Driving abroad: need-to-know facts

With the summer holidays fast approaching and the cost of air fares on the increase, you may be thinking about driving to your holiday destination this year.

However, this comes with a whole host of new problems.  As well as negotiating the first hurdle - driving on the other side of the road - there are plenty of other checks you will need to make before you even set off.

While there are the obvious issues like insurance cover, you also need to know some of the things you might have to have in the car or even what happens to the points if you get caught speeding in another country.

To try to make your trip run as smooth and trouble-free as possible, we've put together a checklist of what you need to do and things you need to take on your trip.

Insurance

Before you head off on your holiday, you need to go through your insurance policy and check all the details and small print.

You will probably be insured to drive abroad by your provider; however, your policy may stipulate that this cover falls from fully comprehensive to the limited cover needed for the country you're in - often just third party.

As well as the type of cover, you will need to make sure you are sorted for the length of your trip. Some companies provide 90 days' cover abroad, while other may do 60 or 30. This will obviously cover a two-week break away, but some come with cover as little as three days, so you may have to pay for additional days.

Remember that your camera isn't just useful for happy holiday snaps too. Make sure you take pictures of damage as this will make it easier to try and claim on your insurance.

Breakdown cover

Similar to doing your insurance checks, you also need to make sure that whatever level of breakdown cover you have and whoever it is with will be valid if something happened to your car outside the UK.

Without adequate cover, getting a broken-down car home could cost you a lot of money, with some stories claiming it cost in to the £1,000s to get the stranded motor home.

Driving licence

The most important thing with your driving licence is ensuring you take both the card and paper parts of it as many of the authorities in Europe will want to see both parts if something were too happy.

It may also be worth updating to the 'new-style licence' purely for ease as the card licence will carry your picture on it and it may help out when having to deal with the overseas authority. It only costs £20 to update to this and will also come in handy when you're driving around the UK.

As well as both parts of your driving licence, you will also need to make sure that you have all your documents for your car, so don't forget your V5. You can get a translated version of this called the International Certificate for Motor Vehicles.

International driving permit

Although you don't have to have it, the International Driving Permit is a useful piece of document to get. If you still have the old-style driving licence and don't want to update it, then it is useful to have one.

You can get an IDP as long as you hold a full UK driving licence. It is just £5.50 and you can normally get it from your local post office.

Headlights

If you are off to Europe, then you will have to adjust the headlight beam pattern to suit right-hand driving so that you don't dazzle other drivers. You will need to check with your dealer or hand book to see if the lights can be altered.

If this can't be done, then you can buy converter kits to put on your lights in order to make sure they are the legal requirement.

Penalty points

There is still no standardised system across the EU for penalty points, so if you are caught speeding you won't get any on your UK driving licence. You might be tempted to put your foot down, so let us know if you will keep your foot down on the continent this summer in our latest poll.

However, you will still have to pay a fine. If caught by a camera, this will be sent to your UK address like any normal find. If you are pulled over by the police though, you will be forced to pay an on-the-spot fine, and in the most severe cases could see your car impounded and your right to drive in that country revoked for life.

Speed camera detector

If you have a radar device that locates speed cameras, then you might want to leave this at home when visiting France and Spain as they are illegal. Even if you have it turned off, but in your car, you could be hit with a €1,500 fine. The device may even be confiscated and they could even take your car. Having the software as an app on your phone could also see them take your phone away.

Safety kit

A number of countries across the EU stipulate that you must have certain pieces of safety kit in your car, in case you breakdown. These are basic things, and a lot of new cars come with these now anyway.

You will need to take a reflective jacket or hi-visibility vest as well as a reflective triangle - in Portugal you actually need two triangles. If you don't have these things in France then you can be hit with an on-the-spot fine of between €90 and €135.

Low Emission Zones

This works in a similar way to the London Congestion charge where the most polluting vehicles are regulated in some way - they are either banned or charged for entering the zones.

More than 180 cities and towns in 10 European or countries have the zones, or are set to launch them. If you are going on holiday in your own car then you will need to check you won't get caught by any of these.

GB stickers

Since March 2001, Euro-plates that include the GB euro-symbol have been legal across the EU and means that you don't have to bother with a GB sticker in the car.

If your car doesn't have the symbol on the licence plate though, you will have to display the sticker otherwise you could be hit by an on-the-spot fine.

Finally you will want to try and check the general road rules of the country you are going to. This includes the normal things like speed limits - as these may change before you go - and some of the basic signs.

	Austria	France	Italy	Portugal	Spain
Driver's minimum age	18	18	18	18	18
Country (GB/NI) sticker?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Headlinght adjustment?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tolls (Motorway)?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spare wheel?	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes
IDP needed for UK licence holders?	No (As long as you have the 'new-style licence')	No	No (As long as you have the 'new-style licence')	No (As long as you have the 'new-style licence')	No (As long as you have the 'new-style licence')
Replacement bulbs?	n/a	Recommended	Recommended	n/a	Yes (and the tolls needed to change them)
Seatbelts?	Compulsory for front and rear (if fitted)	Compulsory for front and rear (if fitted)	Compulsory for front and rear (if fitted)	Compulsory for front and rear (if fitted)	Compulsory for front and rear (if fitted)
Spare petrol can?	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes (full)	n/a
On the spot fines	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Snow chains/winter tyres (in winter)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a
Do I need to take my UK driving licence, insurance and vehicle documents with me?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Warning triangle?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Recommended	Front and rear triangles mandatory
High visibility jacket?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Recommended	Yes