Insurance... again

[squarebeard]

Hi good people
I'm having trouble finding UK insurance for my new Atom 4. The problem is I don't live in the UK, and therefore none of the UK insurers on the club list here will even give me a quotation. My hope is to drive my Atom the nearly 1000 miles back home Crewkerne - Denmark, but no insurance, no drive home. I asked the factory if they had any ideas on how I could insure this car, and they reminded me that the forum here would be a good place to ask around.

With a late September delivery fast approaching and no solid plan, I ask humbly... is there anyone here or in your circles who could help me in getting a quotation? Is it just a matter of having a UK address to send post to, or is there some government system that checks that I actually live there before allowing me to take out an insurance policy??

We could imagine a fictive situation where I told the UK insurance agent that I surprisingly and rather suddenly live with my wife's very extended British family in Boroughbridge, and not in Denmark at all, and then perhaps a quotation could be generated... this is a purely hypothetical situation of course!

Any input would be most appreciated.
-Tim

[John Scherrer]

Why can’t you just insure it in Denmark and ask for additional cover to drive it in another country for a couple of days?

You would likely need to register it in Denmark and have Danish plates fitted.

[speedmachine]

For the drive home maybe a kurzzeitkennzeichen from germany might help. Valid in all of europe, not sure about uk though

[JT1020]

All your main insurer if they cover European travel? I’m surprised at that.

[squarebeard]

Why can’t you just insure it in Denmark and ask for additional cover to drive it in another country for a couple of days?

You would likely need to register it in Denmark and have Danish plates fitted.

Thanks for the suggestions, but these are the walls I run into:
- I can't insure a car in Denmark registered with foreign number plates.
- I can't register the car in Denmark, as it isn't EU type approved.
- I can't register the car in Denmark without it being physically here already.
- I can't insure my UK registered car in the UK without a UK address.

For the drive home maybe a kurzzeitkennzeichen from germany might help. Valid in all of europe, not sure about uk though

This may be a way to go. As I remember the only requirement for short-term license plates is a driver's license and a chassis number, right? Any idea if I could insure the Atom in Germany on short-term plates?

image.png (108.49 KiB) Viewed 2324 times

[autobackup]

Another way to go would be to rent/borrow a car trailer (assuming you have access to a car/van with a towbar) drive to the UK and collect your new Atom and then return to Denmark towing it behind you!

You could always plan your return route to Denmark via a motor circuit or two so you could do a few laps!

[speedmachine]

Why can’t you just insure it in Denmark and ask for additional cover to drive it in another country for a couple of days?

You would likely need to register it in Denmark and have Danish plates fitted.

Thanks for the suggestions, but these are the walls I run into:
- I can't insure a car in Denmark registered with foreign number plates.
- I can't register the car in Denmark, as it isn't EU type approved.
- I can't register the car in Denmark without it being physically here already.
- I can't insure my UK registered car in the UK without a UK address.

For the drive home maybe a kurzzeitkennzeichen from germany might help. Valid in all of europe, not sure about uk though

This may be a way to go. As I remember the only requirement for short-term license plates is a driver's license and a chassis number, right? Any idea if I could insure the Atom in Germany on short-term plates?

You are right, you can have the plates send directly to ariel. They are valid for 5 days, starting on production date of the fisical plate, so shipping goes of driving time.
Make sure you ship it overnight

[squarebeard]

Amazing - thanks for the suggestion. Can anyone confirm that these German kurtzzeitkennzeichen (short term plates) also are legal to drive with in UK? Couldn't find that anywhere...

[K20A2]

I am afraid it is not possible to use the Kurzzeitkennzeichen.

In the red frame in your screenshot above it says, that the car needs to have German registration papers (Fahrzeugschein und Fahrzeugbrief) and a valid TÜV approval (similar to MOT).

[squarebeard]

Arg... damn. Back to zero. Disappointing that I can't go the short-term plates route. I thought I had it!

Any insurance-wise people willing to chime in? The tragic thing is that I won the first year's insurance through BOTB. It'd be a crying shame not to take advantage of that. Basically the cost is irrelevant - the important thing is that I get to drive home legally!

[K20A2]

Referring to your "Dream Car" topic may I ask what is your current idea regarding registration?

[autobackup]

I have been exploring the possibility of purchasing a Tesla X from their EU export centre in Rotterdam and then driving it across Europe to Athens then by RoRo to Cyprus (currently there isn't a Tesla dealer in Cyprus).

Tesla, according to their literature, offer a 'temporary' registration and insurance for the delivery drive from Holland to the final country of intended registration or seaport for export.

Maybe you might be able to discover how they do this?

[Hedge]

Bit surprised Ariel didn't mention this as a potential problem at the time of ordering? Or am I missing something?

Cheers,
Hedge

[atomiser]

Trailer it or get it transported back home.

If its UK Registered, with UK plates then get the factory to unsure it and add you as a driver. This how friend insured his foreign brother in law with admiral while he was over for a month.

However, with cost of this and road tax, surely its best to transport it?

How does the factory now get Atoms to euro buyers? Is it now upto the individual?

[squarebeard]

Maybe insurance is the least of my problems. It just occurred to me that I will have to pay 25% VAT on the car again when it arrives in EU, after having paid 20% VAT in the UK. That is an unexpected cost of more than £15000, which is especially tragic considering that I could have imported it for free before Brexit. This is likely a showstopper for me. Anyone want to buy a new Atom 4?