3554 English MOT in Italy?

Sarah, are you living here permanently ? if so, you will have to re register the car in Italy, this should be relatively painless as it's Italian, but is likely to cost you a couple of hundred Euro's, you would then pay tax in Italy and your car would be subject to the revisione, (MOT) every 2 years, if you search the forums using the button above, you will find many threads dealing with Registration, ownership etc., Good Luck.

Hi Sarah,

We had the same problem and looked into the idea of registering our Peugeot in Italy but decided because of the need for things like type approval documents and the time required to get these, that the easier option was to buy a car over here. Our old car is now having a new lease of life back in the UK with other members of the family.

Gill

[url]www.cascina-aie.com[/url]

I came over with my car last month and will do the same as Gill rather than re-register my old banger. Do be careful your tax is still valid when you re-enter the UK as they apparently look out for that, and you'd be an easy target.

Had my first embarassment yesterday when I pulled out onto the wrong side. The woman in the car coming the other way was creasing herself laughing as I waved my swerving apologies.

Gotta watch which side of the road you drive on!!

Here is a Serious Point though - if you are driving rhd in Italy, the passenger must be very careful not to "wave arms about", because other motorists assume passenger is driver, and can be forgiven for misunderstanding gestures from the passenger, which - if they were from the driver - would mean "please, cut in front of me"!

I've left a bit of rubber on the roads in these situations.....

Yep, been there and got the Tee shirt. Also not a good idea if you're the passenger of a rhd to gaze out of the window for too long, as the other drivers can't work out why you're not looking at the road and panic!!

Gill

[url]www.cascina-aie.com[/url]

We drove over to Abruzo at half term and I so loved driving my big old comfy car out there I was tempted to leave it there!

I found it much easier to drive than the hire cars and only drove on the wrong side of the road once ( no cars coming the other way and it was on that dirt track road to Sambuccetto on our way to Castorama!).

We did attract some strange looks, especially as my son was usually in the passenger seat, and the toll booths meant I couldn't go out alone but other than that no problems.

Oh I forgot the main problem which was the lecherous italians who, when there was a traffic hold up had you trapped as they were now "up close and personal" and insisted on driving alongside trying to engage your "ahem" attention!

Hi Can I also ask howyou would gewt on insurance cover wise taking your English car to Italy?

Sue

[QUOTE=jackie C] and the toll booths meant I couldn't go out alone but other than that no problems.[/QUOTE]

I'm sorry but I don't quite understand that point, don't you just get out of the car to get the ticket and pay?

Sue, as for insurance, I'm only covered 3rd party on my existing UK car insurance, but at least there was no additional cost.There is a limit of 364 days to the period of cover.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I considered registering my car in Italy (exporting it) but every book I read basically said 'don't even consider it as the level of bureaucracy/time involved is just bonkers, even by Italian standards'. Which put me off! And I'm probably only going to stay out here for another year so it wouldn't really be worth it. Was hoping for a 'if you go to an Italian garage and say a special phrase then they'll carry out an equivalant to an MOT which is valid for the UK' but seems not. Back to UK then!
Thanks for the good tip re needing a valid tax disc when going back Sue - as I'm going to Bordeaux at the end of the month (not quite back to the UK but near enough) I was considering sorting out tax either before or afterwards (when disc would have just expired) but will get it sorted before now. Good tip!

As for motorways tolls, I've become adept at the 'pull up, handbrake on, gear in neutral, window down, seatbelt off, throw self across car and lean far out of window to grab ticket/pay and then do the whole process in reverse' technique - if there were Olympics in such sports then I'd make the medals at least after lots of practice. My mum however (who lives in France) just gets out of the car and walks around, probably simpler!

And re Italian 'flirting' on roads, to put it nicely, it can be annoying being a left hand driver when overtaking lorries as they can a nice view down your top and lots of hooting, flashing ensues. Thought for ages I was doing something wrong - very alarming when you're not expecting it!

Sx

[quote=SarahB].....Thanks for the good tip re needing a valid tax disc when going back Sue - as I'm going to Bordeaux at the end of the month (not quite back to the UK but near enough) I was considering sorting out tax either before or afterwards (when disc would have just expired) but will get it sorted before now. Good tip!.....[/quote]

[LEFT]I understand that one can now get car tax on-line......not sure on teh rules & regs (or if it can be sent to an overseas address) but it might be worth looking into..[/LEFT]

When I took my car back to sell it, they picked me up straight out of the tunnel. But when I explained that I was going to take it straight to the garage to MOT and sell it, they let me carry on. It was 3 years ago though, so don't tell them I said it was OK:D

If my memoryt serve me correctly, it [b]used[/b] to the case that if you could prove you we're on your way to an MOT, then one was (ahem!) officially allowed to get away with it; also if your disk was in teh post to get your licence plates changed (doesn't [i]everyone[/i] have a private plates?!?)

Now the SORN thing has come in, that possiblity's been removed.....but only if you get caught ;)

For information, the URL for renewing your tax online is;

[url]www.direct.gov.uk/taxdisc[/url]

They can only do it for people whose details have not recently changed. That's a whole other issue as to how I'm going to notify them I'm now out in Italy for a bit. How do travellers and itinerant contractors etc. manage? You're meant to send off your documents if you change address, but this is a somewhat impractical requirement in many instances, and I'd be loathe to wander around Europe without my documents or trust the DVLA or Italian postal service to get my documents back quickly.