Insurance from other EU states valid on an Irish vehicle in Ireland

Our man in Havana

Hypothetical question folks.
If the owner of an Irish registered vehicle obtained an insurance policy and certificate of insurance in another EU state would that policy be valid in Ireland and would it satisfy the Gardaí?

Victor

I think it theory its possible, but not many insurers are operating across borders. If they do, they set up a branch.

Our man in Havana

Is it possible to obtain insurance on Irish registered cars in some of the recently joined EU states. They give you a green card that purports to be valid in Ireland.

I was wondering would if it pass muster with the Gardaí?

coylemj

The Dept. of Industry & Commerce used to keep a list of companies approved for writing motor policies in Ireland, this function is now the responsibility of the Financial Regulator.

Take a look here...

http://www.financialregulator.ie/industry-sectors/insurance-companies/non-life-insurance-companies/Pages/default.aspx

The writing of non-life policies is regulated as otherwise you could produce a cert. in Polish or Greek to the Gardai and claim that it represented a valid insurance policy for Ireland.

Our man in Havana

The policy would be written by a company in the EU member state concerned. That company would be authorized by that government. The certificate would be written in English.

drunkmonkey

In Theroy yes. But this is Europe, the land without borders but with red tape bigger than the berlin wall, free movement of goods and people delayed due to Mo Money Making!

Insurance wise, your no claims bonus won't cross countrys, insurance compaines charge foreign drivers more as there more likely to have an accident. So insurance would cost you more if you could get it, but you can't get it because for a company to sell insurance in another member state it needs a base in that country and to abide by that members code of pratice.

So you can in theroy but in reality you can't.

Our man in Havana

I understand everything you are saying DM. What I am saying is that if I take my Irish car abroad I can find companies willing to write policies on an Irish reg car.

FreudianSlippers

drunkmonkey wrote: »

In Theroy yes. But this is Europe, the land without borders but with red tape bigger than the berlin wall, free movement of goods and people delayed due to Mo Money Making!

Insurance wise, your no claims bonus won't cross countrys, insurance compaines charge foreign drivers more as there more likely to have an accident. So insurance would cost you more if you could get it, but you can't get it because for a company to sell insurance in another member state it needs a base in that country and to abide by that members code of pratice.

So you can in theroy but in reality you can't.

I'm not sure about that. You can bring your no claims bonus from most places (even the US)

coylemj

Haddockman wrote: »

Hypothetical question folks.
If the owner of an Irish registered vehicle obtained an insurance policy and certificate of insurance in another EU state would that policy be valid in Ireland and would it satisfy the Gardaí?

In your OP you didn't mention taking the car abroad so I assumed you and your car were in Ireland and you wanted to buy insurance from outside Ireland to cover use of the car in Ireland.

Haddockman wrote: »

I understand everything you are saying DM. What I am saying is that if I take my Irish car abroad I can find companies willing to write policies on an Irish reg car.

Now you're talking about taking the car abroad which is a completely different scenario. If the authorities in that country don't mind you driving around in a car with an Irish registration then you should have no problem getting insurance locally but whether they will cover you driving in Ireland and whether the Gardai back here will accept that as proof that you are complying with Irish law is another matter.

Taking the reverse scenario, if a Polish guy in Ireland takes out insurance with one of the local companies and says that he's moving permanently back to Poland in Feb. 2011, will they give him 12 months cover which will continue when he goes back to Poland? I don't think so.

Our man in Havana

I think they would have no choice if they were foolish enough to write the policy. What they need to do is refuse to write the policy in the first place. I doubt any company here will write policies for non Irish vehicles.

From my research, there are a lot of UK and Irish cars running around with local insurance in place and local road tax in certain eastern EU nations. I was querying the position if any of them ever returned home.

Carawaystick

Haddockman wrote: »

I understand everything you are saying DM. What I am saying is that if I take my Irish car abroad I can find companies willing to write policies on an Irish reg car.

My insurer will insure me for 364 days a year in the EEA, Turkey and the various ministates (Monaco, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein etc.)

coylemj

Buy they have an easy way to deal with this which is that a change of address is a material change which must be notified to them at which point they could claim that as they have no offices or staff in that country that they cannot offer you cover or they could just demand so much additional premium for the change of address that you would effectively have no choice other than to terminate the policy.

dermot_sheehan

Due to the motor insurance directive, Road Traffic insurance in one member state of the EEA automatically covers the vehicle against third party claims in all other states for the period of its validity.

Whether comprehensive insurance is valid if the vehicle spends most of its time outside the state that issued the policy is another question

Our man in Havana

coylemj wrote: »

Buy they have an easy way to deal with this which is that a change of address is a material change which must be notified to them at which point they could claim that as they have no offices or staff in that country that they cannot offer you cover or they could just demand so much additional premium for the change of address that you would effectively have no choice other than to terminate the policy.

What if it was just a temporary visit? The persons permanent address is in the county of issue of the insurance.

Can any Gardaí here answer the question of acceptability?

coylemj

Haddockman wrote: »

What if it was just a temporary visit? The persons permanent address is in the county of issue of the insurance.

I don't think there!s an issue with a temporary visit abroad, I'm with Axa and they allow me go take the car abroad for up to 30 consecutive days in the EU with cover.