don't put him off, we need him to spend all of his his UK earnings over here rather than take it back to Euroland and buy more clogs and hashish.
UK & EU insurance
- Thread starter grantmac
- Start date
don't put him off, we need him to spend all of his his UK earnings over here rather than take it back to Euroland and buy more clogs and hashish.
to clarify.....
I live in NL and will continue to do so. I have worked in London since 2017 and will continue now for the next 5-7 years or until I retire. The home base is NL so I have an NL license for my cars & bikes there. I am not moving to UK but will continue my weekly commute. I have a UK passport & UK address. If NL license poses no issues for insurance and I can get suitable financing with some down payment that would be my favored path for many reasons including tax and company payments (not going into that one)
Fully loaded GSA at the mo is around 28K including luggage.
I live in NL and will continue to do so. I have worked in London since 2017 and will continue now for the next 5-7 years or until I retire. The home base is NL so I have an NL license for my cars & bikes there. I am not moving to UK but will continue my weekly commute. I have a UK passport & UK address. If NL license poses no issues for insurance and I can get suitable financing with some down payment that would be my favored path for many reasons including tax and company payments (not going into that one)
Fully loaded GSA at the mo is around 28K including luggage.
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One things for sure, there are enough ‘foreigners’ living and working in London, many driving around in or on UK registered vehicles, so it can’t be impossible…. They can’t all be pikeys, surely?
Without sounding arrogant or condescending or over simplifying it but optimum situation would be:
1. Find a dealer: Mr Dealer I want a 1300 GSA fully loaded
2. That will be 28K sir
3. Fine can you provide financing for that?
4. Yes sir, down payment?
5. Yes 6K and after 5 years i want to own the machine
7. Can we do the insurance for you sir?
8. Yes please
9. Monthly costs will be XXX pounds per c.m.
10. Thanks when can I pick up the bike?
all tongue in cheek but it would be nice if it were that simple......
1. Find a dealer: Mr Dealer I want a 1300 GSA fully loaded
2. That will be 28K sir
3. Fine can you provide financing for that?
4. Yes sir, down payment?
5. Yes 6K and after 5 years i want to own the machine
7. Can we do the insurance for you sir?
8. Yes please
9. Monthly costs will be XXX pounds per c.m.
10. Thanks when can I pick up the bike?
all tongue in cheek but it would be nice if it were that simple......
I know it cant be done on an online insurance form, there is no tick box for this situation.
It might be a telephone call and speak with a human is the only way.
It might be a telephone call and speak with a human is the only way.
OK, that’s now becoming a lot clearer.
You are commuting into London (say Monday to Friday) and residing here (say, Monday to Friday) with a ‘permanent’ UK address. Keep your Dutch licence. Buy the English registered bike and insure it here, in the UK, using your ‘permanent’ UK address. It might well be wise to inform the insurer of your unique situation, as it could be regarded as a material fact. No doubt the average call centre chimp won’t be able to cope.
Now get on and get quotes for a £28,000 motorcycle in a London post code….. who knows, you might be the lucky one.
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Nope, that's the whole point. The cost of a new fully loaded GSA 1300 in NL is just shy of EURO 40K!!!
The cost of same bike in UK is just shy of GBP 29K. Even with the exchange rate that's a fair chunck of change due to the NL luxury tax (BPM) on all motor vehicles be they 2 or 4.
Bingo. Got it in One!
I guess many of those vehicles will be leased so Lex or similar will insure it and be the registered keeper. Have you explored leasing @grantmac ?
leasing as opposed to Lease Purchase? Actually i want to own the bike after say 5 years of monthly payments plus a down payment
I think you can without issues provided you have an UK address to put on the paperwork.
As one vaguely amusing aside….
I was in London W1, applying for a residents’ parking permit, which had to be done in person. This required:
A V5 in my name, showing my W1 address.
A valid certificate of insurance, for the vehicle.
That the vehicle be taxed.
Two separate proofs of my W1 address, for instance a utility bill in my name and a bank statement or voter registration.
Once we had got over the chimp’s problem that the period of my insurance, differed from that of the tax (you can see the level of chimp that Westminster Council employs) it was plain sailing….. less so for the poor fellow at the next desk.
He was German.
His car, was Swiss registered.
They do not have a British V5 in Switzerland, much to the chimp’s surprise.
His insurance certificate was in German, equally a surprise to the chimp.
He had no utility bill, as the landlord / his employer paid it. Very suspicious, to the chimp.
His bank account was in Switzerland or Germany (I forget which) which fried the chimp’s brains.
The poor fellow, whose English was very good, asked me to help him as the chimp was refusing to understand anything and was heading rapidly to ‘Computer says no’ territory. A happy half hour then passed with me and the Hun laughing a lot. We got there in the end.
Happy days.
I was in London W1, applying for a residents’ parking permit, which had to be done in person. This required:
A V5 in my name, showing my W1 address.
A valid certificate of insurance, for the vehicle.
That the vehicle be taxed.
Two separate proofs of my W1 address, for instance a utility bill in my name and a bank statement or voter registration.
Once we had got over the chimp’s problem that the period of my insurance, differed from that of the tax (you can see the level of chimp that Westminster Council employs) it was plain sailing….. less so for the poor fellow at the next desk.
He was German.
His car, was Swiss registered.
They do not have a British V5 in Switzerland, much to the chimp’s surprise.
His insurance certificate was in German, equally a surprise to the chimp.
He had no utility bill, as the landlord / his employer paid it. Very suspicious, to the chimp.
His bank account was in Switzerland or Germany (I forget which) which fried the chimp’s brains.
The poor fellow, whose English was very good, asked me to help him as the chimp was refusing to understand anything and was heading rapidly to ‘Computer says no’ territory. A happy half hour then passed with me and the Hun laughing a lot. We got there in the end.
Happy days.
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Yes, just wondered if you had explored the numbers for a lease.
I guess from the finance point of view, a lot depends on whether you want to pay the whole sum off in the 5 years or have the option of paying the balloon payment or handing the bike back to BMW. Have you explored to see what BMW think the bike might be worth after 5 years? Is 5 years an option with PCP?
I took the pay it all in 4 years option when I bought my R1200RS with BMW Finance. I knew it was a keeper and still have it over 8 years later. I paid less interest over 4 years compared to PCP as my monthly payments were more.
My car was bought on a PCP as Audi had incentives to do this as I bought an end of line model. I paid the balloon payment to keep the car, and won on that deal as the car was worth over £4k more than the balloon due to the way the UK used car market skewed between 2018 and 2022.
Of course, if you want a loan to pay for the whole amount in 5 years you can go to the open market for a personal loan rather than tying it to HP/PCP on the bike. This gives flexibility if you decide to change the bike within 5 years as you don't have to pay off the loan straight away.
Another factor, do you have a UK credit rating? You have an address so presumably utility accounts and hopefully a UK bank account and well used sterling credit card paid off each month to go with the UK passport.
Confirmed by https://www.gov.uk/driving-nongb-licence. Seems like the insurance will be the deciding factor.
Things might have changed in the last 18 years, but I originally had my Italian car over for a while in London.
Managed to have it on Camden's residents permit as well. But it was for 6 or 12 months top (the legal limit you can have the car over).
I hid it all over the place (mostly at a friend's in Whitechapel) after than and then gave it away to someone on here
Council chimps at the time were a bit better than today's standards.
You can drive in the UK for 3 years on an EU licence, depending. Useful website here
Driving in Great Britain on a non-GB licence
Use this tool to see if you can drive in Great Britain with your non-GB driving licence
License as in driving license.
It is not. The link above your post refers to driving license, not license plate.
Not sure if there is some special options for Irish vehicles though.
Nope. You can use a foreign, recognised, license for the timeframes (where there are any) indicated in Berin's link above.
I used my Italian license - as a UK resident - for a number of years (bikes and car UK registered) before converting it to UK license.
I moved to London in 2007, I think the license was converted around 2013 and I did it after the insurer's suggestion that it could help lower the insurance premiums. It did not.
In hindsight, I would have converted it sooner tbh.
It is not. The link above your post refers to driving license, not license plate.
Not sure if there is some special options for Irish vehicles though.
Nope. You can use a foreign, recognised, license for the timeframes (where there are any) indicated in Berin's link above.
I used my Italian license - as a UK resident - for a number of years (bikes and car UK registered) before converting it to UK license.
I moved to London in 2007, I think the license was converted around 2013 and I did it after the insurer's suggestion that it could help lower the insurance premiums. It did not.
In hindsight, I would have converted it sooner tbh.
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Not correct
Many foreign nationals have homes in the UK but are non-resident as they spend more time elsewhere. Many will have a car at their UK home that was bought here and registered at the UK address. They will most likely have a licence issued by the nation where they are registered for income tax.
One of my friends was, for many years, registered in Dublin as his main residence. He had an Irish licence and Irish passport and he worked for a multi-national company so was paid in Euros. He was born in Scotland and had a house close to Leeds near one of the businesses he oversaw. He had a UK registered car at that address with UK insurance, but his KTM was registered in Dublin with Irish insurance.
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