Imported Car Insurance

Regardless of where you purchase your car in the world, it’s likely that you will be able to find a company willing to insure it at a reasonable price with specialist imported car insurance.

It’s important to note that not all cars purchased outside of the UK are built to the same specification, and before shopping around for imported car insurance you need to understand the definitions for different types of imported vehicles:

Grey Import – This is a car that has been built to non European standards and is not EU approved, for instance a car from Japan would be termed a ‘grey import’.

Parallel Imports – These are vehicles that operate with a right hand drive, are purchased from outside of the UK, however are built to EU Type Approval, and compatible with UK specifications.

Although there are plenty of reputable companies willing to offer imported car insurance, such as Tesco, Its4me, Budget, and Quote A Car to name just a few, you can expect to pay higher premiums; some owners have reported premiums as much as £1000 more per year more, therefore the extra cost of potentially inflated insurance should be weighed up against the savings you may have made by purchasing your car abroad.

An important note about the different types of imported car available; parallel imports are brand new cars imported from Europe, however those cars termed ‘grey imports’ and typically purchased from Japan, are second hand cars, and the pitfalls associated with purchasing a grey import are numerous.