Is my car going to ruin Christmas?
December 18, 2014 8:03 AM Subscribe
UK car. Have had to become Belgian resident, must register car but this takes weeks and my insurance runs out in a week and it's Christmas and I might be moving back in 3 months anyway and temporary insurance is absurdly expensive and aaarrrgh!
I am a UK citizen working in Belgium. I was originally told by my company to come here as a cross-border worker and this meant my car could remain registered in the UK. This was wrong; I have had to register as a resident, and I must now register my car in Belgium.
Transferring my car to a Belgian registration takes, from what I hear, around 2 weeks. My current insurance runs out next week, and everywhere is going to be closed over the Christmas period. I have looked into the costs of temporary insurance; getting a 4-week extension or a 4 week cover from a temporary cover company will cost at least 50% as much as a full 1 year cover - €400 or more (current place only offers full year and will charge 25% for cancelling). Also, I've pretty much decided this job is a dead end and I expect to be moving back to the UK for a new position within 3-4 months, at which point I'll have to re-import my car back to the UK, get the lights done etc.
Do I have any options which don't involve me being charged an absolute ton for something I'm just going to be reversing in a few months' time?
I am a UK citizen working in Belgium. I was originally told by my company to come here as a cross-border worker and this meant my car could remain registered in the UK. This was wrong; I have had to register as a resident, and I must now register my car in Belgium.
Transferring my car to a Belgian registration takes, from what I hear, around 2 weeks. My current insurance runs out next week, and everywhere is going to be closed over the Christmas period. I have looked into the costs of temporary insurance; getting a 4-week extension or a 4 week cover from a temporary cover company will cost at least 50% as much as a full 1 year cover - €400 or more (current place only offers full year and will charge 25% for cancelling). Also, I've pretty much decided this job is a dead end and I expect to be moving back to the UK for a new position within 3-4 months, at which point I'll have to re-import my car back to the UK, get the lights done etc.
Do I have any options which don't involve me being charged an absolute ton for something I'm just going to be reversing in a few months' time?
I'd renew the UK car insurance and take the car home with me over the holidays. Park it with family. Then I'd use public transport for the remaining few months.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:53 AM on December 18, 2014
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:53 AM on December 18, 2014
Response by poster: Oh yes, I kind of missed that part out. I'm working over the holidays (hooray) and won't be back in the UK until Jan 15 at the absolute earliest.
Current insurance quote would end up with me paying something like £350 for one month because of the 25% fee for cancellation. This is approximately the same as the bare minimum quote for 4 weeks cover from a temporary cover agency.
posted by fearnothing at 9:01 AM on December 18, 2014
Current insurance quote would end up with me paying something like £350 for one month because of the 25% fee for cancellation. This is approximately the same as the bare minimum quote for 4 weeks cover from a temporary cover agency.
posted by fearnothing at 9:01 AM on December 18, 2014
So renew your UK insurance, and keep it off the road in Belguim. Have it shipped back to the UK in January. You'll have continuous insurance and you won't register in Belguim at all.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:31 PM on December 18, 2014
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:31 PM on December 18, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
Can you find out how much refund you'd get if you were to renew your UK insurance as normal, and then cancel it after you didn't need it any more? I think they usually have a pro-rata refund rate (with an admin fee subtracted, naturally...) but I don't know if this is universal.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:32 AM on December 18, 2014