CAR INSURANCE FOR EXPATS
÷ NO-CLAIMS DRIVING EXPERIENCE Most returning emigrants should no longer be finding themselves priced off the roads with car insurance — though expats coming home from Dubai could still be. As little as a year ago, expats who returned to Ireland often found themselves being quoted thousands of euro for car insurance, or not quoted at all — despite having plenty of claims-free driving experience. This is because many Irish insurers didn’t recognise any claimsfree driving experience built up by expats in certain countries abroad.
Most of the mainstream insurers now give returning emigrants full, or some, credit for claims-free driving experience earned abroad — depending on the country the expat is returning from. “Car insurance usually still works out cheaper if you have an Irish no-claims bonus (NCB) than if you have a foreign NCB though,” said Jonathan Hehir, CEO of the online broker, coverinaclick.ie. “Some insurers give no credit for claims-free driving in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).” Liberty Insurance, for example, does not include the UAE in the list of countries where it recognises claims-free driving experience.
A spokesman for FBD said that where an Irish NCB has expired by two years, it uses the individual’s driving experience from their time abroad to “effectively reactivate” the NCB upon their return. “We treat EU, EEA (European Economic Area), in addition to Australia, Canada, USA and New Zealand in the same manner as we have a better understanding of driving regulations [in those countries], and we can more easily validate driving experience,” he said. “In general, we do not consider driving experience outside of these jurisdictions — unless for existing or previous customers and on a case-by-case basis.”
Aviva currently fully recognises claims-free driving experience in a number of countries outside the EU, including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, according to a spokesman for the insurer. (Since 2002, Aviva says it has given full recognition to driving experience earned in the EU.) However, there are many other countries — including the US and the UAE — where Aviva only partially recognises claims-free driving experience. “For example, we allow a three-year NCB for five years’ claims-free driving experience earned in the US,” said a spokesman for Aviva. There are some car insurers who specialise in cover for returning emigrants, including expats returning from the UAE, according to Hehir. ÷ THE PAPERWORK HEADACHE Returning emigrants must get various documents together for their Irish car insurer — to prove any claims-free driving experience built up abroad. Hehir advised people to get all of this documentation together before returning to Ireland. You typically need to hold insurance in your own name to get the credit for any claimsfree driving abroad. So should you get a cert from a foreign insurer simply stating that a car with a particular vehicle registration number was not involved in an accident, this won’t be much use.