Board logo

Help needed keeping my cars UK registered
votanxerxes - 12/11/23 at 02:28 PM

Looking for someone who can help me keeping my kit cars registered in the UK while I am in Germany... already checked with DVLA for options and possible issues. A landlord renting out a micro spot would be easiest but any other ideas vi U2U are welcome, too.

scudderfish - 12/11/23 at 03:02 PM

What do you need to achieve?

votanxerxes - 12/11/23 at 05:53 PM

I do own some bike engined cars like a Fury and a locust.... and these are simply impoossible to register in Germany. And to keep them legally registered as rhd UK cars, I do need to have a theoretical storage address and be reachable by mail under that address with some sort of landlord contract. A friend helped me in the past with this... but he is out of the UK for good now.

coyoteboy - 13/11/23 at 12:33 PM

Can you not use your existing UK address international redirect? It's only a couple of hundred a year and the sender has no idea.
As someone living in NL with cars in NL and UK, the biggest headache is the driving license. edit - now I understand, I mis-read the first time. If I was in the UK more than once a month, I'd offer a space on my drive.

[Edited on 13/11/2023 by coyoteboy]

Half Finished - 13/11/23 at 02:41 PM

Sorry I can't help on the garage side. I had a question though regarding the insurance, have you found a company to cover a car in Europe on UK plates?

coyoteboy - 13/11/23 at 02:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Half Finished
Sorry I can't help on the garage side. I had a question though regarding the insurance, have you found a company to cover a car in Europe on UK plates?


I have not, I tried. In fact most say that if you are not officially resident in the UK your insurance is void.

Half Finished - 13/11/23 at 04:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by Half Finished
Sorry I can't help on the garage side. I had a question though regarding the insurance, have you found a company to cover a car in Europe on UK plates?


I have not, I tried. In fact most say that if you are not officially resident in the UK your insurance is void.


That's a problem I hadn't even considered. What's the alternative? Getting it imported and trying to find insurance in europe?

coyoteboy - 13/11/23 at 04:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Half Finished
That's a problem I hadn't even considered. What's the alternative? Getting it imported and trying to find insurance in europe?


I exported my tin top to NL where they were never imported officially, I had to get a c of c from Nissan and it went thru as normal (1k in fees). If it was a kit car I could do an extended registration test like an IVA.

Leaving my other tin top in the UK meant I had to find an insurance company that just didn't say anything on the policy documents about driver residence, and you only get those when you sign up. It's genuinely stupid. I live there, I have my family here. I have to insure a car in both places, no one wants to insure you here if you dont live here, and what's worse is that you have to swap your UK license to a Dutch one after 6 months, which makes everything even more difficult because then when you call back up for your next year's UK insurance, you have to give them dutch/german license details and they freak out. In NL though, car insurance is per car - my insurance would be the same cost as yours in the same location, and you can borrow anyone's car so long as someone has a policy on it.

Brexit has made the whole thing even more difficult too, because most of the authorities are not really sure how they handle it.

[Edited on 13/11/2023 by coyoteboy]

Half Finished - 13/11/23 at 07:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by Half Finished
That's a problem I hadn't even considered. What's the alternative? Getting it imported and trying to find insurance in europe?


I exported my tin top to NL where they were never imported officially, I had to get a c of c from Nissan and it went thru as normal (1k in fees). If it was a kit car I could do an extended registration test like an IVA.

Leaving my other tin top in the UK meant I had to find an insurance company that just didn't say anything on the policy documents about driver residence, and you only get those when you sign up. It's genuinely stupid. I live there, I have my family here. I have to insure a car in both places, no one wants to insure you here if you dont live here, and what's worse is that you have to swap your UK license to a Dutch one after 6 months, which makes everything even more difficult because then when you call back up for your next year's UK insurance, you have to give them dutch/german license details and they freak out. In NL though, car insurance is per car - my insurance would be the same cost as yours in the same location, and you can borrow anyone's car so long as someone has a policy on it.

Brexit has made the whole thing even more difficult too, because most of the authorities are not really sure how they handle it.

[Edited on 13/11/2023 by coyoteboy]


Both routes seem equally impossible right now. I've still got a UK license but in the next year I need to exchange it for a Hungarian one.
I originally thought I could get a UK policy and drive for up to 180 days in each year.
I imagine I won't find too many insurers in Europe that will cover a Haynes Roadster either.

I need to IVA my project next year hopefully. Do you recommended any particular insurers?

coyoteboy - 13/11/23 at 07:11 PM

I've seen two locosts on the road in Holland, so maybe it's possible. Also look at import to a helpful country (Spain) then taking it into your final country as an EU car which incurs much less faff.

I drove my UK insured car in Holland for 6 months as you have suggested, then found out they recently changed the game and it's only 2 weeks 🤣 but it'd been there for 4 months and I was bringing it back anyway so I didn't have any fun with the law.

[Edited on 13/11/2023 by coyoteboy]

gremlin1234 - 13/11/23 at 08:08 PM

I think I would ask
https://www.kitcarcollection.com/kitcarsite/
they are NL based, and import uk kit cars.

also remember imported vehicles to UK over 10 years* old are exempt from uk iva, so there may be a similar exception in de or nl.

* you may need to prove they were as their current form, and completely road legal in the country of origin at that date.