Car insurance. Check your cover before you take your car to Europe

Author: Emma Mayo

Have you taken the car across to France recently - perhaps you took the short journey from Dover to Calais to pick up some wine for Christmas? Did you think to check to see if you were insured before you left? One third of UK motorists do, the other two thirds don't. And with an estimated 8 million UK holidaymakers, a figure that is growing rapidly, taking their car over the channel every year, that's a staggering statistic.

It's not that you won't be insured at all if you go to Europe, but you can't automatically expect the same level of cover that you receive in the UK. Your insurer is legally obliged to insure you either at the minimum requirement in the particular EU country, or at third party level - whichever offers the most cover. If you are fully comprehensive in the UK, you may well be third party only in the country you're visiting. This means you're not covered for fire or theft, and if your car is damaged in an accident and you're the one at fault, you will have to pay for the repairs. < Life Insurance site - life insurance quotations - great life insurance articles >

As Ian Crowder from AA Insurance has said: "Roughly a quarter of a million comprehensive policies do not automatically or freely extend comprehensive cover to foreign climes." So in many cases you can have your cover extended to Europe for free, but you have to ring up and ask for it - it doesn't happen automatically. < Loans site, great secured loans articles for everyone mortgages

A number of car insurance will extend your cover to the EU, but there will be an extra charge. This is something that you could choose as an optional extra when you first buy the policy, especially if you intend to drive abroad quite regularly.

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Car insurance. Check your cover before you take your car to Europe