Car Insurance for Members from Another Country

Question: Hi there, we are in the process of completing two exchanges (hurrah!) and have come across a query with our car insurance which we had not expected. They are asking that any temporary driver has to confirm that they have had at least 6 months driving experience in the UK in the last 5 years.

Clearly many UK members offer car swaps in their details but I would expect few from other countries could meet this criteria that my insurer is asking for.
Ironically our new friends in France are telling me that it is no problem to have me set up as a driver with their car over the holiday.

I do not expect you at GTI to be insurance experts of course and every insurance company clearly has their own policy & underwriting criteria - I just wondered if any other members had flagged this as an issue to you?? Or is there a part of the GTI website where I can ask this question to find the names of other insurance companies who are more amenable to car swap arrangements??

Many Thanks Neil Rogers HE16210

Answer: It's great to hear that you have two exchanges lined up. Unfortunately I have never heard of the car insurance query that you mention either. As you say, each insurance company does have their own policy & underwriting criteria. Maybe an insurance company or broker reading the query which I have posted here on our GTI Home Exchange weblog will offer you an answer. I will also post a query on the Travel Forum at Insurance for Car Swap arrangements