Thank you for the emotional and factual support, botvot!
I might actually change my plans and stay in Europe until my MOT expires and then go for a one-year round-trip around the African continent and then to Asia where the situation around driving an older car may be similar. Have you ever DRIVEN all the way down from Europe to South Africa and if yes, do you think it is safe enough for a solo female traveller?
I hope to find some good house-sits there, too, and when it comes to visiting family or getting another Covid vaccination in the UK, I can always hop on a plane and fly in. Exciting! I only hope that I’ll find insurance companies (for car & health) which will go along with that.
Wow, that is a HUGE undertaking, @Romana. I haven’t done it, and to be honest, I also wouldn’t attempt it. Just thinking about some of the roads in South Africa, we had to get very creative whilst driving a normal car. In some (many) areas, the potholes are so frequent and so severe, that you have to slow down to about 30-40km/h to dodge them for long stretches. Frequently, oncoming traffic would dodge too, so you had to keep your wits about you to avoid cars coming into your lane. The result of these potholes is unfortunately frequent wheel and under-carriage damage. It was quite nerve-wracking, and that is only South Africa. Rumour has it that the rest of Africa is worse - but I can’t vouch for that, it’s hearsay.
In saying this, I am sure there are women who attempted this and there should be some good blogs with better information. You have a lovely challenge and lots of research ahead.
Hi @Romana
I love your enthusiasm and your adventurous spirit.
Personally, I would only attempt a trans-african trip like that if I had some sturdy co-travellers with me and an extremely reliable 4 x 4 vehicle. (You would also need to travel with your own fuel on many of the stretches.) Some areas are so remote that roads are virtually non-existent. Happy researching and wish you well on your planning.
Thank you @botvot for your vote of confidence and match making suggestion
I take it as a compliment. @Romana is truly an adventurous brave heart. This sounds like a fabulous adventure.
I am on a different path, a different continent and I have to say I am loving life more and more each day.
Carry on gentle warriors!
I promised you to let you know the DVLA’s position on the question how long I can drive my van in other countries with a British number plate and expired MOT and whether I can leave it registered with them or not. I wrote them twice and they kept repeating that I only have to send them the “export” part of my vehicle log sheet (a quarter of a page sized piece of paper) and that everything else is a matter of the authorities in the countries where I travel to.
So, the way I see it, I can keep travelling the world with British number plates indefinitely!
I am very happy with that. The British position is very different than the position of German traffic authorities. If you drive a car registered in Germany and you export or sell it you physically have to unscrew and take off the number plates, and give or send them back to the traffic authorities, and it is a punishable offense if you don’t. You get number plates with red letters in exchange which indicate that the vehicle is between registrations and which can be used for a very short time only. Germans are way more careful and cautious than the British in this respect!
A lot of fully nomadic people on here have a family member or friend they can use for mail, official address etc. What about those who don’t have that?
In my case I’m not fully nomadic in part because
I don’t have a friend or family member that I can use as official address - in my country I need to be officially registered at an an address to even exist. And I need to exist in order to be a freelance consultant (requires chamber of commerce registration). As well as to hold any insurance, hold any bank accounts, and so on. Without being able to use someone’s address, this becomes challenging. E.g. mail forwarding is not enough; it needs to be an official address
My parents are no longer alive & I don’t have siblings, which means that whatever I’ve kept from my parents (and my younger) lives now sits with me. Also any belongings such as winter clothes, summer clothers, track gear, I have it stored in my apartment. I used to have it most of it in storage for 3.5 years, but these storage places are usually in industrial areas with poor public transport, no train station nearby etc so there was no way to ‘quickly’ get something. And the cost of the storage also adds up after a while
Hi @Romana I received the same info about sending the red export page back. And dealing with authorities of each country you go to. But…what about insurance? As far as I know a British car insurance is only valid when combined with UK tax and a valid MOT. I’d be very interested to know if you have found a way around that! Is there some sort of ‘location independent’ insurance available?
My husband and I are UK/German so we have been able to export vehicles between UK & Germany and register in each others names.
Hello Lokstar,
The British Motorhome and Caravan Club offers an insurance which is valid “365 days a year in the EU and Associated Countries”, so you don’t need to return to the UK every 3 months as most other insurances want you to. Whenever I took up an insurance with any company they never asked me if my vehicle is taxed and has a current MOT. I don’t know whether they check this themselves. It is possible that they may refuse payment in case of an accident due to such circumstances, but I have been driving accident-free for more than 40 years, so I don’t worry about that. However, some countries such as Morocco require proof of insurance to let you across their borders, so I’ll pay the insurance fee despite the risk that the company won’t pay if something really happens.
Netherlands - you can’t be insured, have a Chamber of Commerce registration hold a bank account, and so on, if you’re not registered at an official address not being e.g. an AirBnB, hotel, holiday home, boat, campsite, etc
In Germany, we could register the vehicle we purchased without being residents of Germany. But we had to nominate a contact person in Germany to receive notices on our behalf. My brother-in-law stepped in.
well, that’s actually the whole point of my question: many people mention a family member or friend who’s acting as their legal address, mail address etc. But what if you don’t have one? I don’t have local family members or friends I can use
You are right the insurance company won’t necessarily check your MOT/Tax status- (they just want your money after all!) But the DVLA makes it clear you need all 3- to be fully legal on the road & should an accident occure the insurance would be invalid. So it IS a risk but if you are willing to take it then no probs!
We’ve taken the risk too- often keeping our motorhome year round on the continent- storing it in Germany whilst overseas and just returning to UK once a year for MOT. That was pre- Brexit. My insurance was valid all year. Now the vehicle itself can only be outside of UK for 6 months even if you yourself can roam free & have an EU cutizenship too (i have dual)
@Bluehorse for my German car example, I have read elsewhere that you may find a car dealer that can help with this service. In other instances, you may be able to look into ‘Virtual Mailboxes’ - or some legal/administration offices will handle your mail for you and you might even chat to them and ask if you can use their address - but you might need to build some rapport first. We were able to do this in Australia with a lady who runs a virtual assistant office and we know her well. Probably also depends where you are.
Virtual mail boxes can’t be used here as official residential address - which is what you need for the above said things… I work freelance & have to keep things legal when working with my clients. Plus I have no desire to become legally uninsured, get in trouble with bank accounts and all that
@Bluehorse can you rent a small office space, or shared office and use that address? Even if you have no intention of working from there. It might be worth the small amount of rent, if it can give you an address.
Understood, Bluehorse. My suggestion: Why don’t you do one or several housesits in the Netherlands and ask the home owners for a little favour when you meet them?
This has worked several times for myself and also for my guests. When I had a farm in Australia, we had the same situation: European backpackers would come and wanted to buy cars and get insurances and they couldn’t do it without a residential address. Many used hotel or hostel addresses where they stayed in, but as you can guess, this is not perfectly legal. So when they came as volunteer workers to my farm (at that time I was not with THS but with an organisation called WWOOF offering free accommodation and food for half a day’s work) I actually offered them to use my address for such purposes and if they really got some post (such as a road traffic fine) I took a photo of it and forwarded it to them by email.
Another example: When I moved to the UK and didn’t know anyone here, I chose a home owner for my first housesit through THS who was renting out an Airbnb apartment. As I wanted to settle down in the UK, but didn’t know yet where exactly, I needed a “residential address” to, for example, get my child back to school and to buy a car, and the first home owner was straight away willing to help us - just wanting my promise in return that we would come back for repeat housesits when they needed us! The home owners even gave me a written and signed confirmation that we were residing at their address. During our repeat housesit one month later my daugther was already registered with their local school and we decided to stay in that area. I then rented the AirBnb of these home owners (against reasonable payment) for another three weeks before we were able to move to our own flat.
You could perhaps find a similar arrangement with a home owner in the Netherlands. THS does not forbid sitters and home owners to enter with each other into agreements outside of the housesitting deal, but it is a platform that provides an excellent opportunity to “make friends” who may be open to your request. Give it a try!
Hi Romana, thanks for suggestion - very unlikely though!! People here are quite wary about having someone (other than a relative) registered at their home address. E.g. it creates tax implications, social security implications, and so on.
When I was registered at my aunt’s place for a while, 1) she had to clarify to the tax office as to why I was registered there (they called her), and 2) I paid her each year for the increase in municipal taxes (from 1 unit to 3 units). Fortunately it had no implications for her social security, although in her case her pension benefits would have been reduced had I been over 65 as well.
