Does your holiday check list include your VE 103B?

General Guides 

What? VE 103B? What's one of those when it's at home?

If you've been leasing for a while you may already be aware that you need permission from your lease provider to take your car out of the country. Either that or you had no idea but you've been lucky and got away with it. Essentially this is just a little bit of admin, but if you're planning on taking a trip to the continent it's a vital piece of holiday preparation.

It comes down to the fact that a lease car technically doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the lease company, and as such you should have permission to take the car out of the UK. As a matter of course it's unlikely your lease provider will withhold permission, but if you were to run foul of those nice European Police Officers and you don't have the relevant form you could find yourself with an impounded car and a slightly less enjoyable holiday.

If you were driving your own car all you would need to take is the registration document, your driving license, and proof of insurance for the vehicle, plus all the usual country-specific extras like breathalysers, high-viz jackets, warning triangles, spare bulbs, and so on.

Driving a lease car is slightly different as you may not have access to the V5, or your lease company may not want you to take it out of the country. In this case you will need to request a VE 103B form from your lease provider that states you have permission to drive the car abroad. It contains details of the vehicle taken from the V5, along with the name and address of the hirer and enables the authorities to verify that the person driving the vehicle has permission to do so.

All this takes is a quick call to your lease provider who will arrange for the form to sent to you in case you need to produce it whilst out of the country. It's a simple process but one that is absolutely essential for trouble-free motoring on the continent.

So when you're planning your summer holiday make sure you add the VE 103B to your holiday check list. It should be up there with passports, tickets, and the inflatable Flamingo you use to brighten up the swimming pool.

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