11101 Hi I am Sandy from the uk

I need some imformation on driving in Italy and Europe? My son aged 21 who is an Oplympian Cyclist, he will be based in Italy for over nine months and return to the UK for about three months, over these next few seasons. He has four years no claims, and owns a golf car.
He wants to drive from the UK to Italy and use his car whilst in Italy to get to airports and racers. He will be turning a pro cyclist in Jan 2009.
We need an english speaking person, to help us on how to go about this.
1Q. How does he get fully comp Italian car insurance? who's the best?
2Q Can he be insured on his Uk car plates. If not how does he change is UK car plates and get his car registered in Italy with Italian plates? Ben will be based in Tuscany
3Q And will he be able to drive back home for a few months no more than (90 days ) to the UK on an Italian car Insurance.
He has an Italian address, and will be paying his Tax earnings under Swiss Law.
Regards Sandy (MUM)

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 12/04/2008 - 13:54

Hi and welcome,

I have been living in Italy full time for over 2 years and still drive my UK registered car. I'm insured with Italsure, who are a very inexpensive insurance firm compared with most of the others for foreign driving. It is worth ringing the guy at Italksure as he will talk you through the quote advising you how to reduce it if poss, something you cannot really do on line. This insurance can be fully comp and will allow your son to drive in Italy and the UK as with any normal insurance, returning as and when. You will even get the little insurance window display ticket necessary in Italy

Hope this helps and best of luck with your sons adventure!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 12/05/2008 - 01:48

Welcome to the forum!

It is notoriously difficult, if not impossible for a driver under 25 to get fully comp insurance with an Italian insurance company. Very few older drivers have fully comp as the premium is so horrendous. Where it is possible for a 21yo the premium for fully comp would require a lottery win as it would be enormous! In view of that I would only try companies such as Italsure, as already suggested, who are UK based and see what they advise.

If keeping UK plates the car would need to keep up with MOT's (in the UK) and UK road tax etc - there have been lots of posts on this so worth a search. If I remember correctly from previous posts, I don't think an Italian insurance coy will insure a UK plated car.

To change to Italian plates is not easy and again can be expensive, I think you need to be resident but may be wrong. Again worth a search as this has been covered and the process does seem to vary depending upon where you are based. So, as you will soon discover with Italy there is never one simple answer to anything!

Good luck with this and your son's training etc.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 12/05/2008 - 02:43

[quote=swifty;104726]1Q. How does he get fully comp Italian car insurance? who's the best?
2Q Can he be insured on his Uk car plates. If not how does he change is UK car plates and get his car registered in Italy with Italian plates? Ben will be based in Tuscany
3Q And will he be able to drive back home for a few months no more than (90 days ) to the UK on an Italian car Insurance.
He has an Italian address, and will be paying his Tax earnings under Swiss Law.
Regards Sandy (MUM)[/quote]
Just a note to say I concur with the advice given above.

I don't think your son's tax status has any bearing on this. The fact which is important is that he will be in Italy for much more than the European cover offered by standard UK automobile insurance, so you're correct to think that he will need a different type of cover.

Your son definitely does [I]not[/I] want to try to change his car's registration to Italian: that's a guaranteed route to serious headaches. Nor does he want to try to get insurance – not even Third Party – from an Italian insurance company: the rates are outrageously high compared to those of UK insurers. I can't endorse Italsure since I've not used them, but the consensus on the forum seems to be positive.

Since you say your son is going to be spending blocks of several months alternately in Italy and Britain, I assume it would be feasible for him to do that move by car and so have a vehicle in both places. This would make it much easier for him to keep his car's MOT and Road tax valid, thus clearing a hurdle which prevents most of us normally resident in Italy from getting insurance from a UK company.

Also, if he has the car here for nine months at a time and then drives it back to Britain for a few months, my understanding is that he will not fall foul of the Italian laws on how long one is allowed to drive a foreign-registered car here. My recollection is that the law says he would only be able to drive his car here for a year on UK plates before he should re-register it in Italy. From all I've heard, the law is not strenuously enforced, but it's best not to tempt fate, particularly if there is a way to comply with the law that also makes life easier in other ways.

Although the drive is a fairly long one, especially if you're alone, it sounds like he won't be doing it often and I do think it would be cheaper and a whole lot less hassle than any of the alternatives ways of sorting out him having a car while he's in Italy.

Al

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 12/05/2008 - 03:01

Hi Sandy and welcome. I also heard that it is possible to drive a foreign car in Italy for a year before you are required to register in Italy. It would be better to leave things as they are but check on the insurance cover.
Best wishes,