Motor Insurance for a US citizen - how, who, where?

Hi

My Fiancee is visiting from the USA for a couple of months before Christmas, then returning to the USA where we will be married in January.  We intend to return to the UK to live.

On previous UK visits my Fiancee has been added as a temporary driver to my own policies (I have 2 cars), where each policy has allowed a 30 day per year additional temporry driver.  These 30 day terms are all used up from a visit earlier in the year.

I have approached a couple of insurance brokers, but it seem that she cannot be added to my policies again in the current term as a temporary driver, and cannot be a permanent additional driver on my policies until she is permanently resident.
To make matters worse, it seems she cannot be insured in her own right until she is permanently resident, and has a UK license, for which a test cannot be taken until she has been resident for 6 months. (what is the point of that wait, either you are competent or you are not!!).

Anyway, she will be here for October and November, and will want to drive, ideally her nice shiney american car that we shipped here 18 months back, but one of my own rustbuckets would also be fine.

Does anybody how and where she can get insurance to drive for the couple of months she is here in the UK?

The only thing my insurance broker (Swinton) has suggested is terminating one of my policies that she already was a temporary driver on, and taking out a new policy from a different insurer that allows 90 per year days temp additional driver.  It's expensive to do, but is there any better option please ?

Regards
Steve

I'm afraid I can't help much on the insurance front, but are you sure that she can't take the UK driving test until she has been resident for 6 months?

Once she moves here, her US licence will only be valid for 12 months and in that time, she will have to apply for a UK provisional licence, take her theory and hazard awareness tests and take her practical - all of which may take longer than 6 months to go through, espeically if she needs lessons to learn how to pass the test. I'm British and so haven't gone through it myself, but I wasn't aware of a 6-month residency/waiting period before taking the test - although I may be wrong about this.

Other than your fiance hiring a car with her US licence while she's visiting, unfortunately I'm not sure if there is another option for insuring her to drive here (apart from the option you mentioned above about taking out a new policy).

To make matters worse, it seems she cannot be insured in her own right until she is permanently resident, and has a UK license, for which a test cannot be taken until she has been resident for 6 months. (what is the point of that wait, either you are competent or you are not!!).

Where did you get this information from?

I had no problem getting insured before I had a license.

To make matters worse, it seems she cannot be insured in her own right until she is permanently resident, and has a UK license, for which a test cannot be taken until she has been resident for 6 months. (what is the point of that wait, either you are competent or you are not!!).

I've just done a quick search and found this document, issued by the US embassy in London: http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new/acs/uk/driving_in_uk.pdf

In one section it states:

Since there is a delay of several months between applying for a British test and taking the test, all United States citizens who intend staying in the United Kingdom for more than one year are urged to make an application for a British test as soon as possible after their arrival here. Information and forms (D-1) may be obtained from any Post Office, Traffic Area Office, Vehicle Registration Office or DVLA.

If your fiancee is able to do so, she may be able to start preparing to get a UK licence when she is visiting you (learning the highway code, etc. in preparation for the theory/hazard tests). Although it may be difficult for you to add her to your own insurance before she is a UK resident, once you are married and have moved here in Jan, she still should be able to take out her own insurance policy using her US licence with no problems.

Is her shipped US car currently insured on a UK policy? If not, may you could become the keeper of the car for now and start up a new policy in your name - that way she could be added as a temporary driver on her own car. When she becomes a permanent resident, you could transfer the policy to her name instead.

I had no problem getting insured before I had a license.

awww, go on, let me in on the secret ... who insured you?  after all, that was the point of this post, trying to find WHERE to get insured under these circumstances 

were you resident or visiting at that that time?

Regarding the 6 month residency before being able to take a test.  I found it somewhere in the test application procedure, as we intended for her to take the test when she last visited, and found that she was not eligible.
I shall look again, if she can take it on this visit that would be great!!

RE: you have to be resident 6 months before you can take a UK driving test ...

Where did you get this information from?

I found this somewher in the application documentation as we intended for her to take the tests on the previous visit. 

It was further confirmed yesterday by my insuarnce brokers when I was looking into insurance options.  They just seem to 'know' that thats the rule, without having to look it up anywhere.

Norwich is who I am insured under and I don't hold a UK driving license.

awww, go on, let me in on the secret ... who insured you?  after all, that was the point of this post, trying to find WHERE to get insured under these circumstances 

were you resident or visiting at that that time?

Regarding the 6 month residency before being able to take a test.  I found it somewhere in the test application procedure, as we intended for her to take the test when she last visited, and found that she was not eligible.
I shall look again, if she can take it on this visit that would be great!!

If she doesn't have a provisional license, she wouldn't be able to take the test (either the theory or practical) anyway. If she's going to be here for a couple of months, she could use that time to get her provisional license sorted but she has to send her passport to the DVLA in Swansea for processing.

I bought a car on my US license after being resident here for 8 months. I got insurance through Norwich Union on the US license using my US no claims info and when I renewed on my provisional in June, they didn't raise my premium.

I don't know what your fiance should do for insurance while she is visiting here. If you can't find a compnay here who'll do it, then try looking in the US for some sort of worldwide/transferable policy.

I added my (US) husband onto my insurance policy with Direct Line.  At the time he was my fiancee, i told them that he was driving on a US licence and they said that he was good for a year and then he'd have to get a UK licence.  At no stage did they ask if he was visiting or resident and they certainly didn't mention a 30 day limit?  Maybe it differs for each insurance company?

Hi there,

I'm not so 'clear' on all the aspects you mention and some responses have comeback for you to try.

Seeing as you have a USA car here, not very many of the mainstream insurers will even quote you a policy on it!

I have an 03 F150 Harley Edition truck and I found excellent service and rates for a policy with http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/?rw.cm=Yahoo,YSSP  - if that link doesnt work just do a search for adrian flux insurance

When some of my family were over from the US, although their no claims bonus didnt transfer, a letter to show good driving history helped lower the premium here. There's a few places I 'think' that will do temporary monthly insurance but I'm vague on details - I think also it's relatively more expensive per month than if you took out a normal yearly policy. So overall, you 'should' find you can insure your other half for a pretty modest figure depending on the USA car you have for a competetive yearly quote.

Also try calling up some broker's who may have a better deal than dealing direct with a company - but for 'problem' solving in cars/US drivers etc - adrian flux should get you setup - had you not got an USA car, then like CarolW says - a mainstream insurer should be able to accomodate but check the policy first!

Hope this helps !

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

RE: you have to be resident 6 months before you can take a UK driving test ...

I found this somewher in the application documentation as we intended for her to take the tests on the previous visit. 

I seem to remember a discussion about this in the past, and I believe the 6-month residency requirement was introduced to curb what the government referred to as "license tourism." 

Apparently in some European countries, such as Germany, the system is even more bureaucratic than the U.K. has become, and involves so many hours with a qualified driving instructor at very high rates.  Teenagers were coming to Britain for intensive driving courses, obtaining a U.K. license, and then under the EU license rules they could just go back home and swap it for a German license.  It seems that even with the cost of lessons, travel, and accommodation in the U.K., it worked out cheaper than learning to drive in Germany!   

The bigwigs apparently did not like people using this legitimate "loophole," as they called it, hence the 6-month limit.   And yes, it could impose totally unfair restrictions on somebody who has just moved here from another EU country.   I guess nobody thought to write in exemptions for citizens from other countries who can't just exchange licenses.

Seeing as you have a USA car here, not very many of the mainstream insurers will even quote you a policy on it!

Ain't that the truth!  Either that or they'll come back with such insane premiums that you'd have to be mad to accept them. 

I'll second the Adrian Flux recommendation.  I have an Equity Redstar policy through them at the moment on my '87 Bronco II -- £161 for the year, TPF&T (although remember I'm a British citizen, U.K. license since 1983).