Car insurance when you are new in Sweden: what applies to your car?

STEP BY STEP

How to check your cover

1. 01

   Start with third-party insurance

   Konsumenternas says everyone who has a car must have motor third-party insurance, and that it must apply from the first day you own the car. Third-party insurance is compulsory for a car registered for use. According to Konsumenternas, a car that is deregistered from use in the vehicle register needs no third-party insurance. If you buy the car here, the guide to car insurance when buying a car explains what happens at the change of owner.

   According to Konsumenternas, insurers cannot require you to have a personal identity number (personnummer) or coordination number (samordningsnummer) to take out third-party insurance. Without one of these numbers, however, you cannot be registered as the owner. You can send the Swedish Transport Agency a written request for a coordination number together with the ownership documents. The agency then requests the number from the Swedish Tax Agency and registers you once you have it.

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2. 02

   Find out where the car must be registered

   According to the EU's Your Europe service, you must register your car in the country where you reside. You do not need to register it in a new country if you can show that you are only staying there temporarily, for example as a student. Your Europe also says to check with your insurer whether your current policy applies in the country you are moving to.

   Under Swedish law, the exemption for vehicles in international road traffic requires that the owner's main residence is abroad and that the vehicle was brought in for temporary use here. Cars registered in Denmark, Finland or Norway may be used here for at most one year. A person whose actual residence is in Sweden and who has acquired a car registered abroad may, under the Act, use it for one week from when it was brought in. Ask the Swedish Transport Agency what applies in your case.

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3. 03

   Insure the car before it goes on the road here

   The Swedish Transport Agency describes the origin check as the first step when you want to register a vehicle from abroad. You apply for it once the vehicle is in Sweden. A registration inspection follows, where the vehicle must meet a range of technical requirements, and you then receive a registration certificate and number plates. The agency also says a vehicle imported to be registered here may be used for seven days from the import date, if it has a valid foreign registration and third-party insurance.

   If the vehicle requires third-party insurance, the agency says you must have valid cover before you can register it for use. Once the car is registered for use, you receive an invoice for vehicle tax. Also read which level the new policy document shows. Konsumenternas says the own-damage guarantee only exists in Sweden, so it does not exist for cars bought abroad and imported.

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4. 04

   Bring your claims history and read the insurer's questions

   Konsumenternas lists questions that affect the price of car insurance: your age, how long you have held a driving licence, where you reside and in what type of home, the car's age, make and model, and how far you drive per year. Keep the confirmation of the details you give.

   According to Your Europe, you can ask your insurer for a claims history statement at any time. It covers the last five years and must be provided on the EU standard form within 15 days. A new insurer in another EU country must apply your history to any discounts in the same way as for people already resident there, and insurers must publish how they use such statements. Discounts can therefore differ between insurers. If the statement comes from a country outside the EU, ask the insurer how it counts.

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