[lombardia2007]

liketheroman:Well actually yes. EU directive 83/182 is specifically concerned with taxes and no other matter. Interestingly on this one you fall into the juridiction trap. Once your six months are up, how do you get taxed, the car is not registered in the new country, it is not its home, it is not always there. Additionally 1983 was a long time ago and a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, there are at least a dozen directives on the subject.

I got the info from the bbc website:

"The law in question is directive 83/182 of 1983, which says that a person resident in one EU country can keep a car for up to six months in another EU country before having to pay that country's car taxes."

from this news report: BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Greece accused of illegal car seizures

I did a little bit of research and it's a general directive dealing with taxes, which still applies, despite being passed in 1983.

liketheroman: Please provide evidence of Brits in Spain and Poles being the worst offenders and details of any convictions please.

Well that depends on what you call evidence. I am going off what I have read online by ordinary people, who didn't take photographs for 'evidence', but I trust that what they say was true, and I have also seen many Polish vehicles in the UK, which have been there for at least 6 months.

For example, many people using UK registered vehicles in the South East of Spain, with UK tax discs mostly out of date, some upto 5 years old, and people knowing they don't have insurance or MOT, with the vehicles very likely being unroadworthy and dangerous.

And someone breaking the law, and being caught for it (and therefore convicted) are totally separate things - the people in question of breaking the law were not caught and therefore not convicted.

liketheroman: Yet again, insurance. If your insurer writes you a policy then they are bound by the terms, its that simple.

To be pedantic, they could write that by taking out this policy you automatically become king or queen of England: it doesn't make it true though as the law overrides whatever a private company tells you.

liketheroman: I am in the business of Expat insurance and I would crazy to sell duff policies plus contravening my regulation status.

That's good that you are doing things correctly, but many others, for example Direct Line Spain, have not, and I would bet are still not.

liketheroman: You breaking the law or not is another matter.

You may be inclined to pay out on an illegal vehicle, but many insurance companies will not, despite whether they sold you the policy saying everything would be ok (sales targets, sales representatives not knowing the law, etc)

I am also not sure why you would describe 'foreign' policies as being more expensive, sometimes they are and sometimes not.

Well, I'd say in 99% of cases they are, especially in somewhere like Italy. For example, my car is about £300 a year in the UK, and I can say with certainty that no-one else would give me that quote on a UK registered car in Italy. For example, Stuart Collins in the UK quoted around £650 when I asked them for a quote.

liketheroman: Whereas your suggestion that it would save you money to your insurance company is nuts, that does invalidate a policy.

I'm not sure what you mean here, maybe you could reiterate this sentence?

liketheroman: I never know why this area of debate on rather a dry subject causes such feelings. If you are not happy with doing something in a particular way, dont do it, no one wants to convince you.

There are no particular feelings associated with this, I just think it's important people have the facts to hand so that they know if they're breaking the law, as many people genuinely do not know it seems, and others do know and choose to break the law, but either way, correct knowledge is a good thing, and misinformation is not good.


By the way, your original answer on page 1 of this thread was technically correct, but fails to take into account that many people have not been paid out following a claim, despite being 'insured' or not, as they were not legal - i.e. didn't have UK MOT and UK road tax, thus invalidating the insurance.

gradese: if I leave it on UK plates, which would be the easiest thing to do, I'll still have to go back to the UK to mot it because otherwise I won't be able to renew the road tax. Or am I missing something?

liketheroman: there are people who dont bother because they never take them to the UK, insurers will insure you just the same as long as you keep the car maintained

You should have also pointed out that after 12 months out of the UK ("they never take them to the UK"), they are legally obliged to Permanently Export the vehicle from the UK, otherwise they are breaking the law too, and I just want to make sure people living as expats in Europe know what they're legal obligations are.