Vehicle Prep - UK Vehicle Insurance & Registration:
In order to drive a private vehicle on public roads the vehicle must have the following:

Vehicle Registration Certificate: Certificate filed with the DVLA stating that you are the keeper of the vehicle.

Ministry of Transportation (MOT) Certificate: Vehicle inspection certificate valid for 12 months certifying that the vehicle is roadworthy.

Road Tax Medallion: Must pay road tax which is valid for either 6 or 12 months. Once paid, you will receive a medallion which must be displayed on the wind screen.

Third Party Insurance: Basic liability insurance protecting third parties in the event of a vehicle accident.

In order to register the vehicle with the DVLA you must have a valid third party insurance policy. Obtaining insurance through a UK insurance company proved difficult because all insurers require the vehicle's keeper to be a permanent UK resident and in most cases the keeper must also have a UK issued drivers license. Our situation is clearly unique in that we are US citizens living in the United States who have purchased a UK registered vehicle to outfit and then permanently export. Fortunately, thanks to some creative thinking by Geico International, we were set up as expatriates and issued a 12 month, one time only, third party tourist policy valid for travel throughout the European Union. The only requirement was that we needed a care-of address in the UK, which we have.

Once insurance was obtained, we were able to register the vehicle with the DVLA. Since all road taxes and MOT were up-to-date, the process was actually quite painless. At purchase the previous owner and new owner sign the registration certificate, remove one section to be retained by the new owner and submit the other section to the DVLA for processing. Once processed the DVLA will issue a new registration certificate to the owner. The entire process can be handled by mail.