Driving in another EU state

cristialex12

Hello
Question will i be able to drive a car outside of Ireland if :
1.I am 19 but hold a full licence for now 2 years.
2.The car is not registered under my name but i am a named driver on the insurance policy.

Atlantic Dawn

You would need to contact the insurer to check.

TrailerBob

Yes
Yes

Just have all relevant documents with you

cristialex12

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

You would need to contact the insurer to check.

I mean i want to go over to Spain for a week and i want to take the car out of the country.

Liam McPoyle

cristialex12 wrote: »

Hello
Question will i be able to drive a car outside of Ireland if :
1.I am 19 but hold a full licence for now 2 years.
2.The car is not registered under my name but i am a named driver on the insurance policy.

You will need to clarify what you are asking mate.

You are a named driver on a policy.

That means you are covered to drive that car and that car only.

You can drive in other countries absolutely however you will need to arrange insurance with whomever you are renting the car from or get covered under the owners insurance.

The fact you are named on a policy means diddly squat with regards having an Insurance yourself, you do not.

TrailerBob

cristialex12 wrote: »

I mean i want to go over to Spain for a week and i want to take the car out of the country.

I presumed you meant taking your own car.. if you want to rent, then most companies have an age limit of 25, and many will not allow you to leave the country of rental.

cristialex12

The car is on my dads name but i am a named driver on the insurance

cristialex12

What i mean is i am a named driver on my dads car and i want to leave the country with it for a few weeks

cristialex12

Business Cat wrote: »

You will need to clarify what you are asking mate.

You are a named driver on a policy.

That means you are covered to drive that car and that car only.

You can drive in other countries absolutely however you will need to arrange insurance with whomever you are renting the car from or get covered under the owners insurance.

The fact you are named on a policy means diddly squat with regards having an Insurance yourself, you do not.

What i mean is i am a named driver on my dads car and i want to leave the country with it for a few weeks

TrailerBob

Most likely need to arrange that with the insurance company. Most will cover 30 days without problems, but after that it gets more difficult

Liam McPoyle

cristialex12 wrote: »

What i mean is i am a named driver on my dads car and i want to leave the country with it for a few weeks

The policy is in your Dads name so presumably he will be rated as the main driver. You as the named driver taking the vehicle to continental Europe could be an issue as you will then be the main driver and should be charged accordingly.

Your Dad will need to call his insurer and check however Id suspect they will not be comfortable with allowing it.

coylemj

OP, you really need to ask the insurance company, not a bunch of anonymous posters on an internet forum who don't know which insurance company the policy is with. I've studied the policy documents from some of the main insurance companies and there doesn't appear to be an exclusion on named drivers when it comes to driving in the EU outside IRL/GB but I'd check with the insurance company to be sure.

CiniO

cristialex12 wrote: »

Hello
Question will i be able to drive a car outside of Ireland if :
1.I am 19 but hold a full licence for now 2 years.
2.The car is not registered under my name but i am a named driver on the insurance policy.

Yes, you can drive all over EU if you want.
Third party cover will be valid anyway, so you will be road legal.
Any additional cover (fire, theft, windscreen, own car damage, etc) might be limited to certain amount of time abroad.

Make sure you take VRC (registration cert) and insurance cert and carry them with you at all times when driving abroad.

In relation to point someone mentioned above, that you are named on policy but when you drive abroad you are becoming a main driver so insurer might not be happy with that, it sounds bit bizzare.
They surely asked who is the main driver, and if it's normally your father who drives the car, then I can't see how you taking car abroad for few weeks could change that. But you might clarify this issue with insurer.

coylemj

CiniO wrote: »

Yes, you can drive all over EU if you want.

Insurance companies are well within their rights to restrict cover on named drivers to driving in IRL & GB only.

People are named on policies for good reasons like that they are under age or have learner permits, there is no blanket insurance cover on such drivers for the whole of the EU on every insurance policy.

ironclaw

On a minor note, once all above board with the insurance company, you'd want to be prepared if you are stopped by the local police. Its one thing to be stopped in a rental, but stopped abroad in a car you don't own with insurance not naming you as the main driver might cause a lengthy conversation with plenty of opportunity for misunderstanding if there is a language barrier. You have nothing to fear as you are totally above board, but its something I'd be prepared to explain with ample paperwork and phone numbers handy.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

bear1

Aren't I right in thinking that if the car is not in the OPs name then his father will need to provide a written statement stamped by a notary granting permission?

Fred Swanson

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bear1

Tbh OP I think renting a car would be your best bet but I imagine that would also be difficult considering your age.

emeldc

Have some cash with you. I've heard it can speed thing up considerably if the police are getting a bit thick.

On a more serious note would it not be handier just to rent a car. What if you crash or damage your dad's car. Would it be worth it?

wonski

emeldc wrote: »

Have some cash with you. I've heard it can speed thing up considerably if the police are getting a bit thick.

On a more serious note would it not be handier just to rent a car. What if you crash or damage your dad's car. Would it be worth it?

Fines are to be paid on the spot by foreign drivers, so yeah, having it would speed things up considerably;)

I actually want to see what the rules are. I always thought you can just drive whenever you want as long as the driver is insured (be it named or policy holder) and the car is road legal.

There is no need for green card in EU countries anymore iirc.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

CiniO

coylemj wrote: »

Insurance companies are well within their rights to restrict cover on named drivers to driving in IRL & GB only.

No, they are not.

Every policy issue within the EU, must be valid all over the EU (in relation to third party cover at least).
If Irish insurer is happy to provide cover for named driver to drive in Ireland, they can not deny this cover outside Ireland.
This is EU law which was written in every EU countrys law and all insurers must obey that.
And even Irish ones do - just because they have to.

People are named on policies for good reasons like that they are under age or have learner permits, there is no blanket insurance cover on such drivers for the whole of the EU on every insurance policy.

If someone is on learner permit, then he is not allowed to drive outside Ireland anyway.

But if named driver is fully licences, then he is listed on insurance cert which confirms that such person is permitted to drive, and this must apply all over EU.

CiniO

ironclaw wrote: »

On a minor note, once all above board with the insurance company, you'd want to be prepared if you are stopped by the local police. Its one thing to be stopped in a rental, but stopped abroad in a car you don't own with insurance not naming you as the main driver might cause a lengthy conversation with plenty of opportunity for misunderstanding if there is a language barrier. You have nothing to fear as you are totally above board, but its something I'd be prepared to explain with ample paperwork and phone numbers handy.

I wouldn't be worried about it at all.

Being stopped in car you don't own - what's the problem. You have VRC with you, and that's a proof that you are entitled to use the car (owner gave you this document).
You have insurance cert which lists your name as named driver - that's even more than needed.

Hence, that unlike Ireland, on the Continent, there's huge amount of foreign cars driving in every country.
Plenty of people drive cars which they don't own. Car might be owned by company someone works for, by bank, by family member, by friend, etc.
It's absolutely normal, and it's something every policeman on the continent is experiencing during roadside checks all the times.

Also in most EU counties there's no such thing as "named drivers on the policy" as open driving is normally a standard - so everyone can drive a car once this car has a valid policy. I would strongly doubt any policeman on the continent would even think that policies in Ireland could cover only certain people to drive.

Also EU regulations tell police to assume that foreign cars are insured and treat it's valid registration document and number plates as proof. Therefore most roadside checks on foreign vehicles, driver is not even asked for proof of insurance as it's automatically assumed car has valid insurance. Driving without insurance on the Continent is very uncommon, unlike Ireland, so there it's not normally assumed someone could be uninsured.

I've been stopped many many times on the continent in Irish cars, and I thing only once asked for proof of insurance. It was my wife's car and I was named driver. Policeman just had a 5 seconds look at the policy, and confirmed that reg number matched. That's all.

CiniO

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Green card is also in English so it won't help if policeman doesn't speak it.

No one is using green cards within EU anymore - waste of time IMO

CiniO

bear1 wrote: »

Aren't I right in thinking that if the car is not in the OPs name then his father will need to provide a written statement stamped by a notary granting permission?

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

There was a requirement in Vienna Convention on international traffic 1968 for permission from the owner, if car in international traffic is driver by non owner.
But....

There was never a need for this being confirmed by notary. Also it applied before EU. There's no need for it within EU.

cristialex12

cristialex12 wrote: »

What i mean is i am a named driver on my dads car and i want to leave the country with it for a few weeks

With or without your Dad? You need to speak to your insurance company. Is it worth the cost of taking a car abroad for a week?

esforum

Seems awful pricey to bring a car to Spain for the sake of a week, rental even with the under 25 add on would be cheaper