A startrescue.co.uk story...

Readiness is all, Shakespeare once wrote, and while it can be fun to be spontaneous in life, there are some activities that you would be well advised to prepare for. Driving abroad could well be one of those activities. It’s easy to forget that once you wave ta-ta to the white cliffs of Dover and float across to mainland Europe, the rules are a bit a different, or at least are interpreted differently. So as well as taking out short term European cover or similar breakdown cover, here are a few handy tips for driving abroad:

Once you enter another land, a great many things change; the architecture, the food, the dress sense. So it’s little wonder that the local driving style can be very different too. It’s important to drive defensively, wherever you go, and try to expect the unexpected. You may not find the same courtesies you find in the UK!

It sounds obvious, but you should never drive when you’re tired. It’s a bad enough choice to do so in your own country, but when you’re driving abroad, you need to be extra vigilant about what fellow drivers are doing. There’s nothing worse than going into a micro sleep on the Autobahn. You’ll need more than short term European cover for that situation.

Even though you’re on holiday and you’re trying to relax, it doesn’t mean you can relax about wearing your seatbelt. Make sure you and your family are wearing theirs; many foreign police forces don’t take kindly to this kind of misdemeanour. Equally, using your mobile whilst driving can land you in hot water with local law enforcers too – and you may not have the language to wriggle yourself out of the situation.

One last thing, which can be a real issue when you’ve got lots of holiday luggage: don’t overload your vehicle to the extent that you can’t see out of the back window!

So, get yourself some short term European cover from www.startrescue.co.uk, stick to the pointers above, and you’re sure to have a fantastic driving holiday.