so why was his car not French registered? He was never in any difficulty, but was often a bit concerned.
There seems to be no thought applied to those whose life and/or work is 'multi-national'.
A good example was the wife of a US airman, stationed in the UK who married a British lady. She had never lived in the USA and was stopped whilst driving her new husband's US registered car. There was a lot of trouble as she was deemed a Brit who was normally resident in the UK. After the US Embassy became involved it all sort-of went away. I don't know how this is treated these days. This happened to someone I knew in the 1970's at Mildenhall.
In the case of rally cars, it used to be the case that a foreign-owned rally car could be brought into the UK and driven by UK resident personnel so long as the car was being used for competing in and preparation for rallies. A 'Temporary Import Permit/Dispensation Certificate' was issued which specified what was allowed, who the team owner was and this lasted for 12 months.
The real problem comes with those who have residence in both the UK and another EU country. Until a couple of years ago my son was resident in France and lived there with his wife and two kids. However, he would come to work in England for periods of between 4 and 8 months at a time and fly home on every 2nd or 3rd weekend and drive home around once every couple of months for a week or so. His car was UK registered so no-problem here. However, he was always concerned that in France he could be identified as being a permanent resident so why was his car not French registered? He was never in any difficulty, but was often a bit concerned.
There seems to be no thought applied to those whose life and/or work is 'multi-national'.
the tribester said:
Not particularly helpful quoting a story from 1970.
But today, there is still an exemption for dependants of US military personnel to drive temporary imported vehicles on the road here.
In the late 80s I lived near a military estate and there were USAF families on secondment for 2-3 years at a time. They always brought their cars but they wore UK reg plates... Perhaps the 1970 story was behind this. But today, there is still an exemption for dependants of US military personnel to drive temporary imported vehicles on the road here.
donkmeister said:
In the late 80s I lived near a military estate and there were USAF families on secondment for 2-3 years at a time. They always brought their cars but they wore UK reg plates... Perhaps the 1970 story was behind this.
Yes, that does seem likely. I live near a USAF base and still see US registered cars around. I think that now they take a UK plate soon after arriving.One rather strange thing is if a car is temporarily imported from a non-EU country for use by the owner (or the person doing the importing), it can be driven by nominated UK residents so long as the person who did the temporary importation is in the UK at the time. I think the form is Customs Form 308, but this might have changed since I was covered to drive a US registered Sunbeam Tiger which was on California plates and came with its owner to the UK for 3 months in 2014. I live in the UK.
Graveworm said:
martinbiz said:
Why would customs have any issues???
ha ha just spotted how old this post is
Because you have to tell HMRC you have brought a vehicle into the UK & register it with DVLA and pay VED BEFORE you can drive it on the road unless 1) It is for less than 6 months & 2) YOU DO NOT NORMALLY LIVE IN THE UKha ha just spotted how old this post is
Driving on the road is the same as any unregistered untaxed car.
It sounds like the situation the OP was talking about way back when was not envisaged - but of course if all you had to say was I am only borrowing the car from outside the UK and I will take it back soon that might cause problems,
Edited by Graveworm on Monday 7th January 22:21
There are no customs issues with that.
martinbiz said:
Errr I think your missing the scenario of the original post which was flying to Dublin, hiring a car and then taking it temporarily into the UK (NI)
There are no customs issues with that.
There are in that a resident has to report to HMRC (Along with registering it and paying VED) BEFORE they can drive it here even if from the EU and even if it is temporary. There are no customs issues with that.
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