Insuring car with foreign insurance companies

Barricade-S281

Hi,

So I'm just wondering is it legal in Irish Law to have my car insured by a foreign insurer? Like can I drive it on the roads here if I am insured by say the likes of a company in Italy?

If I can get a few opinions on this it would be great!

Thanks:rolleyes:

mick.fr

Yep of course there is nothing against this.
Myself I went through a broker in the US.

But:

1. When I was looking for this 3 years ago, most of the insurance companies were insuring only if you were resident in the country they are operating. Like I tried many UK insurances for example, all of them refused. But I suppose this may have changed nowadays.

2. My insurance insures me because I am a foreigner in Ireland. If I were Irish living in Ireland they would not insure me.

Seth Brundle

IIRC they have to be recognised by the IFSRA (www.ifsra.ie)

Hagar

Be very careful. Many if not all companies will only allow you to drive for a fixed number of days per annum outside your declared country of residence.

Alun

mick.fr wrote: »

2. My insurance insures me because I am a foreigner in Ireland. If I were Irish living in Ireland they would not insure me.

Sounds like nonsense to me. What has your nationality to do with it? Or are you still claiming that you're resident in another country, or "have an address" there, and only "visiting"?

I'm English, but that doesn't mean I can insure my car with a UK insurance company, because I'm resident (for tax purposes and the like) in Ireland, not the UK.

Barricade-S281

What is the IIRC? I'm an Irish resident and I'm Irish born. Thats why I started this link to see is there any way an Irish person living in Ireland can be insured by an outside company. My reasoning behind it is because I am a young driver and my insurance is through the roof!

Bluefoam

in order to tax your car you must have current valid insurance which is recognised and approved within the state

Anan1

Barricade-S281 wrote: »

My reasoning behind it is because I am a young driver and my insurance is through the roof!

Any insurance company will quote huge premiums to a young male driving in Ireland. Statistically, you're at high risk of costing them a lot of money.

Keith C

Barricade-S281 wrote: »

My reasoning behind it is because I am a young driver and my insurance is through the roof!

Do you hold full or prov lic & what car r u trying to get insured?

Barricade-S281

I have a full license and i'm trying to insure a Mazda RX7, 1.7L

Bluefoam

You will probably find that the insurance companies will quote you a high price because their statisics say that the car is too much for you to handle with limited experience and ability.

Why not try a Fiat Punto, should be more suitable...

Barricade-S281

No I hate punto's with a passion. If I do crash I don't want to know that my only protection is a cardboard box. (no offence if you have one). I will pay the insurance if i can't get it cheaper anyway. Besides I have a competition license for track racing so I can defo handle the car if ya get my drift. To add tho, I know when to drive fast and when to be responsible. Being able to race on a track doesn't give me any right to race the streets. (thats just a note there so people don't take me for a boy racer) Anyway i just want to get a lower quote. If I cant so be it then. At least I tried.
Thanks anyway lads

Bluefoam

Try http://www.brittoninsurance.com/

Del2005

I remember reading/hearing years ago that you can't get insurance in Ireland unless the company has an office here. Also the fact that there are only a few insurance companies in the world mean that most of them are here already with the companies we have. A company in England/Italy will proberly already be here just using a different name, so the forgien office would still use our stats for your quote.

Guy:Incognito

Bluefoam wrote: »

in order to tax your car you must have current valid insurance which is recognised and approved within the state

good one. twice when taxing my car online i've made up policy numbers and put in an approximate renewal date because I havnt had the cert to hand and was too lazy to go out and look on the car.

My uncle is a broker in Germany and I asked him a few years ago if he could sort something. At the time there was something about them having to have an office in Ireland (EDIT, just read Del's post saying the same) , not sure if this is still the case. Either way the short answer is no.

paulboards

The EU is supposed to be a single market so you should be allowed to get insurance and any EU company. In practice the Irish government uses a protectionist policy to prevent this from happening. Numerous government cronies with inflated salaries would not like competition from the EU. The only way this will change is via a massive lawsuit that no ordinary citizen can afford. It's highlights how corrupt our government is when I could get cheaper Insurance and Car Tax from the British government when living in Northern Ireland that I could when living in the Republic. Maybe we should go back to calling it the free-state because we don't get to vote on any of this as one should in a real republic.

Allinall

paulboards wrote: »

The EU is supposed to be a single market so you should be allowed to get insurance and any EU company. In practice the Irish government uses a protectionist policy to prevent this from happening. Numerous government cronies with inflated salaries would not like competition from the EU. The only way this will change is via a massive lawsuit that no ordinary citizen can afford. It's highlights how corrupt our government is when I could get cheaper Insurance and Car Tax from the British government when living in Northern Ireland that I could when living in the Republic. Maybe we should go back to calling it the free-state because we don't get to vote on any of this as one should in a real republic.

You realise any European insurance company can set up in Ireland?

I wonder why there isn’t a rush....