pierre Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Can anyone out there help. At present I live in France but want to buy a camper in the UK ( better conversions I think ). Am proposing to sell my house in France and move back to UK, but this may take sometime. I want to take and use the van in France whilst selling house. I am at present a French resident but still have a house in the UK but not on the Electoral Register. Have tried all the major motorhome insurers but they all say I have to be a UK resident for cover. Anyone else had the same problem and been able, at reasonable cost to get insured legally. I can use my son or daughters address for contact with insurers. I also have a full French driving licence. HELP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cattwg Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Hi Pierre, Over twenty people have read your post with no resulting replies. So for what it's worth here's my two pennies worth. Would it be possible to register the ‘van in your son’s name, get him to insure it (including continental use) and have you as a named driver, giving his address as your contact point? Once you are resident in the UK transfer the registration to your name and insure the vehicle in the usual way. It’s a bit messy and I’m not sure if it’s strictly kosher but it may solve the problem in the short term. Hopefully someone with actual insurance expertise will be along to help you. Cattwg :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Can you not register a UK bought van in France and insure it for Europe wide use much as we do here for our visits to France (as well as get headlamp beam adjusters for France whilst you are there?) - and then switch to a UK insurer when you move back and reregister it with DVLA which should be simple enough being a UK van? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 If you buy the van in the UK, it will be UK registered, and must be UK taxed (VED), for which you will require a UK address. As you already have a UK property, it can be registered at that address. Having a vehicle that is UK registered, and having a UK address for a property that you own, I can't see any reason why you can't insure the van in your own name, using that UK address. I assume you would visit the UK, and your UK address, to buy the van, so would presumably be in UK when you insured the van? You would then leave the UK with the van, in much the same way anyone ordinarily resident here would when touring in Europe. If you take the van out of the UK for more than 6 months it is supposedly deemed exported, and if you keep it continually in another country for 6 months it is deemed imported. However, if I understand you correctly, you will be going backards and forwards and will be unlikely to be continually in either country for periods exceeding 6 months. It seems to me that from the point of view of vehicle insurance, all you need is a policy that allows you extended trips outside the UK. Several firms do this, mainly the ones that specialise in insuring motorhomes. Try, for example, Comfort Insurance. However, I would suggest you ring rather than trying to get online quotes, because your requirements are a little specialised. I assume you would need to make your UK address your registered contact address, but may be able to arrange for correspondence to be sent to your French address, or possibly to be duplicated to your French address. However, I'm sure they would be happy to advise on the details. The only problem I can foresee is the French driving licence, and I have no idea how that would play. However, I can't really see why it should be a problem, as requirements and licence categories are supposedly harmonised across the EU. Once established back in UK, you would in any case have to obtain a UK driving licence so, once past that point, no further problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B. Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 pierre - 2012-01-20 3:52 PM Can anyone out there help. At present I live in France but want to buy a camper in the UK ( better conversions I think ). Am proposing to sell my house in France and move back to UK, but this may take sometime. I want to take and use the van in France whilst selling house. I am at present a French resident but still have a house in the UK but not on the Electoral Register. Have tried all the major motorhome insurers but they all say I have to be a UK resident for cover. Anyone else had the same problem and been able, at reasonable cost to get insured legally. I can use my son or daughters address for contact with insurers. I also have a full French driving licence. HELP Assuming you are British, can you not register yourself on the Electoral roll at either your house in the UK or at your son's house and then just insure your vehicle from there? You could then spend up to 90 days in France without problem thus allowing you to return to UK in beteween periods and qualify for next trip to France if there was a limit on the insurance. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesFrance Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Unless you really want to buy a UK conversion, you will find that most from the major manufacturers can be purchased much more cheaply in France. French insurance seems to cover much longer foreign trips than British and there is no annual road tax to pay. If and when you move back to the UK you could easily reregister there, although you would have a left hand drive vehicle which you may not want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 You should have a very close look at similar priced conversions made both in the UK and France/Germany. The volumes made on the continent are larger than here is the UK which results in more cash being spent on design, testing, tooling etc. OK the layouts will be AAF for the UK but for those of us who tour both side of La Manche it is inconsequential and generally I have found that the increased investment in continental vans shows. Its your money, but you can only spend it once. C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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