Does anybody know of an insurance company that will take into account no-claims bonus from another country. I?m trying to sort out a Polish friend in London who?s bought a Passat and if I can find someone who will take into account his current 4-years bonus from Poland the quotes go from £1400 to £500. We can have documents translated.
I think he?s been ill-advised, the car has no tax and now he?s waiting for the V5. It?s outside his house in Walthamstow in a permit-holder bay, not tax, no permit, no insurance. All very messy, I really need to get him covered like now. He?s got the sense not to drive the car but he?s gonna learn pretty quickly that car ownership in the UK is no bed of roses.
Cheers, Dave
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I'm guessing no UK licence ? Or at least not for 12 months ?
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I'm guessing no UK licence ? Or at least not for 12 months ?
Just on that point, a Pole can drive in the UK on a Polish licence.
www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/drvingb.htm#2
I helped (or tried to) a Korean colleague sort out his car purchase / driving licence. The insurance was relatively easy once he had his UK licence. Even with the Korean licence, it was OK except when the insurance companies twigged that he should have exchanged it for a UK one.
HTH
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Of course he can, but the number of companies who will offer a significant introductory discount to a foreign licence holder is very small - and they tend to be the insurers who are otherwise quite expensive.
A full UK licence for 12 months makes a large differences.
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Dave,
I've expanded the title a bit to encourage more responses, not that there's anything wrong with Mark ;) but there are likely to be other people who will say " I've had that problem too...."
With respect to the V5 etc. May I suggest your friend applies for one with DVLA? He won't have to pay for it since he never received it, unless that's the one he's waiting for.
Hugo
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I had the same problem. I had a NCD earned in Abu Dhabi, one year of which was worth about 10 of a UK one, and even the company who insured me there would not recognise it for cover with them in UK. You may need a specialist broker - I have used Peart in Kendal and found them competitive and helpful.
www.peart.co.uk/
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Cheers Hugo
He?s got an international licence, there seems to be a European license option on many websites too.
I?ve spent all morning on t?internet, seems 70% of companies won?t touch him, Norwich Union Direct being one of the few willing to be flexible.
With the V5, he bought the car yesterday, it?s a nice 2001 Passat so I guess he?s waiting for his updated V5 to come. There?s absolutely no way he can tax it without that though is there. How long do they normally take?
Not always easy to do the right thing is it?
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Norwich Union is def. a likelihood. However, do check it by phone as well. You may well find that you can get a significantly higher introductory discount on the telephone.
They were the only ones willing to give my wife a high discount due to her lack of UK Licence.
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Wow, hats off to Norwich Union.
No nonsense, 3 year introductory no claims and no fiddly license stuff. Explained everything and he?s now got 3rd party cover for 460. In my book, that?s pretty cool, he?s one lucky Pole.
Crap ads, great service.
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Wow, hats off to Norwich Union. No nonsense, 3 year introductory no claims and no fiddly license stuff. Explained everything and he?s now got 3rd party cover for 460. In my book, that?s pretty cool, he?s one lucky Pole.
That's good to see. Good business sense too. There are loads of PL plate cars here in Bournemouth and I expect it's the same all over the UK. At some point the owners may well decide to buy and insure a UK based car. That's a worthwhile chunk of business for those companies switched on to the potential market.
Shame their Life & Investment operations aren't so slick.....
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Glad you are sorted - for the record, when I came back from Kenya, I found that both Norwich Union and Direct Line would honour my Kenyan NCD letters. Direct Line wanted to see the letters (they had to be written in English) but NU were happy to believe the docs were OK (presume that they would have looked at them, had I made a claim)
Jono
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"There?s absolutely no way he can tax it without that though is there. How long do they normally take?"
Dave,
In answer to your question, anytime up to 5 weeks, but normally 2 to 3.
When he sent off the old V5 if he had it he should have kept the green(?) tear off slip and put his name and address on it.
He could have used this as a substitute to tax the car (with the insurance and MOT) anytime up to 2 months from the date of transfer. This would enable him to tax the vehicle whilst he's waiting for the new V5
I don't know whether or not there's a way of applying for the tax and the V5 at the same time. When I bought my first car in 85 it came with the old style logbook it was isued with 15 years before that. IIRC I applied for a tax disk and the new V5 at the same time. As I had applied for the disk I was able to drive the car straight away. It took some 2 to 3 weeks for it all to come through, so I'd have been stuck otherwise.
H
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The two I know of have been mentioned already. I currently have Norwich Union and they say that they honour foreign NCD, but when I got my details through it just said "introductory" so I wonder if they really even bother with actual NCD letters.
I would have gone with Direct Line, but they "did me wrong" in that I got an online quote for the car I intended to purchase, called and checked that they covered foreign license and NCD and all was ok. Went out and bought the car, called back for cover only to be told that they don't cover such "big" cars (BMW 520i) when on a foreign license. I pushed for an explanation of "big car" and was told that they would cover me if I got something smaller. Again pushed them for information on a "smaller car" and was told I would be ok with something like a Clio.
Of course this was after the car had been purchased, delivered to my house and I had suffered a minor panic attack. I can only assume that by "big" they meant a high group rating, but cannot understand why they didn't make it clear that they would only cover cars within a certain group. Oh well, I am sure they won't miss me as a customer.
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It?s just introductory, they haven?t mentioned translation of documents or anything like that. But it?s exactly what No Do$h says - good business sense. The Polish community in the UK is 100,000 strong and this sort of information gets spread around, I?ve heard of three other Poles with Norwich Union since yesterday.
I was married into the Jewish community before I married into the Polish community and if a builder or chippy or plumber or floor sander did one really good job in Golders Green or Hampstead Garden Suburb he was guarenteed work for life.
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