Insuring UK company van abroad
Discussion
Hi,
I would like to get a company van through my UK Ltd co.
Problem is I mostly live in France.
If I owned the van personally then it would be ok for insurance but I have tried Stuart Collins and Herts and nobody will insure it unless I own it.
Any ideas for someone who will insure a company van to live abroad for 11months of the year?
I would like to get a company van through my UK Ltd co.
Problem is I mostly live in France.
If I owned the van personally then it would be ok for insurance but I have tried Stuart Collins and Herts and nobody will insure it unless I own it.
Any ideas for someone who will insure a company van to live abroad for 11months of the year?
If you are OK with third party cover only when you are abroad, then there is no need to do anything.
By EU law any car is insured on a third party basis in all countries of the EU irrespective of duration.
Re read and appreciate first sentence, any UK insurance you get Fully Comp etc is automatically downgraded to TP once your insurer's "included" period of fully-comp-while-abroad allowance has expired.
If not clear, here's how it works:
You are always insured TP anywhere.
Some insurers offer, say, "3 months travel cover" as part of the deal, this is misleading, it only means 3 months Comp, the other 9 months you are still actually covered, but only on TP basis.
Some insurers may not offer the "travel cover" at all, but you are still covered for TP risks overseas whatever the clerk may mistakenly advise you.
By EU law any car is insured on a third party basis in all countries of the EU irrespective of duration.
Re read and appreciate first sentence, any UK insurance you get Fully Comp etc is automatically downgraded to TP once your insurer's "included" period of fully-comp-while-abroad allowance has expired.
If not clear, here's how it works:
You are always insured TP anywhere.
Some insurers offer, say, "3 months travel cover" as part of the deal, this is misleading, it only means 3 months Comp, the other 9 months you are still actually covered, but only on TP basis.
Some insurers may not offer the "travel cover" at all, but you are still covered for TP risks overseas whatever the clerk may mistakenly advise you.
996TT02 said:
If you are OK with third party cover only when you are abroad, then there is no need to do anything.
By EU law any car is insured on a third party basis in all countries of the EU irrespective of duration.
Re read and appreciate first sentence, any UK insurance you get Fully Comp etc is automatically downgraded to TP once your insurer's "included" period of fully-comp-while-abroad allowance has expired.
If not clear, here's how it works:
You are always insured TP anywhere.
Some insurers offer, say, "3 months travel cover" as part of the deal, this is misleading, it only means 3 months Comp, the other 9 months you are still actually covered, but only on TP basis.
Some insurers may not offer the "travel cover" at all, but you are still covered for TP risks overseas whatever the clerk may mistakenly advise you.
Try explaining that to the gendarmes at the side of the road in broken French when their equally unproficient English picks out the simple bits "3 months travel cover". Then if you finally make headway you end up with them or their partner in the office calling up the UK insurance company who give their untrained response of "no, it says 3 months, not valid - oh and we're gonna cancel the insurance".By EU law any car is insured on a third party basis in all countries of the EU irrespective of duration.
Re read and appreciate first sentence, any UK insurance you get Fully Comp etc is automatically downgraded to TP once your insurer's "included" period of fully-comp-while-abroad allowance has expired.
If not clear, here's how it works:
You are always insured TP anywhere.
Some insurers offer, say, "3 months travel cover" as part of the deal, this is misleading, it only means 3 months Comp, the other 9 months you are still actually covered, but only on TP basis.
Some insurers may not offer the "travel cover" at all, but you are still covered for TP risks overseas whatever the clerk may mistakenly advise you.
It sucks, but such technicalities are more hassle than they're worth.
daemonoid said:
Try explaining that to the gendarmes at the side of the road in broken French when their equally unproficient English picks out the simple bits "3 months travel cover". Then if you finally make headway you end up with them or their partner in the office calling up the UK insurance company who give their untrained response of "no, it says 3 months, not valid - oh and we're gonna cancel the insurance".
It sucks, but such technicalities are more hassle than they're worth.
Sorry but that's nonsense.It sucks, but such technicalities are more hassle than they're worth.
It is illegal and hence impossible for ANY insurance company in the EU to not cover you on TP basis for travel anywhere in the EU for as long as the insurance cover is valid i.e. not expired.
There is no explaining to do, and the rest of your made up scenario belongs to la la land.
"Technicalities" are the fact that using the van on TP only may be the only option available to the OP.
The problem is that the policyholder is the limited co. and the limited co. "lives" in the UK.
The obvious thing to do though would be for the OP to lend himself the money from the company to buy the van from the company, then arrange with his company for the company to use it on business. That *might* have tax implications and/or be seen as using the van for hire or reward by the insurance company, but it would get around the "insurable interest" implications.
The obvious thing to do though would be for the OP to lend himself the money from the company to buy the van from the company, then arrange with his company for the company to use it on business. That *might* have tax implications and/or be seen as using the van for hire or reward by the insurance company, but it would get around the "insurable interest" implications.
If the company is UK based and the van is UK registered you'll need a decent broker to sort the issue.
If you're going to buy it in your name, as per your thread in the France forum, it should be France registered and insured as that's where you're resident.
Drop lowdrag a pm. He's helped me out in the past about cars in France queries and is very clued up on these things.
If you're going to buy it in your name, as per your thread in the France forum, it should be France registered and insured as that's where you're resident.
Drop lowdrag a pm. He's helped me out in the past about cars in France queries and is very clued up on these things.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff