Dear colleagues,
Could anyone enlighten me about some new EU legislation which is claimed
to have been introduced some three months ago, preventing insurance
companies from insuring EU residents across nation state boundaries.
A lot is being written and debated about the restrictive practices put
in the way of EU citizens and their ability to purchase their motorcars
where they wish and use them, and register them where they live. Nobody
seems to have drawn attention to the fact that the insurance companies
-albeit often multinationals or global companies such as Zuerich,
Winterthur or AXA etc- refuse to insure people across borders. When I
tried to buy a car in France where I have a secondary residence, it took
a great deal of bureaucracy to get this done. The greatest hurdle was
that no UK insurance (even the one I had for years) wanted to insure me
in France for the time to bring the car back to the UK and register it
here, while no French insurance wanted to insure my car in France as it
was going to be registered abroad. How does that tally with the Single
European Market? Isn't there a free movement of services??? Which
legislation is preventing these free movements? If these are simply more
restrictive practices, they should be exposed.
Thanks for your help.
Judith Ryser
CityScope Europe
1 Cowley Street London SW1P 3NB
tel: +44-20 7222 8760 fax: +44-20 7976 8297
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