Insurance in The Netherlands

Hi All,

I'm currently living in both the Netherlands and the UK, officially
still a UK resident. I have an address in the UK which is my official
personal and business address (although I neither own nor rent it) and a
house in the Netherlands that I *am* on the rental contract of. I want
to buy another bike in the Netherlands which will live and be almost
entirely used there and I want to do this now even though the earliest I
will register as resident here is Jan of next year.

When I ask my SO and other Dutch friends they seem to think I have to be
resident to get vehicle insurance. My response is that cannot possibly
be true in all cases or how could anyone legally have a vehicle in two
countries with appropriate, full insurance? I do have a tame insurer
who is prepared to write me a UK policy that includes EU cover and an
endorsement that the normal place of storage of the vehicle will be my
address in the Netherlands but my gut feeling is that there must be a
better way to do it.

Obviously I could ring a Dutch insurer and ask but that'll be as hit and
miss as any other call centre convo, no doubt complicated further by the
nuances I'm going to miss due to my non-fluency. Anyone had experience
of this and/or know who best to go to?

Cheers,

 

Ooh, tricky these days. I recently had to cancel a bike insurance policy
and they wanted to see evidence that the bike was sold...

I'm thinking that you would have to be registered as a resident at your
Dutch address (in fact, you probably *have* to be anyway.
Notwithstanding the insurance issue). The insurer would prolly want you
to have a cloggy driving licence.

So, in a nutshell; I don't know for certain. Speak to an insurance bod.
They generally speak pretty good English.

To get a cloggy driving licence, you have to give them your UK licence,
so that's no good to you either.

 

Bloody hell!

Legally as an EU citizen I don't; practically for bank accounts and
stuff it's a PITA not to be but I have approx equal justification for
Nederland and UK residency atm and it suits to keep the former for a
short while yet.

That will certainly be one concern, yes. (See bottom bit too.)

Yeah, I just want to be 100% crystal.

Yeah, exactly - it's like, I know I'm not the first person who wants a
vehicle in two countries! I have a way of doing it the other way
around (my tame underwriter will happily insure me for the UK bike on a
Dutch licence) but I can't for various reasons change residency
immediately and I want a bike over here (Netherlands).

Cheers,

 

I know. They wouldn't/couldn't cancel it otherwise. That was the
Rabobank.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, this is Dutch law territory. If you're
on the rental contract of a house, you prolly have to be registered as
resident at that address. Ask at the town hall (gemeentehuis).

Dnc may be the person who knows more about this.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, mb

Well, you have to give them *a* UK licence...

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/applydl.htm#dup_licence

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Thanks

 

Ah, now you see we've done that bit and it's a corollary to the original
insurance question - I also had a UK rental contract at the time, I
can't be resident in two places at once, and in the end it's up to the
company renting (the only difference to buying a foreign holiday home
being the "rent" bit).

We found one that was happy to do it. Now I need a similar insurance
company.

If I have to wait a couple of months and reverse it all (get my tame
insurer to write me a UK policy on a Dutch licence) then so be it but
I'd really like that VL800 Intruder now and it's a damn sight easier to
buy it over here than piss around re-registering and so on).

Computes

Cheers,

 

No, the OP wouldn't have to get a cloggy licence for two reasons.

1. He's still a UK resident BUT
2. The UK licence he has is a European licence, not a UK only one.
There is no need to change.

This explains it all:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/home/drivinglicence/faq/002_en.htm

I can't help on the insurance side, but I'd insure the bike in the
country where the bike is to be kept the most.

 

Well, it should be possible, especially if you have a Dutch registered
bike.

The link Cab posted is interesting, that's changed since I moved here.

So, you have a Dutch bike, a Dutch address and a licence which should be
recognised in Dutchland...
The only problem I see at the moment is maybe you need some
identification with your Dutch address on it.

 

I thought about this too. I emailed the DVLA yonks ago about this and
the reply that I got back was along the lines of "Well, the address on
your UK licence just needs to be one through which we can contact you."
(So I use my Mum and Dad). They won't put a foreign address on a UK
licence.

How the Dutch Authorities react, I couldn't tell you.

One problem that I still come across, is that even though there is a
level of harmonisation re: licences, officals of law and order tend not
to know the rules inside out and get confused.

Oh, the other thing is the UK licence. If you don't have a photocard
licence, they tend to get upset sometimes.

It'll may be the same in clogland, but I know that in my case, I'll
only need to change my UK licence for a French licence, should I incur
(the loss of) points for some driving offence.

 

Thanks for that.

Indeed - the Bindit was in Holland for almost all of last winter but
Hastings had no problem with that because they knew it was going back to
the UK and would spend 3/4 of the policy term there.

Cheers,