unzippy Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 How do people get insured of friends and family members cars when visiting the UK? So far, day insure places and the insurance companies of the friends/family all stipulate that you need to be a UK resident... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 We ended up hiring a car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unzippy Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) Just found this one - https://www.dayinsure.com (underwritten by Aviva) They are happy to insure even on the understanding that I'm a not a UK resident. Top tip - if you still have a valid UK licence, add the number in when asked and a big chunk comes off the price Definitely cheaper than plan b which was a hire car. Edited July 30, 2019 by unzippy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliQ Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 We ended up hiring too, much easier. We hired from Enterprise. Their customer service was great, nice new cars and very reasonable rates. Some companies though would NOT lend to us because we were not UK residents at the time, so visitors to the UK from other countries will have some problems if they want to hire a car to explore the UK ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Your UK license isn’t actually still valid if you are living permanently overseas even if it is in date. If you try to hire a car in the UK with a UK license, they want to see proof of address like a utility bill. Be careful you don’t want to find that the insurance is invalid. Not a problem at all to hire a car In the UK with an Aus license. I have done this many times and even hired a van to help my son move on my Aussie license. Tourists do it all the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 16 minutes ago, rammygirl said: Your UK license isn’t actually still valid if you are living permanently overseas even if it is in date. Be careful you don’t want to find that the insurance is invalid. Not a problem at all to hire a car In the UK with an Aus license. I have done this many times and even hired a van to help my son move on my Aussie license. Tourists do it all the time. Yes, I've hired a car many times on an Aussie licence with no difficulty. Let's face it, car hire companies would soon go out of business if they only rented to UK residents and refused all tourists! Good point about not using the old British licence - I have a feeling some companies wouldn't check the address so you'd get away with it, but it's not worth risking the insurance being invalid IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canada2Australia Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Im pretty sure any English speakimg nation will allow residents with valid licences from other English speaking nations to hire cars without needing international licences. If you are from a coutry where English is not the main language, then I think it's not as easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderingaloud Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 We looked into this extensively and the UK has made it incredibly hard for anyone other than named drivers to drive someone else’s car. Totally opposite from oz where they were just like ‘yea that’s fine’. To cut a long story short we ended up hiring a car, on our Aus driving licences, no problem at all. Worked out cheaper than being ‘added’ to my husbands mums insurance, and negotiating all the hoops we would have us to jump through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 (edited) On 30/07/2019 at 17:46, Canada2Australia said: Im pretty sure any English speakimg nation will allow residents with valid licences from other English speaking nations to hire cars without needing international licences. If you are from a coutry where English is not the main language, then I think it's not as easy. So the French and Germans are in trouble!! Edited August 1, 2019 by MaggieMay24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgeman Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 (edited) When we first came to Australia we were allowed to drive in WA for up to a year on our UK driving licences as we were on a temporary visa, and I understand there is a certain period which may differ in each state, when as a permanent resident, you can drive on your UK licence. What can you do in this case, if you have to return to the UK before you have your Australian licence. If your UK licence is no longer valid, how on earth can you hire a car? Is there no way round it? I also believe that in the Netherlands for example, if you are from an EU country you can drive on that licence for up to 15 years, or till it expires. So how would you hire a car if you still had your UK licence and went back for a visit? Doesn't make sense. Edited August 2, 2019 by Bridgeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bridgeman Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 I actually contacted the DVLA in the UK and this was their response: 'It may help if I explain that you may drive in GB on your UK issued licence, however we would be unable to process a new licence for you as you are not currently resident in the UK.' So it seems my UK licence is valid to drive in the UK, so why would the car hire insurance not be valid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 (edited) 57 minutes ago, Bridgeman said: I actually contacted the DVLA in the UK and this was their response: 'It may help if I explain that you may drive in GB on your UK issued licence, however we would be unable to process a new licence for you as you are not currently resident in the UK.' So it seems my UK licence is valid to drive in the UK, so why would the car hire insurance not be valid? Guessing, but several other kinds of insurance depend on residency, so it would make sense that car insurance would be the same. Nothing to do with what licence you hold. Edited August 2, 2019 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amibovered Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 https://www.moneymaxim.co.uk/short-term-car-insurance-uk-overseas-residents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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