Retirement Plans may go awry (1 Viewer)

[stinger9]

We will be ready for that retirement pilgrimage next year when me and the missus do GB/Europe from Australia. We have decided that the purchase of a new or late model Motorhome and trailer car in England and travel throughout over the course of a year would be our best bet. Understanding the 90 day in 180 day limit of how long we can stay we plan to visit countries not bound by the Schengen agreement to cover that lay time. Anyway I digress, I have an Australian driving licence that allows the driving of heavy vehicles so my international driving licence should cover a motor home under 7500t. However I cannot find out whether it covers the towing of say a smartcar on a trailer. The GB towing requirements are confusing as it depends when you got your licence etc. Can anyone refer me to a previous post or give information on the problems I am likely to encounter. Some I am already aware of such as insurance for Australians in GB/Europe, the need of a permanent address for registration and relevant purchase paperwork and the constant ribbing about the Australian Rugby Team.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thankyou.

 

[Figaro]

Welcome. I can't answer your query but someone will be along soon with the answer !

 

[buttons]

Hi and Welcome.....

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[Howard H]

And

 

[denisejoe]

Not sure how it would affect you but for UK citizens you need to have passed your test before 1997 to be able to tow without taking another test.

The only way to find out for certain is to contact DVLA and ask.

Denise

 

[Riverbankannie]

Someone on here recently posted that they were coming over from NZ and picking up an over 3500 kg MH. They said that the were unable to tour GB on their international licence driving anything over 3500kg. They were going straight to continent. I cannot find the post and I have no idea whether they were correct in what the law is. Good luck in sorting it out and if you find the definitive answers do post for others.

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[Riverbankannie]

Not sure how it would affect you but for UK citizens you need to have passed your test before 1997 to be able to tow without taking another test.

The only way to find out for certain is to contact DVLA and ask.

Denise

Not correct, you can tow but there are limits
If you passed your car driving test on or after 1 January 1997 you can:

• drive a car or van up to 3,500kg maximum authorised mass ( MAM ) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM.
• tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg.

 

[stinger9]

I passed my heavy vehicle driving test in Australia back in 1970s

 

[f6c]

Welcome aboard Best Phone or email the DVLA

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[gus-lopez]

We will be ready for that retirement pilgrimage next year when me and the missus do GB/Europe from Australia. We have decided that the purchase of a new or late model Motorhome and trailer car in England and travel throughout over the course of a year would be our best bet. Understanding the 90 day in 180 day limit of how long we can stay we plan to visit countries not bound by the Schengen agreement to cover that lay time. Anyway I digress, I have an Australian driving licence that allows the driving of heavy vehicles so my international driving licence should cover a motor home under 7500t. However I cannot find out whether it covers the towing of say a smartcar on a trailer. The GB towing requirements are confusing as it depends when you got your licence etc. Can anyone refer me to a previous post or give information on the problems I am likely to encounter. Some I am already aware of such as insurance for Australians in GB/Europe, the need of a permanent address for registration and relevant purchase paperwork and the constant ribbing about the Australian Rugby Team.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thankyou.

In UK &EU you can drive up to 7,5T as long as your Aussie licence allows it. Additionally you can also tow up to 3,5T as long as licence allows it but the MTM, Maximum Train weight of both can not exceed 8,25T in total.

Ignore this, You can't they appear to have changed it. See 5 here
https://www.licencebureau.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Driving-in-Britain-as-visitor-or-resident.pdf

maximum of 3,5T without taking a C1 test for up to 7,5T

 

[Riverbankannie]

My reading of that leaflet is that you might be ok if you purchase your MH in Europe and then drive it to GB. Apparently they are cheaper in Germany anyway!

 

[Riverbankannie]

I passed my heavy vehicle driving test in Australia back in 1970s

You need to read the leaflet in the link posted by @gus-lopez

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[denisejoe]

View attachment 153285
Someone on here recently posted that they were coming over from NZ and picking up an over 3500 kg MH. They said that the were unable to tour GB on their international licence driving anything over 3500kg. They were going straight to continent. I cannot find the post and I have no idea whether they were correct in what the law is. Good luck in sorting it out and if you find the definitive answers do post for others.

I did say I didn't know how it would affect him as a visitor only how it is for UK citizns.

Denise

 

[crabman]

progress with caution, i would call the DVLA, see what they have to say, as they are civil servants and cant be sacked it would probably be dribble anyway, i did my U.K HGV in the 70ts those were the days with a good old diesel, crash gearbox, no power steering, handballing 20 ton on and 20 ton off, roping and sheeting in all weathers , hell truck drivers don't know they are born these days with bunks, micro wave cookers, night heaters, satnavs and more,, i was lucky to have a map heck it nearly killed me, got out of it after 7 years thankfully

 

[Stealaway]

Do you really want a tow car and a motorhome. The roads in the UK are a not like Aussie roads, ours have lots of bends and often very narrow.
By far the most popular places to stay in Europe are the free Aires but they don't allow trailers, so you'll need to use camp sites exclusively.
I am not a fan of towing cars behind M/H's, if you want the convenience of a car buy a caravan, it's the obvious solution.

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[Bart]

@stinger9 I'm Not Jealous much , honestly
I'd love to be doing the opposite and going to Australia to buy a MH and car , hope yous have a great time and all goes well for you's

 

[stinger9]

Thanks for the information, will contact the DVLA to confirm.

 

[stinger9]

The problem I see is that my Australian (NSW) Drivers Licence does not record the day I got the licence back in the 70's and consequently will not be recorded on the international drivers licence for the pre/post 1997 towing regs.

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[stinger9]

View attachment 153285
Someone on here recently posted that they were coming over from NZ and picking up an over 3500 kg MH. They said that the were unable to tour GB on their international licence driving anything over 3500kg. They were going straight to continent. I cannot find the post and I have no idea whether they were correct in what the law is. Good luck in sorting it out and if you find the definitive answers do post for others.

They must have had a normal NZ driving licence, not a heavy vehicle driving licence.

 

[Riverbankannie]

They must have had a normal NZ driving licence, not a heavy vehicle driving licence.

If you read the leaflet in the link posted above, it seems that your HGV licence may not apply over here in a GB registered vehicle.
I think this may be the important bit
"
If you hold a full vocational licence from a designated country, you are only allowed to drive lorries and buses that are registered outside GB and you have driven into GB."

 

[stinger9]

Just for information I received the following advice from the DVLA. "The rules for driving in GB as a visitor with a valid Australian driving licence will depend on the types of vehicles you drive. Please see the advice below.
Car and Motorcycle Licence Holders
If you passed your driving test in Australia you can drive all the vehicles shown on your driving licence for up to 12 months from when you last entered GB (as long as the driving licence remains valid). If you want to drive for over 12 months you will need to be a resident and exchange your driving licence for a GB driving licence. You can’t drive lorries or buses in GB on your driving licence."
This would mean that my current Australian NSW HR Licence (which covers Rigid vehicles with a GVM of more than 4.5 tonnes, but not more than 8 tonnes and any towed trailer not weighing more than 9 tonnes.) would allow me to drive a Motorhome larger than 3500t. So I am good to go. Now I have to find out about the towing aspect and the registration/insurance dilemma.

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[stinger9]

OK, if anyone is interested I have now received the following from the DVLA.
"You can drive cars and motorcycles shown on your driving licence for up to 12 months from when you last entered GB (as long as the driving licence remains valid).
As you also hold a valid entitlement to drive vehicles over 3.5tonne, you can only drive these vehicles if they have been registered outside of GB and temporarily imported." So it would appear that I cannot drive a motorhome larger than 3.5t. The Title of this thread has come to fruition and will now look at the USA for the trip. Thanks to all that gave their time to assist.

 

[olley]

So you could buy a motorhome in France over 3.5 t and drive it in the UK?

 

[stinger9]

It all comes down to what 'temporarily imported' means ie would the vehicle need to undergo normal import procedures, tax, inspection etc or does it mean just coming across on the ferry and having your documents sighted and I guess "stamped". I had not looked at buying in France or Germany as 1. I don't speak the languages, 2. I don't have an address in those countries for registration/insurance and 3. the motorhomes I was interested in are British made. Thanks Olley

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[gus-lopez]

It all comes down to what 'temporarily imported' means ie would the vehicle need to undergo normal import procedures, tax, inspection etc or does it mean just coming across on the ferry and having your documents sighted and I guess "stamped". I had not looked at buying in France or Germany as 1. I don't speak the languages, 2. I don't have an address in those countries for registration/insurance and 3. the motorhomes I was interested in are British made. Thanks Olley

Yes it just means arriving as a tourist. Just like I do in a spanish motorhome . & no there isn't any stamping of anything.

 

[olley]

It all comes down to what 'temporarily imported' means ie would the vehicle need to undergo normal import procedures, tax, inspection etc or does it mean just coming across on the ferry and having your documents sighted and I guess "stamped". I had not looked at buying in France or Germany as 1. I don't speak the languages, 2. I don't have an address in those countries for registration/insurance and 3. the motorhomes I was interested in are British made. Thanks Olley

When your spending dosh in any country, its amazing how well they speak english. Its only when things go wrong that they have a problem.
Sad to say, given a choice I would probably buy a foreign not a UK motorhome.

Just a thought, if language is a problem buy in Ireland.

I found this on the net, its way out of date, but may still be possible.

We did the same in 2007. It was quite difficult. There were four of us and we wanted to buy a heavier van as the payload on the lighter vans was too small. We bought the van in the UK. There is no trouble buying or registering the van (we used a friend's address). The trouble starts with being able to drive it legally. The first problem is licencing. If you are driving on a non-UK licence, no matter what class of licence you have (and my husband had a heavy vehicle licence) you cannot legally drive a vehicle that weighs over 3.5 tonnes or 3.75 tonnes (I can't remember which) in the UK if the vehicle is registered in the UK. This meant that although we purchased the vehicle in the UK we had to export the vehicle to the Republic of Ireland to register it. Again we used a friend's address and it went surprisingly smoothly. In fact because it weighed over a certain amount the registration and road tax was very cheap. So that left the problem of insurance. After quite a few knockbacks, we used a broker however the number of days in the year we could insure the vehicle for driving in Europe was quite restrictive. We would have put-up with third party insurance but they wouldn't cover even that. I think 2-3 months would be okay but much more than this and you may find it difficult to obtain any insurance. We're hoping to do the same sort of thing again in 2-3 years when the children are off to uni. Best of luck to you and if you find an easier way, I'd love to hear about it! Kind regards Lisa

 

[stinger9]

Thanks again olley, but no friends in Rep of Ireland. One UK dealer was willing to sell to me without VAT on the premise that I would export the MH at the end of the 12 months back to Australia. They would set up registration and insurance. The only problem they failed to tell me that I couldn't drive it off their lot with my licence. I guess motor dealers are the same all over the world. As most of the time we would be travelling Europe I guess LHD would be the go. Unfortunately, to buy, register and insure a MH from Germany, France, Belgium or Spain by an non EU is quite difficult and thwart with problems nowadays. Together with the fact that nearly all European built MH have the my biggest bugbear in that the kitchen space within the MH is ridiculously small or non existent with no preparation area let alone a place to put a toaster while cooking the bacon on eggs. Apologies for the rant. I will continue to try and track down any non EU who managed to buy an above 3.5t MH to see how they did it. I have heard that some lawyers or law firms from either those countries maybe able to facilitate such a purchase thru their offices but which one do you pick that won't screw you over. Sorry, also not a fan of lawyers.

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