Insuring cars in both Ireland and another country - drivers license requirement

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patfert1

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Going into retirement, I'd like to spend half my year in the EU country where I currently live and the other half in Ireland.
It seems that owning and insuring a car in both countries is quite a challenge. Read on.

I checked into buying and insuring a car in Ireland.
First, it seems I would need to have an official residence in Ireland to buy a car. Ok, that's solveable (family).

Insurance is the tougher nut.

Where I currently live, I insure a car. Having been here a couple of decades, my drivers license is also from this EU country. I originally held an Irish licence but it's the rule (at least in EU) that you have to exchange it when you live elsewhere. To insure my car here, I need to keep this license.

But most Irish insurers I approached won't even quote me, even if I tell them I am a returning emigrant and don't mention splitting my time across two countries.
I found just one that will quote me - and they say that I must replace my foreign license with an Irish one within 6 months... and if I didn't they wouldn't renew. They told me that any other insurer that accepts me will require this too.
But the crux is - I also need to keep my foreign license. And I can't (legally) have two. I could go to a Garda station and claim my old Irish license was stolen or lost, etc... not too keen on trying that after >2 decades.
One would think there would be a solution to this within an EU context, but I haven't found it.

And of course the insurance companies also won't accept my claims bonus from abroad. But let's say, that's "only" a question of cost.

Any ideas?
 
I moved from a EU country to Ireland and was able to get insurance here with the EU licence. Didn't have any issue finding an insurance company (I used Axa). And I'm hearing the same from others.

I still ended up swapping it for an Irish license because it reduces the insurance cost.
 
Why not use a broker?

They'll have knowledge of who will do this. You will "start again" with a no claims bonus as it usually only applies to one insurance.

I used to have two insurances. One here and one in the UK as I lived between both.
 
I used to have two. We kept a car at a holiday house, slightly different I know to your circumstances.

Irish license was accepted no issue abroad. I thought the rules re swopp8ng had changed and you didn’t need to? Might have a cost impact on insurance of course.

And of course each insurance company has a procedure that works for the majority of their customers… local address, licence, etc.

I think a broker is your best bet, modern day call centres and web based applications are not geared up for anything beyond the their standard customer profile.
 
Thanks for the insights. I did make inquiries with two brokers, both said they couldn't help in the scenario I was returning to Ireland with no recent history of insurance in Ireland. I had more progress with ringing the insurance companies, if they call center person couldn't help they were able to redirect me to someone who could handle the query, whether the answer be yes or no. But I'll certainly give broker another go if it worked for others.
Given the challenges (in this scenario) of organizing insurance at a reasonable price, i.e. a lot of calling around likely to be necessary, what's the best way to sequence buying & insuring a car? Is it possible to line up a car for purchase and make the final purchase conditional on getting insurance? I wouldn't want to have an uninsured car sitting around even for a few days.
So far I just picked a random "on sale" car to test the market about getting insurance.
 
patfert1 said:
But most Irish insurers I approached won't even quote me, even if I tell them I am a returning emigrant and don't mention splitting my time across two countries.
Click to expand...
From direct experience I know Zürich will insure you on a non-Irish, EU license. They see it as a high risk factor and charge a lot more though.

You might find it easier to insure your car in the other EU country with an Irish license than the other way round. Check with your current insurer. I lived in another EU country for a while and kept an Irish license for the period and it didn’t have an impact in insurance, although that was a good while ago.

Whatever you do don’t have a car in Ireland inured and owned in someone else’s name but used primarily by you. This is both illegal and could cause huge problems for you and the “owner” in the event of a claim where you are the driver.
 
Thanks for the further feedback. Indeed I found that confirmation that it's not legally necessary to exchange my foreign license for an Irish license. However the insurance companies can apply their own policies so it will be a case of extensive shopping around, and perhaps asking patience from a seller while I shop around.
 
One option to look at...

Call into an AXA office and chat directly. They have direct line to their underwriters.
 
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