Bringing a car from the UK to Germany short-term

Also,

I've been in Germany for 5 months now, and having a great time. But I could really do with my car from now until I leave, so until August or so.

I read a little earlier that a regular UK license is fine if I just wish to use my car here for less than 1 year, but is there anything else that I should be aware of?

Apparently cars in Germany need winter tyres in certain months.. The coldest months will be behind us very soon, and hopefully I can avoid having to get these..

Any help appreciated!

vielen Dank im Voraus!

- dan

Brought my UK car over last year, best thing I ever did. You'll soon get used to driving on this side, even in a RHD car.

I went the whole hog and got it re-registered here which involved changing the headlamps, getting it TUV approved (german equivalent to MOT), registered at the Zulassungstelle, new plates cut, etc.

If you just want it here for temporary use make sure you are fully taxed in the UK and insured to drive in Europe and pick up some special stickers to put over your headlamps from your local Halfords store.

As for winter tyres - I don't think it's illegal not to have them but if you do have an accident and there is snow or ice on the road you are screwed from an insurance point of view. April 1 is the optimal time to put summer tyres back on.

Hope that helps!

Andy

Your UK license is good for as long as you live here. There's no 12 month limit (as long as it not the really old UK type).

The 'winter tires' business is not a law but an advisory related to insurance. You're supposed to have 'tires appropriate to the weather and road conditions' - so, open to interpretation. The majority of Germans still drive the whole year without switching to winter tires (can't remember the exact % but clearly the majority).

Ok great stuff!

So what would I need to do.. ring up my insurer and notify them that I am bringing the car here for 4 months and then I will have to pay a bit extra? Is it likely to be a huge amount, or..?

Apart from that all I would need to do is get it here! Correct?

What's the best method to get here then, Channel Tunnel or on a ship, or? I've got a sat nav system, thank God!

By the way, living riiiight at the very bottom of Germany, next to Basel in Switzerland. Damn!

Cheers guys.

If you go through the tunnel you don't need sat nav.
I am pretty sure also ferries have sat nav.
No need to thank God. The US navy installed it.

Great stuff that the tunnel and ferries will help me get from Calais to near Basel in Switzerland! How do they do that!?

If you have UK insurance it seems that you are insured here too. (A Green Card) But when I phoned my insurance and told them I was living here the immediately said I was not insured. If I was on holiday or visiting I was ok.

It's all down to your insurance provider as to how much it will cost, give them a call and see what they say.

I drove my car from London to Munich last year and used the channel tunnel, it was by far the easiest option, I think it cost around 80 quid. Sat Nav got me from Calais to the front door of my house.

Start to end took me 13 hours with various breaks along the way.

I'm having a sense of deja vu.

you missed the most important part...moving the steering wheel to the other side of the car can be problematic

Hehe!

I'm considering a sporadic flight home tonight, or tomorrow.

Ahhh!

Desperate for mein Auto.

Yikes - this is going to be expensive!

Just booked my flight home for tomorrow (£70), my Euro Tunnel ticket (£69) and then need to factor in fuel costs to get me 290 miles to Kent, and then whatever it takes from Calais to Basel in Switzerland.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

any idea how much extra the insurance is going to be ??

I brought my car over to Germany last year from the UK. My UK insurer would only cover me for 3 months and would not consider extending this. So I ended up changing insurer. The only insurer I could find was Stuart Collins & Co ( http://www.stuartcollins.com/ ). There must be others :-)

My insurance worked out to be around £800 for a Honda Civic (6 years old) full comp (no no-claims). The only stipulations on the insurance is that the car must go back to the UK once per year and have a valid MOT certificate. The underwriter is Axa.