whats the crack with the car? do i need to tell my insurance people i’m driving abroad? what else do i need to do with the car?

You should tell them. Some polices give you cover abroad but only at third party level. You will need to take your MOT and V5 with you incase you get stopped as well as the insurance cert. You will also need a spare bulb kit, warning triangle and possibly a fire extinguisher depending on country. You will also need high viz jackets for you and your passangers that you have in the main part of the car and not tucked in the boot. You will also need to get some headlight convertors.
You may be able to get away with out haveing most of that but if you get stopped you will be taken to a cash point to pay your fine.

cheers

by headlight converters do you mean stickers over the headlights?

Yes he does.

Check your policy, I don’t think they all offer european cover.

and if its a hire vehicle? i won’t have the V5

also insist on a european vehicle accident report form – on the continent they have one that is in several languages – our insurer told us we didn’t need anything when but my son had a minor parking bump it was obvious the other party expected us to have paperwork to fill in – fortunately they were very pleasant in dealing with it

and be extra careful. We had a complete nightmare when a truck backed into our car. The insurance company effectively abandoned us because our car was worth less than the repatriation costs (apparently it costs the best part of £2k to get a car back from the alps)

if you have to make a claim, ask to speak IMMEDIATELY to their foreign claims agency (most companies use a company in Germany). Absolutely no one who works for the company in the UK will have the foggiest what to do.

Took 3 days, £300 of phone calls, a hire car and eventually ratchet strapping the bumper and bonnet to the car and driving it back as it was.

cheers guys

My fully comp (direct line i think) covered me for up to 28 days abroad – but i had to tell them did it when we drove to south of france last summer.

I’m with Direct line also and they sent me a form that Steve_B mentioned to take with us.

I’ve just taken my motorbike to France and there was no cost so it’ll depend on the insurers

It’s sensible to tell them anyway and to read the general AA advice on driving – as mentioned you need a lot of kit and having a SatNav with traffic cameras on is illegal and it will get taken off you if caught.