Our family is moving from London to France this week (we’ve bought a house/primary residence) and we’re buying a cheap used car from a local just to get us through the first year or so. We both have valid drivers licenses (mine US, his EU), but haven’t owned a car/had car insurance since 2018. For reference, we had insurance on our car the entire time we did own it. We’re both mid-30s and have not been involved in any accidents/claims.
From my research I expected to get a quote around €50 per month, however I was quoted just over €100 per month… the insurer, Allianz, mentioned this is because we don’t qualify for the “bonus”.
Her explanation is as follows: “It’s a french system of quotation Bonus/Malus who determine the price of the car insurance . If your are a good driver without any damage or accident for 13 years in a row you have the best bonus 0.50 and you pay half of the price . Today you don’t have any bonus because it’s your first insurance in France.”
So before I start knocking down doors of other insurers trying to get a better price (need this done quickly so time is an important factor), is this really the case? Are we unlikely to get a quote closer to €50 per month because we haven’t had a car/insurance for the past 5 years? Or is there a way I can counter this?
I know it’s not to do with the state of the car as the current owners have full coverage and pay about €50 per month.
Re. Insurance: that’s the way it works, I’m afraid.
Some insurers will accept a no-claims bonus from a lapsed UK insurance policy as long it was valid within the last two years. Some will ask to see a history of your renewal papers and make an offer based on that.
In your case, I suspect that you’ll need to look long and hard before you find an insurer who is willing to offer you a discounted rate based on the fact that you had insurance in another country 5 years ago - but good luck!
I can’t help with the intricacies of this as, for my sins, I’ve never shopped around since coming to France, but Groupama were happy to take my UK no claims bonus history as evidence when I insured my initially UK registered cars with them, giving me the max discount, but as with many things in France I wouldn’t be surprised that it partly depended on whether the human you’re dealing with at that moment is willing / interested in making the effort to make it work. But I’m sure someone will have more specific information for you regarding the fact that you don’t currently have a policy for them to reference.
I struggled getting my UK insurance (which was still active at the time) recognised in France to try and benefit from the bonus-malus. La Poste initially said they would, then wouldn’t.
In the end, our local insurance broker managed to help us out - funnily enough, it’s via Alianz too. However, as said, this was for a contract that was still active at the time. I think with a 5-year gap, however, you’ll likely struggle. Perhaps worth speaking to a local broker (or even better, perhaps reach out to @fabien at Fab Insurance) and ask what the chances are of it being recognised so long after your contract expired.
What Brian wrote
When we first moved from Germany to France, we only had German car insurance no claims bonus, or whatever the equivalent is in German, and trying to explain that to a French insurer was like knocking our heads against a very pointy brick wall. This still appears to be one area, where, even within the confines of the EU (let alone for TCNs), each insurer has cottoned on how to maximise its income when people move country.
When I first arrived in France I visited a couple of the local agencies, armed with my UK ncb. I remember getting at least 3 offers and finally selected Axa who were very obliging. In France I think there can often be quite a variation in approach even from the same company, based on individuals and the particular agency. At least that was my experience. I think it may be a bit of a challenge getting ncd recognised after so many years, but persistence is your friend in this instance I think. Good luck
This is the source of the problem. In France, if you experience an interruption in your insurance coverage for more than 12 months, it can often have a severe impact on your premiums. If the interruption extends beyond 24 months, it usually means starting over entirely.
Some insurance companies might show some leniency by allowing you to transfer your former British No Claims Discount (NCD), provided you can provide the necessary evidence from the past (which can also be a challenge). However, even with the NCD transfer, you may end up paying premiums as if you had no discount. The good news is that after 3 years (although sometimes 2 years may suffice), you can begin to enjoy additional discounts. But, it’s important to note that for the first couple of years, you’ll likely be facing higher premiums, I’m afraid.
Recently got quotes for french registered car from AXA. Needed to provide proof of insurance on our UK car, Not just a copy of the UK insurance renewal form showing 9 years no claims, but a letter from the insurer stating how many years we had had continuous insurance and if we had made any claims. As it happened could only get letter for last 5 years as I cant remember who we insured with before then. So we got 5 years (of the max 13 years) bonus. Cost was about 550€.
Based on that, your 50€ a month looks way off the mark, need to at least double it.
All really good insights - and it seems pretty clear…we’re going to just have to bite the bullet and pay the more expensive coverage for now! Thanks all.
Just one more thing @KJQ , and welcome from me btw, you don’t say from which State in the US you derive your licence from. As far as I know not all States are treated equally for acceptance in France. Maybe you have already checked up on that, but if not, worth asking the question.
I wouldn’t know, but there are some people here who do, which States are in and which are not.
Your experience is the text book situation and this is what one should expect and the good news is that after 3 years of being insured in France they will no longer look at that foreign history.
Please be aware that you are allowed to drive in France for only one year on your current license. You must exchange your license before your policy’s renewal date; otherwise, your policy may be terminated, and a record of this could be added to the French insurer’s database. If you haven’t initiated the driver’s license exchange process yet, it’s essential to do so as soon as possible. This is not only a legal obligation but also crucial to avoid potential premium and insurance issues down the line. You can check if your license is exchangeable here Vérifier si votre permis de conduire non européen (UE/EEE) est échangeable contre un permis français - 1 - service-public.fr
I have begun to look into this too in France and am in same situation. I have an excellent UK car driving record, no claims for decades, no penalties etc. Also similar for motorbike insurance additionally which is a lot harder to achieve.
It is all about to go up in a puff of smoke as I will shortly have been 2 years since insured which was a UK policy. Galling but in the UK the insurance industry generally will only take into account a No Claims Bonus that is a maximum of 2 years - not 5 - since you were last insured - it’s not just France.
I’d strongly recommend contacting Fabien who kindly posted above, he is well known as a broker on here having helped many of us to get decent French insurance for cars or health.
The only other thing that was suggested to me is that some lease deals LLD / LLA , may just possibly be offered via a car dealer with some sort of initial insurance able to be included. I’ve not seen this for a long while in the UK and then it was insurance of, say, 1 year thrown in with the purchase of a new car. I have no idea if something like that is truly realistic to find in France.
Not necessarily - have you by chance have a wad of cash that you wish to buy a small income with?
I had a similar situation ten years ago and. Trying to overcome the Victor Hugo attitudes, when I flashed a sizeable sum to invest, all the insurers suddenly became alive and fighting for my custom, they ‘managed’ very quickly to determine that my driving skills were impeccable…!
Yes, at least for a business LLD, you can have the insurance included, and it will be valid for the duration of the lease. This is what I have with my present business LLD vehicle. One would hope that similar opportunities apply in the domestic LLD market. Throwing in an insurance provided by the LLD/LLA merchant is always worth comparing with a separate insurance quote though, and going through the detail of what happens if the vehicle gets damaged either beyond repair, or necessitating a lengthy repair, during the lifetime of the LLD contract, as it isn’t always obvious.
When we moved here in 2018, we chose AXA as they readily agreed to use our no claims discount from the U.K, with evidence from our previous U.K insurer. Most insurers didn’t do this. That and having house insurance with AXA as well saved us quite a bit of money.
For anyone in the same situation as I was.
Lived here for years and never owned a car but drove often as part of my job. When needing to buy a car and insurance I asked the transport manager to write a letter on official headed paperwork with the date of employment etc and having not had any claims. It worked a treat full no claims bonus.
