I might have to spend 6-8 months in Poland. Will I be fleeced for insurance?

Crock Rock

As the title says. My company has asked me and another person to pop over to Poland for 6 months or so. My partner is actually Czech but grew up in Poland, so she has family there. We'll pop over together and stay with her family for the time, it'll be good for her to see her family too.

It's a city near Lódz.

I'm looking at small ~1 Litre cars to use for my time there.

This is the issue, I'll be a foreigner in Poland with no driving experience there and arriving with a foreign licence. If insurance is anything to go by here, I'll have to do acrobatic acts to get insured as a new foreigner there. I have 10 years NCB here.

Has anyone any insight for me? Cheers.

bigboss1986

Crock Rock wrote: »

As the title says. My company has asked me and another person to pop over to Poland for 6 months or so. My partner is actually Czech but grew up in Poland, so she has family there. We'll pop over together and stay with her family for the time, it'll be good for her to see her family too.

It's a city near Lódz.

I'm looking at small ~1 Litre cars to use for my time there.

This is the issue, I'll be a foreigner in Poland with no driving experience there and arriving with a foreign licence. If insurance is anything to go by here, I'll have to do acrobatic acts to get insured as a new foreigner there. I have 10 years NCB here.

Has anyone any insight for me? Cheers.

I hope you are not staying in Zgierz as its Polish Chernobyl atm

Anyway in Poland car is insured not person so anyone can drive.You can buy car with 3rd party insurance (OC) and make sure has test.For little car 3rd party cost around 100-200euro even if you dont not have polish licence and no prove of driving.Fully comp would be more.
Only thing is law states you must exchange licence
to polish if you are going to live for more than 186days( 6 monts)Cops are pretty strict and you could be consider as having no licence on day 187.
You must have PESEL(pps nr) to get new licence,open bank account and get car insurance.

CiniO

Crock Rock wrote: »

As the title says. My company has asked me and another person to pop over to Poland for 6 months or so. My partner is actually Czech but grew up in Poland, so she has family there. We'll pop over together and stay with her family for the time, it'll be good for her to see her family too.

It's a city near L

I'm looking at small ~1 Litre cars to use for my time there.

This is the issue, I'll be a foreigner in Poland with no driving experience there and arriving with a foreign licence. If insurance is anything to go by here, I'll have to do acrobatic acts to get insured as a new foreigner there. I have 10 years NCB here.

Has anyone any insight for me? Cheers.

Are you looking at buying a car there and having it registered in your own name?

If so - forget about insurance trouble. It's not Ireland. Insurance is not a problem - just a formality.

Don't limit yourself to 1 litre car. Get whatever you'll like and can afford (unfortunately second hand cars are much more expensive in Poland then in Ireland).

In Poland insurance policy, while issued in car owner's name, is attached to the car, so once you buy the car, insurance policy will come with it so you can drive it straight away with no worries (assuming second hand car). After purchase you have 30 day to contact the insurer to have the policy on the car to be rewritten in your own name as new vehicle owner. In some cases they might ask you to pay extra premium (especially in case when previous owner had full NCB while you have none). This won't cost much though - in worst case I wouldn't expect more than €100-€200 extra to pay.
Alternatively you might ask your Irish insurer for a letter confirming Irish NCB and to have it provided to your Polish insurer to avail of your Irish NCB. Then very likely you won't have to pay anything extra considering you have 10 years NCB in Ireland. However it differs between insurers. Some might ask you for translation of your Irish NCB statement. Some might require exact wording f.e. they might want NCB statment showing list of all years you were covered in Ireland, all cars your policy covered through the years, type of cover, and list of all claims. Sometimes it might be hard to obtain such letter from some of Irish insurers.

Generally though don't worry about insurance. It's not a problem in Poland.
Even if you were to buy full annual policy, with your 10 years NCB from Ireland, depending on type of car you'll buy, you might need to pay between €80 and €250 for annual third party policy. (€80 for likes of 1 litre corsa, while €250 for likes of 5 litre Mustang. Probably about €120 for typical 1.8 or 2 litre car)
If you'll be looking for comprehensive, then price might be much higher.


I would be more worried about formalities. To be able to buy a car and have it registered in your own name, you'll probably need to apply for resident's card, register your address with town/city council there, and apply for PESEL number (equivalent of Irish PPS). After you have those, town/city council office will have your car registered in your name.


If you have any more questions - feel free to ask.

CiniO

bigboss1986 wrote: »

I hope you are not staying in Zgierz as its Polish Chernobyl atm

I've never been to Zgierz, but it can't be that bad, can it?

Anyway in Poland car is insured not person so anyone can drive.You can buy car with 3rd party insurance (OC) and make sure has test.For little car 3rd party cost around 100-200euro even if you dont not have polish licence and no prove of driving.Fully comp would be more.

Licence type (polish or EU/Irish/etc) make absolute no difference in Poland.

Only thing is law states you must exchange licence
to polish if you are going to live for more than 186days( 6 monts)Cops are pretty strict and you could be consider as having no licence on day 187.
You must have PESEL(pps nr) to get new licence,open bank account and get car insurance.

That is very mixed up.
Firstly there is no need to have the licence exchanged within 186 days, as EU law allows for EU issued licence to be used in any EU state until end of it's validity. There's no Polish law forcing to change like you're saying.
Secondly even if someone decides to exchange to Polish licence (I don't see a point for OP anyway) there's definitely no need to have bank account or car insurance to do it.

bigboss1986

CiniO wrote: »

I've never been to Zgierz, but it can't be that bad, can it?



Licence type (polish or EU/Irish/etc) make absolute no difference in Poland.


That is very mixed up.
Firstly there is no need to have the licence exchanged within 186 days, as EU law allows for EU issued licence to be used in any EU state until end of it's validity. There's no Polish law forcing to change like you're saying.
Secondly even if someone decides to exchange to Polish licence (I don't see a point for OP anyway) there's definitely no need to have bank account or car insurance to do it.

All I said you need PESEL for anything in Poland,not that you need bank account to change licence.Without PESEL you cant even take bill pay phone.
Regarding insurance mate of mine paid about 177e for 3rd party for BMW 745 2007 and wasnt happy with the price

ted1

Would the company not rent/lease you a car ?

Crock Rock

Thanks everyone for the insight, especially CiniO.

This is being pushed back and may not be until spring or summer next year.

It's a real eye-opener how easy it is in other normal countries to get insurance and you don't have to perform circus acrobatic acts to get insured in Poland.

galwaytt

ted1 wrote: »

Would the company not rent/lease you a car ?

...this is what I'd be doing: and if work, then it's an expense they can claim for the job.

Carslover1

There is absolutely no hassle with insurance in Poland. An insurance in Poland is assigned to a car so you can look around for a car with valid insurance policy (but a seller has right to cancel his insurance after transaction so you should agree this upfront).

If you want to buy your own insurance, your NCB from Ireland will be respected - just take a proof/certificate from Ireland and then you’re entitled to discounted premium as in Ireland. Insurance in Poland is much cheaper than in Ireland (around 300-500 eur per year). I can recommend PZU (the largest Polish insurer so far) and AXA

CiniO

Carslover1 wrote: »

There is absolutely no hassle with insurance in Poland. An insurance in Poland is assigned to a car so you can look around for a car with valid insurance policy (but a seller has right to cancel his insurance after transaction so you should agree this upfront).

It might sound like technicality, but in fact normally seller has no right to cancel his insurance.
Only if buyer agrees to that, and only if it's noted on car buy-sell contract - only then seller can cancel insurance within 30 days of sale.
Otherwise, insurance is transferred into new owner, and all new owner has to do is to contact the insurer to update policy details with his own name, and possibly pay little extra if new owner has lower NCB than previous owner.