1paranoidandroid

Hi all,

I'll be living in the Netherlands for 6 weeks this coming summer. I'll have the opportunity to drive a friend's car during my time there. Since I will not be covered under his auto insurance policy I've been trying to find my own coverage, but have had no luck. I was wondering if any one has recommendations, or has dealt with this issue before? I'm having trouble finding a company that insures American drivers overseas. Any and all advice and help will be appreciated.

hetismij2

Insurance in the Netherlands is normally on the car, not driver specific, but I believe there is a clause about driving with a foreign (maybe just a non EU) licence.


Your friend needs to see if he can arrange for you to drive the car on his insurance. I'm not sure if he can do it since you obviously have a foreign licence.

Otherwise you can't drive his car and will need to rent one for the duration. As a non resident of the Netherlands there is no way you can take out insurance on a car you don't own. Even as a resident I believe it is tricky, and probably not possible - tax, insurance and ownership are all linked in a central database, can't do on without the others.

ribeirasacra

Unless you are registered as living in The Netherlands no local insurance company will touch you.

The_lonely_traveler

In the Netherlands, you can't have double insurance on a car. So, getting an insurance in your name on his car will be virtually impossible.

Now, it may or it may not be possible to drive the car on his insurance (I very much doubt it, especially for non-Shengen...). Be aware though that in case of a traffic violation (which is not very unlikely to happen), your friend will be held accountable - unless you are stopped by the police. In case of the latter, as a foreigner you would have to pay fines on the spot. Chances are the car will be impounded if you can't pay right there and then. Only the owner will be able to retrieve and impounded car. Good luck with that!

So, all in all: bad idea. Just rent a car if you need one.

chartley

When my American brother-in-law visits us in the U.K., he borrows one of our cars. I add his name to the insurance, for which a fee of about £25 ($40) is charged for three weeks. Some of this is an administration fee, so I could do it for a longer period for not much extra.

Is this not possible in the Netherlands? You could reimburse your friend the extra premium he has to pay, but this would be a lot less than the cost of hiring a car. I don't see what Schengen has to do with it, except that any Netherlands insurance must be valid in other countries, since otherwise you would run out of road after a couple of hours.

I do have to answer questions about length of driving experience and if he has had any accidents or convictions recently. Also, they will only add him to the policy for a limited time, whereas my UK-resident son was easily added for the length of the policy.

ribeirasacra

Having lived in Both UK, The Netherlands I can certainly say the whole car registration and insurance thing is very different.

travelhorizons

Look at Travelex TravelSelect and investigate their optional Transportation add-on.

ribeirasacra

travelhorizons , that only covers hire cars, plus this is and old thread revived by a possible spammer.