Importing a Car - 30 days cover for DVLA Registering

[FWDRacer]

Looking for a bit of help from the Ph "Faithfull". My missus has bought her Golf (1.4 Sport real PH Fodder ) over from Ireland after joining me to live in the UK.

Following a change of clocks (km/h to mph) and a VCA/SVA approval document the time has come to register the beast. The DVLA require a UK insurance certificate to register the car and gain UK plates. To get one of these for 30-days cover has resulted in her being given a quote of £300. This is evidently daylight robbery and she is naturally reluctant to pay it. Keeping the car was supposed to be a cost effective way of her keeping her little red Golf.

Has anyone had a similar experience with importing a European vehicle and managed to get a more sensible premium for the short term cover?

Any help would be very gratefully received...

[ViperDave]

why the short term cover? Surely it need insurance for a year anyway. If for some reason not, why don't you insure it for a year and then cancel, just make sure you check the T+C on cancellation

[GoneAnon]

I'm sure there are insurers wwho will cover the car for a year, based on the VIN.

When I built my car Adrian Flux were happy to insure my car that way and add the Reg No once registered.

[Superhoop]

Can't you just insure it for 12 months from the VIN, hen give them the registration number once it's registered?

[FWDRacer]

Adrian Flux - good shout. Will try in the morning. Thank you for the tips on the VIN....

[FWDRacer]

Got insurance cover prior to the UK re-registration with the DVLA. £200 for 30 days cover (3rd party only) - absolutely the cheapest we could get after a good chase round. Anybody considering an import from Europe - beware of this hidden cost!

To the contributors - thanks for the help.

[CampDavid]

Or you could just do what the posters above said and insure it off the VIN. I did the same with Admiral about 4 years ago when buying an Ex-MOD car which was on government plates.

[FWDRacer]

This was off the VIN. I think the issue is that the car is to be in daily usage (SD&P) - I take it yours was insured and off the road?

[CampDavid]

FWDRacer said:

This was off the VIN.

Why not just do a full policy off the VIN?

[FWDRacer]

Even more expensive... 5x the 30-day cost. Yet inputting a years policy on a normal UK registered vehicle via moneysupermarket or similar was loads cheaper

[tsubodai]

is the car now in the uk?

if so, you dont need any specialist or short term cover. any insurance co should be able to do it off vin

[aw51 121565]

Back in 2007 I acquired a left hand drive version of a UK-built car which had been originally sold new in Germany in 1983 then re-imported to the UK in 2004.

It was ready for the road in early 2008 and I insured it for a year on its VIN with a known "classic insurer" with no apparent problems. The insurer then threw its toys out of the pram when the car wasn't registered in the UK after 2 weeks (this came to light because there is only space for 10 characters on their insurance certificates and DVLA wanted the LAST ten characters on there and not the first ten!):

insurer "you must register the car within 2 weeks or the policy is cancelled"
me "you never said that and it isn't in the terms & Conditions"
insurer "OK, register it as soon as you can then"
me "please send me a recording of the call"
insurer "we told you that but you can't have a copy of the recording; just make sure the car's registered ASAP"

but sadly they are still the cheapest by far for my circumstances and that car 4 years later... It didn't make any difference to the cost of the year's insurance, not even an admin fee once the car was registered .

Insuring the car on its VIN pending registration is a plan, but watch for any time limitations - and make sure you ask about any relevant time limitations before the car must be registered ! If costs vary between the cost of insuring with the VIN or a UK number plate, they are taking the George .

[FWDRacer]

Yes - the car is already in the UK - she drove it over and then used the 60days cover on her (Irish Ins) green card to get the registration process underway.

[shovelheadrob]

I have done this several times with American imports, the only "hidden" charge is the fee to issue another certificate with the registration number, usually if it is more than 14 days between the start of the insurance & the registration. Similar situation when transfering a private plate, after all it is still the same vehicle that is being used so should be the same risk regarless of what no plate it is wearing! Can you not use the Irish registration no for the insurance? I'm guessing not if it is from the R.O.I. as it won't show on the computer.

[FWDRacer]

shovelheadrob said:

Can you not use the Irish registration no for the insurance? I'm guessing not if it is from the R.O.I. as it won't show on the computer.

Correct - R.O.I vehicle & Reg.