119 Car insurance

We got really good service from Direct Line Italia. They were even able to give us some support in English, even though the documentation was in Italian.

They will only insure you for a year, and you have to promise that you will register the car in Italy within that period. I have just started the registration and expect a long haul, but I love my van and could not bear to part with it!

Think I paid around 350 Euro.

If anyone is interested I will dig out the name and email contact of the person that speaks English. They also helped another friend of ours out here.

Tim and Sal
Bassano Del Grappa

I'm very interested. Please do give me the contact details.

Kirstin

The person I initially spoke to was Michela Reale. She was really fantastic and basically talked us through everything. Since then we have also dealt with Daniela Mazzone, again very good English.

I have contacted them both through the email [COLOR=Navy]Azzurra.Comelli@directline.it [/COLOR] with their name as the subject. I think the address is actually for the supervisor of their department or something.

Alternatively you can ring them on +39.02.21725550 and ask for them by name.

Hope you get it sorted! :)

Depending on how old you are, over fifty i think is the requirement Saga provide excellent cover for bringing a UK registered car to Italy! Highly recommended. Well worth the jokes made because you are using Saga!

Sorry not old enough. But became a year nearer on Monday.

Does anyone know the procedure for registering a car in Italy, where to go, what documents are required and how long it takes?

Hi Mara

We are currently in the process of registering our car. Many people say it is probably easier and cheaper to buy one here and sell your old one in the UK, but we love our ex AA van and use it as a camper, so we decided to register it anyway.

Main sticking point is the 'scheda technica'. Everyone in Italy has one for their vehicle. It is basically like a UK DVLA registration document, but it contains more technical information. The key piece of information missing from the UK document is the kW rating of the engine. All Italian taxes etc are based on this figure, so before you are able to register your car you will need track one of these down. We ended up paying 260 Euro to the company which imports all VW and Audis into Italy. They were able to access our vehicles original records and provide us with the necessary 'scheda technica'. Now the process is fairly straight forward. We just turn up at our local Automibile Club and present our documents. We are going to give it a go next week so I will let you know how we get on! I am sure it will prove expensive and time consuming, but what the hell!

:o

Thank you for that information and I would be very interested in how you get on with the registration.

:) :)

I recently acquired Car insurance from Direct Line via Daniela and she was incredibly helpful. As I was buying a second second hand car I did not want to pay too much although that seems to be unavoidable in Italy. the system rewards you for how many years you have been driving - with them!. I already had insurance over a couple of years with first Zurigo (rip-off) and then Milano (half the previous). When I asked Direct and Milano for quote on the 8 YO car I was buying I was quoted virtually identical prices. Except that Milano was offering me a huge (?) discount on account of the number of years driving I had had with them. In other words Milano said "you are level 10 and therefore the price is X", but their price was the same as Direct, who said "you are level 14 and the price is X". I can only assume that with Direct it will be cheaper over the long run. And their ability to discuss some of the finer points of insurance in English can not be underestimated. So thank you Tim (or Kirstin) for a very fine contact!

[QUOTE=timrose]Kirstin

The person I initially spoke to was Michela Reale. She was really fantastic and basically talked us through everything. Since then we have also dealt with Daniela Mazzone, again very good English.

I have contacted them both through the email [COLOR=Navy]Azzurra.Comelli@directline.it [/COLOR] with their name as the subject. I think the address is actually for the supervisor of their department or something.

Alternatively you can ring them on +39.02.21725550 and ask for them by name.

Hope you get it sorted! :)[/QUOTE]

I insured with Direct line. the quote was good (so I was told) and the service was first class.

ernie