Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » Can I get UK breakdown cover for a foreign-registered car?
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Can I get UK breakdown cover for a foreign-registered car?

I live in Portugal and am planning return trip to UK. I may drive to UK in my Portuguese-registered car insured by a UK approved insurer. My breakdown cover does not include UK. Can I purchase short term breakdown cover from a UK supplier? Alternatively I may fly and hire car at the airport. How do new rules from DVLA affect me? I have a UK driving licence.

Asked on 17 January 2019 by david moran

Answered by Honest John
If by "live in Portugal" you mean "reside in Portugal" you can't legally have a UK licence for more than six months because your UK licence has to show a UK address. You have to exchange your licence for a Portuguese one. If you come to the UK to hire a car and want to do this on your (illegal) UK licence, then you have to go to: www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence/ then key in your licence number, your UK National Insurance number and the UK postal code on your UK licence. You then get a code which you can supply to the rental company to check your licence details, but better to print them out. The code and the print-out last for 21 days. (This is not a DVLA requirement. It is a requirement of UK insurers.) If you bring your own car you can probably get breakdown cover in Portugal to drive it through Spain and France to the UK.
Similar questions
We are planning to buy a property in France with a view to spending perhaps half the year there and the rest in the UK. I envisage that we shall be travelling between the two countries two or three times...
I am taking my 2004 E-Class to Verona via France and Switzerland. Can you give any advise on what the best breakdown cover would be? In the UK it is relatively easy to find non main dealer garages but...
I write to inform your readers of a potential major problem when organising Breakdown cover when taking your own vehicle across to Europe. Earlier this year, I planned a 5-week trip travelling around four...