donna de amusa's activity

Most of the ex-pats living on the Ionian coast have heard of, if not used Billy Cowie.  Personally he was an absolute Godsend for us and for a lot of our neighbours.He is the most honest, hardworking, reliable gentleman we know and would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending him to anyone.  We recommended him to someone moving to Portugal and he now has the same views as we do.  

For the last two years we have been arranging for someone to drive our car back to the UK from Calabria, get the MOT done, and then drive it back again to Calabria.   Yes, it's the biggest pain in the backside but there is no other way that we know of remaining on the right side of the law and the insurance company.Heaven forbid we're involved in an accident involving a third party I cannot even begin to imagine the consequences of falling foul of Italian law and not having adequate insurance cover.  I'm just not brave enough to take the risk.I still do not understand why Italian insurance companies won't insure other EU countries vehicles.  If anyone has the answer, or believes that this arduous process is unnecessary, and still remain within the confines of insurance company regulation please let me know.Thanks

Thanks.  Made interesting reading.  The thing that bugs me is that the certificate of habitation is issued without independent utility supplies being fed to each apt on a development.   WHY? Surely logic would dictate that before signing off a dwelling unit the building regulators under EU law & health and safety provisions check to ensure that adequate and independent gas/water/electric supplies are run into the property. It's quite staggering that a developer can hold the strings over the utilities and withdraw the services upon a whim.  This has happened on several occasions and caused the maximum disruption to occupants especially in July and August. I know of renters who have arrived at their holiday home for their annual well deserved break only to find there is no electricity or water.   Chaos ensues, the renters have to find somewhere else in a hurry and the landlord has to return their fee.   Bad feeling and tempers frayaing all round just deters holidaymakers from returning.    

Badger is right - we've been using Stuart Collins simply because there is no limit on the length of time during the year that the car can be out of the UK.   The best Saga could offer was a 90 day period, and that was absolutely exhorbitant. Most of the other property owning Brits that I know in Calabria with their UK registered cars also use Stuart Collins.      

I should have made clear that my post was in response to one under the topic Hello From Canada.  The posters user name is "Learning by Error" .  My mistake was starting a new topic instead of responding directly to the post.    Sorry ...  

My advice (for what it's worth) would be to take an intensive language course regardless of which ever city  you chose to live in.   We found it quite quite challenging when we first moved over.   Although it is true to say that its' easier to learn the language while resident, it will help if you have a foundation before you enter the business world. Good luck.

Many thanks for your input.  At 61 cents a litre there really is nothing more to think about !!

Thanks for your comments everyone.   Unfortunately as we're not residents we're not entitled to cheaper electricity rates.   Although the flat is very small,  we're currently dependent on gas for cooking and hot water and electricity for heating. We will have the choice next year to switch to LPG, and although more convenient, if anyone knows anying about running costs against bottled gas I'd be pleased to hear your views, particularly as we only spend approximately 6 months of the year there and don't let it.

Sorry, I should have said it is actually LPG which will be fed from 2 tanks on our development.   Has anyone had experience of using this ?

Thanks to everyone for this very useful piece of information.    This will be our first winter in our small 2 bed apt. so I'd welcome any info on how much we can expect to pay for our usage per month.   We'll be using small electrical fan heaters but if we then find that we're paying more than we would for central heating in UK during the coldest quarter we might have to re-think where we spend our winters.  For health reasons we have decided not to apply for residency as having recently retired we don't want to cut ourselves off from the NHS.  I'm almost certain (but would appreciate confirmation from the experts) that as non-residents, even though we have our EHIC, we would have to pay for a doctors consultation should it be necessary.          I'd appreciate any advice on utilities and medical costs. Thanks