Paperwork for Landy Rally

Prompted by a post by Team Intel Inside Mental Outside, here are my recommendations for Landy Rally 2009 preparation.

1. Although obvious, make certain your RAC/AA Continental Breakdown Cover is booked now (by the way, never ever say you are taking part in any organised event of any kind, merely that you will be on a touring holiday for x number of days).

2. Let your insurance company know now that you’ll be going on holiday in September. Whereas in days gone by they would issue a Green Card, nowadays it’s totally different with virtually nothing issued at all. For instance, I informed my insurance company that I would be travelling abroad in June on a touring holiday (on the reconnoitre for Landy Rally as it happens) and all they asked me was, “Are you travelling to Western Europe or beyond to Eastern countries such as Ukraine, Russia, etc?” Answer was no, so no problem. They didn’t even register where I was going! To them the countries we will be visiting on Landy Rally are nowadays regarded in the same light as Scotland, Wales or England – they are simply another (West) European state.

3. Obviously you must get a quote from your insurance company (again, best now) for adding an extra driver to your policy. I added 19 year old Kieran aka Firestarter on to mine – a 3.9 Efi Auto Range Rover with fully comprehensive cover – for two weeks and it cost me a whopping £23.00!!! I kid you not, only £23 for a driver that’s under 25 years old; amazing!

4. Get yourself a European Health Insurance Card. Details of this can be found in the Info section of the main Landy rally website at www.landyrally.com It’s simplicity itself!

5. Get yourself personal travel insurance. Me I don’t bother any more but I suppose I should. I always recommend it nevertheless.

6. Obvious I realise, but check your passports. They do run out eventually, so check the expiry date and leave them in a safe place. Once I had mine in ‘a safe place’, but on the eve of departure I went there and it had vanished. In a panic I turned the place upside down, but still couldn’t find it. Result was I lost the opportunity of a lucrative job abroad … gutted! After acquiring another passport in the coming weeks, it eventually came to light buried in a box folder I had opened weeks previously. Once closed and stored, there was absolutely no chance of finding the ‘missing’ passport. It was virtually under my nose all the time - doubly gutted! You have been warned.

7. Don’t bother booking any ferries just yet. We are still looking at the possibility of starting from Eindhoven in Holland, but the chances are looking extremely slim. I would say it is 90% certain that we will be setting off from Calais as in previous years, for the “4x4 World Show” in Eindhoven looks to have been cancelled, replaced by a much smaller winch challenge event over the same weekend; more details of this to follow. All I do know is that if we do start off from Calais again, the prospect of an official Police escort leading our convoy and waking up the town with our sirens and horns is as appealing as ever.

That’s all I can think of for now paperwork-wise, anything else I have forgotten folks?

Find and check MoT and V5 papers.

Tell your bank you're going to be in lots of countries, or they might block your cards.

Apart from taking your car insurance and MOT documents, another good idea is to photocopy all documentation (passport, European Health Insurance Card, insurances, breakdown cover, etc.) and keep them in a seperate place to the originals. That way, should you loose the orginals, at least you have an instant record of the numbers and so forth.

Also, make certain your co-driver is in possesion of a spare set of keys + alarm zapper of your vehicle. Not only does it make life easier for access to the vehicle, it can be pretty handy when the driver loses his/hers or locks them inside.

Whether it be Landy Rally or any other reason, my advice when travelling abroad is to always carry your driving lience and passport on you in a zipped pocket. Besides the obvious - having it stolen whilst in the vehicle - a passport can be very handy for ID (i.e. Bureau de Change, cashing up traveller's cheques, etc.) Adventure-wear trousers are good for this purpose as they usually have zipped leg pockets.

Any other tips?

Tom, thanks for all the information.

The four vehicles from the 4x4 Jamboree group have already started on the planning. We booked the ferry (Hull to Rotterdam going, returning Calais to Dover) months ago. However, should you decide we start from Calais we'll still get the ferry to Rotterdam, then drive down to Calais.

Vehicle Insurance - My insurance provider has asked for details on which dates/countries we'll be driving through for their records (no extra charge), but they must have this info. Can you please provide that at the first opportunity. Thanks.

Richard.

From your neck of the woods, Hull-Rotterdam is probably best anyway.

Countries are France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Andorra,
Spain and back to Calais.

Richard Potts wrote:

Vehicle Insurance - My insurance provider has asked for details on which dates/countries we'll be driving through for their records (no extra charge), but they must have this info. Can you please provide that at the first opportunity. Thanks.
Richard.

Unless you've told them it's something other than a holiday, the start and end dates should be enough?

Normally I’d agree, but these days they are paranoid about folk travelling outside the ‘normal’ countries – in other words Western or Central Europe.

As a member of the European Union, you can drive through a neighbouring state as long as you can produce a car insurance document of your home country. All non-EU citizens still require a Green Card in order to drive through, and within, the European Community.

Having done some lengthy research, the following list represents the majority (but not all – maybe less) of the extent of cover that vehicle insurance company’s tend to adhere to:-

-Austria
-Belgium
-Bulgaria
-Croatia
-Cyprus
-Czech Republic
-Denmark
-Estonia
-Finland
-France
-Germany
-Gibraltar
-Greece
-Hungary
-Iceland
-Ireland
-Italy
-Liechtenstein
-Luxembourg
-Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.)
-Malta
-Monaco
-Morocco
-The Netherlands
-Norway
-Poland
-Portugal
-Romania
-San Marino
-Slovakia
-Slovenia
-Spain
-Sweden
-Switzerland
-Tunisia
-Turkey
-United Kingdom

To sum up, whereas in days gone by all drivers would require a Green Card to travel on the Continent, nowadays with the scheme superseded for EU nationals (us) all you have to do is inform your insurance company that you are travelling abroad on a “touring holiday”. The majority will simply ask which countries, make a note of these and the start/finish dates, and that’s it. Far simpler, far easier, it is one of the benefits of this ‘new Europe’ we find ourselves living in, regardless of whether we want to or not … but that’s a different subject entirely. Would have been nice to have been asked though …

And just the throw the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons, I wasn’t aware that Tunisia had joined the European Union?

Tom.... appreciate info. on countries we'll be traveling through - Would you please add the date(s) to each country. Thanks.

Richard.

Not quite yet. Want to get the Billing/Newark shows out of the way first (next weekend), then following week I'll start working on the Road Book based on the info Keiran and I gathered during the recce.

Will also have a definite answer about Eindhoven by then and whether the 4x4 Wereld Show is happening or not. Finding out about this is proving almost impossible! Unless something major happens, still have a feeling it will be Calais to Calais again. We'll see.

I would like to start in Eindhoven using the Weird Show as the start line seems somehow appropriate.

Eh? I can't recall calling it the "4x4 Wierd Show". Have always called it the "4x4 Wereld Show" ... I think!

What are you talking about man? Just because you've been over in Paddyland, you seem to have gone ga ga!!!

hi tom,,,all very good advice..could i give you some more,,if you have a safe that fits under the seat or you can put somewhere and bolt it in,,,,do so,,then put all your docs in it,,,lock it,,,and dont take them out unless you have to,,and if you do,,, put them back,,that way you wont loose them
you know where they are,,,and as tom said make photo copies of everything and get them laminated,,,,,
i was robbed but the safe kept everything ,,,,SAFE,,,,,,

I'd second that Tug. Range Rover classic is easy as you can simply make a hinged lockable flap at the front of the seat base and fill in the four sides. This is because it has the space underneath, but obviously not all vehicles are the same.

Wherever you locate it (or even 'them' as one can contain the originals, the 2nd copies), clearly a heavy duty safe is the ultimate, but even a simply lockable box is okay if it's a good location. If nothing else, it's somewhere you can place all your valuables rather than passports, cash, cameras, etc. strewn all over the vehicle.

"Out of sight, out of mind" is a good basic policy for avoid a whole lot of hassle, that goes for in the UK as well as on Landy Rally.

Made this a separate post as it ought to stand out:-

Recently whilst at a football match I was stupid enough to leave my Garmin Sat Nav in the windscreen of the Rangie. The inevitable happened of course, a smashed driver’s window, a missing GPS and a cold drive home. An expensive mistake all around. To avoid a future occurrence, not only do I merely hide it now, I have started doing the following ...

When unattended – even whilst paying for fuel – I now pop the GPS unit in my leg pocket of my adventure-wear trousers. The pocket is a soft material so the screen won’t scratch and this way it’s safe ‘n’ sound. Now the clever bit - I think!!! I also place the leather wallet it came in completely open and empty on the dash right alongside the windscreen GPS sucker. This I feel says two things.

a) That the GPS unit is not simply stored out of sight in the glove compartment/cubby box, but has not been left in the vehicle at all.

b) As so many people do store their GPS in the glove compartment/cubby box, “there is no need to smash my window Mr Thief when you see either the sucker/holder still attached to the windscreen or even when you see the circles of spit that got left behind when I hid the sucker/holder”.

Good idea or bad? I’ve heard of countless occasions where windows have been smashed simply because the ‘tea leaf’ had a hunch the GPS was hidden in the glove/cubby box (‘cause as I said they usually are), so to avoid the hassle my ‘open-wallet-trick’ has to be good – doesn’t it?

Going to make another copy of the documents to give to a separate team / vehicle.

Also

My nav has never been touched and its left in full display even at petrol stations with the doors unlocked. Might be due to the fact it is a 2001 copy of the AA map of Britain!

Hope it's on non-shiny paper, then it'll have a dual use.

I have to say though, on the first recce in June 2007 I made fewer navigational errors than the two following reconnoitres; what does that tell you?

My nav has never been touched and its left in full display even at petrol stations with the doors unlocked. Might be due to the fact it is a 2001 copy of the AA map of Britain,,,,,,,

believe me,,on some busy motorways in france and spain low life sit and wait and watch in service stations,, ,,they will pull up beside you distract your passenger while your in paying for fuel and nick anything that they think is worth something,,, ,,,,,,,,never leave your motor unlocked,,,even for a split second,,,,,trust me they will have it,, ,in spain and france its getting quite bad there are a lot of eastern europeans and south americans they cant get jobs so they make a living out of stealing,,,it might be ok if your all together but still be carefull,,,even in the UK,,,,,

think security at all times,,,,,, ,

All good advice... so thanks for all the tips!

Tom, any news on the dates/countries we'll be driving through?... (to update the insurance company). Tks.

Richard.....

It's as before Richard, the same eleven countries as listed on the main Landy Rally website driven between 19th and 27th September 2009. That's the only information they require, not the exact dates you'll be passing through each individual country.

Ok Tom... I'll give it a go. However they wanted the dates the last time I spoke to them. I'll let you know. Tks.

Richard.

Insurance company were fine this time, just gave them the start/finish dates of the trip + list of countries.

That's the paperwork all complete

Richard.

Excellent!

On the subject of paperwork ..... which maps do we need this year?

Virtually the same as previously, but this I can confirm when the Road Book is complete. Starting on that this week but first that means deciphering Kieran’s hieroglyphics!.

Tom Mc wrote:

Virtually the same as previously, but this I can confirm when the Road Book is complete.

I should have kept the ones I bought last year ...