Can i insure my french car in Hungary?

So just to clarify you are living in Hungary permanently with your French cars with French number plates and wish to know if you can insure them all?

Ah the plot thickens, you have asked the same question on the Bulgaria forum, so I am guessing you still live in France and are Hungary and Bulgaria will offer you cheap insurance.

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. No, you can't in the short of it.

duke3d wrote:

Hi Friends,

European Union facilitate the trade of services and merchandise by permiting a free trade zone.
With that context, i want to know if it is possible to insure my car in Hungary.

I have three cars and a motorhome and it costs me a lot here in France, even most of the time i don't use them.

I know that in case of a problem, it will be difficult to communicate but in 20 years of driving, i never had any accident with my cars and communicate is not a problem for me.

Thanks a lot.

Actually you might be able to insure them but any advantage you think you might gain is probably going to be lost in worst terms and conditions than you presently receive.   You will find it very difficult to find anyone who give you cover.

You can insure them on HU plates but it will cost you plenty to import them and it would be up to you to decide the level of cover.

I think you misunderstand something. The hungarian insurer can offer its services in any EU country, but that does not mean you can buy service from a company that does not offer service in your country.

Basically, I cant buy electricity from the spanish electrical companies in Hungary.

PS: It would be fun to bring a wrecked car to an insurer-approved repair shop, if they only have such garages in Hungary.

I can give some direct experience from multiple incidents.  Some good and some bad.

My UK car was bashed in 1996 in District III and I informed the insurance company in the UK.  They arranged for the car to be repaired somewhere over in Pest. I didn't pay anything out myself. 

My very new foreign registered and insured car was stolen in 1997.  I went to an office near Deak Ter to discuss it and there, they said they would replace it and they did.  Eventually, some years later the car was found - it had was registered by corrupt police and had 7 previous owners.  At that point I was no longer the owner as it belonged to the insurance company.

Someone smashed my UK car window in about 2012.  Under an insurance policy I had for that car, I was entitled to replacement windows free of charge.  The chosen supplier by the insurance company was Autoglass - that exists all over Europe including here.  In the end, the UK insurer refused to replace the glass via Autoglass here but would allow me to find someone to do it, pay them and claim it back. In the end I drove the car back to the UK - I was going anyway - and it was replaced there FOC (Free of Charge).

Our HU car was smashed by some hit and run driver in 2016.  We took pictures, sent them to the HU insurance company, got quotes and they accepted them and we had the car repaired via our usual garage/mechanic.

You may find a co. that is willing to insure you but you will NOT get the same reasonable rates as a car that is registered in Hungary.
In 1989 we shipped over a few cars from the US for resale.
Kept one car to use once every few years or so whenever we were in Hu.
They were charging us something like $100. a month because we had US plates on the car, this was back in 1989.
Right now we pay something like $176. for 6 months coverage in HU with our little old HU car.
They have the right to charge whatever they want for foreign cars.
I don't think it is worth the trouble to bring you car to HU unless you are going to make it legal in HU as far as registration.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

You may find a co. that is willing to insure you but you will NOT get the same reasonable rates as a car that is registered in Hungary.
In 1989 we shipped over a few cars from the US for resale.
Kept one car to use once every few years or so whenever we were in Hu.
They were charging us something like $100. a month because we had US plates on the car, this was back in 1989.
Right now we pay something like $176. for 6 months coverage in HU with our little old HU car.
They have the right to charge whatever they want for foreign cars.
I don't think it is worth the trouble to bring you car to HU unless you are going to make it legal in HU as far as registration.

Yup, pretty much covers it.

Anyone can insure anything anywhere but if it makes sense to do it is an entirely different matter. 

I had my hobby car re-registered here and it cost a lot but it's becoming a classic/OT (old timer) car.  I have owned it forever and have great affection for it.  I thought it was worth it. 

It hasn't taken that long to offset the costs. I saved on insurance, on the annual tests (much tougher in the UK), fuel in driving it back to the UK and the time taken to drive there and back. We used to think of it as a bit of a holiday and shopping trip but personally I've lost interest in that 2000km, 2-3 day journey when air travel has become so much cheaper.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Anyone can insure anything anywhere

Hm....

I would be interested if anyone could insure a French car at a French address using a Hungarian company that does not have any offices in France. Which seems to be what the OP wants to do.

All else is basically a scam. By claiming the car is residing in some place or country it is actually not.

I think Rawlee has the best, and most honest, answer.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Anyone can insure anything anywhere

Hm....

I would be interested if anyone could insure a French car at a French address using a Hungarian company that does not have any offices in France. Which seems to be what the OP wants to do.

All else is basically a scam. By claiming the car is residing in some place or country it is actually not.

I think Rawlee has the best, and most honest, answer.

Oh sure.

But for fun, just look up Lloyds of London and their agents world wide.  Their syndicates will insure anything anywhere including outer space.  If it's worth it or not is another matter. 

Obviously the OP doesn't want to insure vehicles in outer space unless an incognito Elon Musk is frequenting these forums.

People forget that the EU is not really a single market for many things - it's mutual recognition to a minimum standard rather than a single regulated commercial space.