New car registration with old insurance after car purchase in Poland

Hello forum,

This is my first post here,

I recently bought an old beater car, it's insured with basic OC to the precedent owner till June 2019, but he was paying that in rates every 3 months, so it will need to be renewed in January and April.

1 - Do I need to register the car at my name or can I drive it without registering it? Talking with a guy he told me that I don't need to register the car again and that the purchase contract was enough to drive, but reading online it looks like I have the obligation to register it within 30 days from the moment I sign the contract.

2 - Do I need to cancel the current insurance and register one at my name? I'm a young driver and the current car insurance is considerably lower than the quotes I got around the internet, so for me it would be nice to just renew the current insurance till June, but can I do that? I really don't want to get in trouble with insurance refusing to pay because the insurance was not at my name.

Thanks in advance for any help.

1 - If there's an accident, the guy's insurance can claim their customer (not you) doesn't own the car so you would be screwed.

2 - I don't think you'd be able to cancel the seller's insurance - but you should get your own. Once the purchase is made, the seller or his insurance is not responsible for your actions.

You have to register this car within 30 days unfortunately and the myth that the old OC will work I have discovered is just that, a myth.

Think a couple of years ago it was the case but having bought two cars here now, I can confirm you will need to inform the OC company that the car has a new owner and both times we have done so they have made an extra charge for this. This charge was very high and we ended up taking out new insurance as it worked out cheaper to do it that way.

I think technically you can drive on the old insurance if the Police stop you but god help you if you have a crash. Also, the old owner can cancel the OC at any time or not make a payment and you will have no way of knowing this as all documentation will be sent to the previous holder.

I would say bite the bullet and get new insurance and register the car but if you are a foreigner this may be a problem as well, as you will need a PESEL

Welcome to Poland buddy enjoy!!!!

Hey,

Thank you Nathans and Richthecat so much for the answers, I will then register the car and insure it at my name!

For the fact I'm a foreigner it's not a problem as I'm here since february and I already did all the papers to stay, including PESEL.

Enjoy the fun of the registration office a true Polish experience with lots of waiting, different rooms, paying and stamping of forms.

Have fun

For OC try Link4 or Aviva, they seem to be the best and if it is a beater car just buy the absolute cheapest, as OC is for other people not you.

Also you could try after you have done a quote online take it to a broker and see if they can beat it. I found if you go with quotes they will sometimes do you a better deal but without quotes you will pay through the nose