When is an import not an import?

[PeterCrespin]

Due to covid I have a grandson I’ve missed my four grandchildren that I have seen and a fifth I’ve never seen. I lost a cousin in Belgium without being able to attend his funeral and haven’t seen half a dozen otgers in Belgium and my kids and sisters in the UK.

In otger words, I’m seriously overdue some family catch-ups and a couple of 2-3 week visits per annum won’t suffice. I think several months or more may be on the cards for this year and next. Which raises the question of transport. Renting a car for that length of time would be expensive and I’d sooner take one of my daily drivers over.

The way it works in Maryland is you pay to register cars two years at a time, so my car would be road legal in its country of origin the whole time it was overseas. I believe if I land in the UK I can run on my US registration for 6 months, but for large parts of that time I would be in Belgium, France, Germany etc.

Does the UK six month clock stop/start each time I leave and re-enter? Would I need to do the same kind of thing in each EU country? If I stored it between trips would that stop the clock?

Basically, how would someone of ‘no fixed abode’ tour Europe for ever six months or more without having to register in countrys visited?

[christopher storey]

Peter : I would be a little surprised if it would not be cheaper for you to buy/ lease a car here in the UK and then sell it again when you have finished your tour(s) than to transport your US car both ways ; on the other hand as a UK non-resident it would probably be easier to insure your US car for UK/EU use

[PeterCrespin]

You’re right Chris but I didn’t actually say I’d ship it back… Maybe an ever-moving target would be hard to catch? After a year or two my $2,500 Vanden Plas wouldn’t owe me a penny and might do as a parts car or disposal. I did almost buy a UK X-Type estate a few weeks ago.

I just recall living near RAF Mildenhall and Lakenheath and being slightly jealous of Americans running around East Anglia on ‘camera-proof’ US registrations.

[Durango2k]

If you happen to come along northern germany drop me a line in advance…
(Felix is now 18, so I put him in Susanne‘s 1990 MX5. He loves that small fun car a lot).

Carsten

[288gto]

Basically, how would someone of ‘no fixed abode’ tour Europe for ever six months or more without having to register in countrys visited?

Hitchhike?

I'm sure there are some truck drivers out there keen to share their lonely nights on the open road with you Peter.

[1954Etype]

Having spent more than one night with him in his leather shorts and burping (in tune) all night to ‘she’ll be coming round the mountain’ I can assure you, Simon, it isn’t.

[grb90]

Could you not use a UK or EU based family member to insure a vehicle and put you on as a named driver...
Be that your own car or a cheap purchase for the duration? Would that then give you a fixed point of contact/base from which you are travelling.? Then check if an American driving licence covers you in the UK / EU... Speculative thinking on my part..?!

[christopher storey]

Guy : we have this problem fairly regularly in our touring club when we have tried to lend cars to overseas members . It is very difficult indeed to insure a non-hire car for an overseas resident to drive in the UK . Don't ask me why this is, because I don't understand it !

[288gto]

Hi Peter, do you still hold British citizenship?

[Durango2k]

Guy : we have this problem fairly regularly in our touring club when we have tried to lend cars to overseas members . It is very difficult indeed to insure a non-hire car for an overseas resident to drive in the UK . Don't ask me why this is, because I don't understand it !

…because you drive on the wrong side of the road, eh ?

Carsten

[dxke38]

WE don't drive on the wrong side, we just don't drive on the right side.

[Heuer]

And Jaguar decided to punish anyone who wanted a LHD E-Type by fitting the worst possible accelerator linkage. You haven't really driven an E-Type until you have been out on the road in a RHD car

[288gto]

And Jaguar decided to punish anyone who wanted a LHD E-Type by fitting the worst possible accelerator linkage. You haven't really driven an E-Type until you have been out on the road in a RHD car

Not to mention having to lean across to the passenger side to operate the choke.

Anyway non of this gets us any nearer to Peter blagging the use of a car for free while he tours the UK and Europe.

On a serious note, there are companies who will insure overseas students to drive in the UK. You just need to sign on to some Media Studies course and reside at a relatives.

[Gfhug]

Anyway non of this gets us any nearer to Peter blagging the use of a car for free while he tours the UK and Europe.

On a serious note, there are companies who will insure overseas students to drive in the UK. You just need to sign on to some Media Studies course and reside at a relatives.

But who would volunteer to be a relative of Peter never mind have him resident

Isn’t British car insurance so restrictive. I seem to remember in the US being told that a car is insured for anyone with a licence to drive. Open to correction on that but was given the keys to cars often enough and told that was how the insurance worked, maybe with an age limit.

Geoff

[Durango2k]

Could not someone here just buy a tatty Hillman Imp or an Allegro with a quartic wheel (buy british!), insure it and loan it to Pete ? If anything happens it was a short term loan like „I gave it to him for 2 days“ or so - in germany that would be ok.

Carsten

[PeterCrespin]

Thanks all. I will never change citizenship and still have a few years to run on my UK license plus insurance isn’t really the issue, it’s the registration restriction of 6 months max on registration from country of origin. Apart from anything, the 94-2003 XJ cars have a different boot lid that doesn’t accommodate a long slim European style numberplate and the square shaped ones look naff.

But with X-Type estates available for £2000 or less, I may reconsider buying in the UK versus a one-way shipping of a US car, followed by disposal rather than return shipping to US afterwards. In all likelihood I’d repeat the extended UK/EU visit pattern every year, so permanent ownership - especially of a 40+ year car - would make sense. Maybe a fresh LHD 1981 Merc diesel estate with only 250,000 miles on the clock?

[Heuer]

Used car prices are going up over here so you may actually break even by buying/selling:
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/3551 ... -time-high