Car insurance in Europe

[lemonapple]

Hi,
We are an Irish/UK/US family, living in Ireland, with an Irish registered car. We are planning 10-12 months of travel in Europe by car, starting in Sept 2019. Our current car insurance policy states that it covers 31 days in Europe during the policy period. From what I've seen on various sites, including europe.eu, any insurance policy issued in an EU country is valid as the minimum legal insurance in any other EU country, (so at minimum, third party, fire, theft), but I haven't seen any mention of time limits.

So, first question -- can my insurance company say their policy is not valid *at all* after 31 days outside Ireland? Or does it legally have to continue to provide the minimum coverage?

Second question -- can anyone recommend an insurance company where we could buy 365 days of European coverage? I've seen plenty that are UK based, for UK registered cars, but can't find any for Ireland! Although I believe we should be able to buy insurance from any European country, no matter where the car is registered, the UK based companies (e.g. Saga) specify UK cars.

Third question -- if neither of the above works out, I've read/heard (forgotten where!) that you can purchase the minimum required insurance at country borders, but haven't been able to verify that. Does anyone know -- is it possible? Is it easy? Is it expensive?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

 

[Pauline]

I live in the UK and we took our car to Switzerland last year for a month. My car insurance company, Direct Line, says I can have 90 days per year driving outside the UK and I have to pay extra each time. Before a trip I phone them and tell them my dates and they issue extra insurance. It does not cost that much. They said if I wanted to have the car longer outside the UK I would have to purchase different insurance.

I would first talk to your car insurance company and see what they offer.

For breakdown insurance I bought it by the year from AA because that was cheaper than for a month.

 

[DragansDen]

You need to take international insurance with help on the road, and you are okay — annual pay. If your car is newer than take full coverage, also, get an international driving license. When the accident happens police will arrange everything for you. The trouble is later going from location to location dealing with papers, mechanics. Have a safe trip and see you in Croatia maybe.

 

[rogers]

We've got our travel insurance, which included a car insruance policy, from Allianz but only for 60 days. Still I think you can inquire about a year long insurance. Or you can look up and compare various plans at https://www.aardvarkcompare.com/ or https://www.finder.com but do avoid third party websites or companies since they might charge you twice the actual price