Car Insurance when in Spain

[judyc]

I have come across a conundrum regarding car insurance taking our french registered car to Spain, where we intend to spend four months during the winter.

Whilst the insurance company (Pacifica) are happy to cover us for three months, they are adamant that any time in excess of that will be on third party insurance only. Not possible to pay an extra. 90 days. No more. Go away! Having just bought a relatively new car, I am less than willing to chance having an accident in it, and not be insured.

I have tried talking to Spanish insurance companies to see if I could arrange temporary cover for one month, but unless the car is Spanish registered, or you commit to change to Spanish registration, they will not help.

Apparently, if we had a UK registered car, Saga would cover us, but I can find no french company willing to help. Has anyone ever come across this problem and/or found a solution?

[kevsboredagain]

It's usually 90 consecutive days so nothing to stop you leaving Spain for a day and returning. I used to have this problem with a UK registered car as the maximum allowed was 90 days. The insurance company simply said it was valid if I traveled abroad and back again several times in the year and there was no way they could prove otherwise. ie. they just turned a blind eye.

[judyc]

Thanks, Kev.
We will be right down in the south, so it is a full day's journey back to France, and apparently the policy is 90 days in a year, not 90 days at a time!

Part of me would like to think they will turn a blind eye, but
I suspect if a payout was required for an accident or something, they could be very funny. It doesn't help that our insurance company is part of our bank, so how closely could they proove our whereabouts over a period of time?

Frustrating! Trying to do the right thing, and co nstantly hitting brick walls!

[kevsboredagain]

A quick Google in French and I came up with this:

Je viens de connaître exactement la même situation, et après avoir passé quelques heures avec tous les assureurs de France, c'est finalement la MAIF qui a pu m'assurer (contrat VAM), il suffit d'être moins d'un an à l'étranger, et d'avoir une adresse permanente en France. J'ai demandé environ trois fois à la bonne femme de le répéter parce que je n'en revenais pas (tous les autres c'était pas plus de 3 mois, ou alors un détour compliqué par une filiale locale...)

If that doesn't work try searching in French. There are plenty of Frenchies asking exactly the same question.

[judyc]

Thanks again, Kev. I will try them. I obviously wasn't googling the right phrases!

[camel]

Try, Linea directa in Spain.

[AndrewH]

Part of me would like to think they will turn a blind eye, but I suspect if a payout was required for an accident or something, they could be very funny. It doesn't help that our insurance company is part of our bank, so how closely could they proove our whereabouts over a period of time?

Insurers are not kind people although they would like the world to think that they are. I don't think it is wise to take risks in matters like that.

I hope nothing will happen that would cause you to make a claim, but if you can obtain some paper evidence at the border crossing e.g. a dated stamp on your passport, or even-dated ATM receipts from either side, this is some proof that you crossed on that day. Not perfect of course, because it relates to you and not to your car, but probably sufficient in circumstances where your word alone was called into question.