Car insurance and driving in Romania

Yesterday I insured my 2008 Dacia Logan MCV 1.5DCi as a business vehicle for 640 RON, the equivalent of £128 per annum. Insurance is in my company name, Casa Cristina Roandola SRL, and it covers use in the role of a taxi, i.e. to collect guests from airports/stations or take them on day trips for payment. I didn't have to give any details of age, experience, driving licence etc.

Out of curiosity I have just compared UK insurance quotes and now firmly believe that UK insurers charge more than (no pun intended!) necessary in order to make huge profits.

For the UK quote I used personal details on file from 2008 with a well-known price comparison website (which only cost a "tenor") for quotes on a Discovery TDi and just changed the vehicle details. Although Dacia was listed as a manufacturer, my attempt to find "Logan" models produced no results, presumably because they are not yet sold in the UK. However, the Dacia company is owned by Renault and under the skin my car is in fact a Renault Modus. It shares the same floorpan/engine/gearbox/running gear etc, the seats are recognisably Renault and, whilst in the UK recently, I saw identical wheel trims on a Clio. The body is Dacia designed, albeit with Renault assistance, and has seven seats rather than the Modus's five.

So using the Renault Modus 1.5DCi and entering the same value as my Dacia, the website returned 80+ results. The cheapest was £164, then one at £190, quite a lot in the £210-230 range and the most expensive was £670! These quotes were based on the car being a business vehicle for my old occupation of signmaking and for owner/driver only. I dread to think how much the quotes would have been if I had requested cover for any driver, changed my occupation to guesthouse owner and included carrying passengers for reward!

There are far fewer vehicles on Romanian roads compared with the UK and repair costs for minor accident damage, even at franchised dealers, considerably lower than UK costs. However, statistics* show that Romania's road accident rates, based on criteria such as car ownership per 1000 population, are some of the highest in the EU. From what I have seen in 19 years of coming to Romania, accidents are more likely to be serious resulting in vehicles being written off, therefore if UK insurance rates were truly based on risk factors they should be much lower.

In 2007 Romania's road deaths were 2.6 times higher per million inhabitants and 7.4 times higher per million passenger cars than in the UK, not surprising really as most Romanian car drivers do NOT like being overtaken - other than those in the old type Dacia 1310 (ex Renault 12) models who have little choice in the matter! Many times I have safely got past a car which seemed quite happy cruising at 80/90kph only to find that I have triggered something in the driver which causes him to think that, even though I am travelling faster and drawing away from him, he MUST NOT LET ME BE IN FRONT OF HIM! Within a short distance, he (the great majority of Romanian drivers are male) will have put his foot down, caught up and then overtaken me again, seemingly oblivious to oncoming traffic, before dropping back to his former cruising speed just in front of me!

Built-up area speed limits, normally 50kph, and "No overtaking" zones are routinely ignored. I try to observe speed limits but it's difficult when another vehicle, usually an SUV or a large new German made car (!) is tailgating me. I have been overtaken in towns and villages by everything from cars to 40 tonne artics, not just travelling 10kph but 20 or 30kph faster than me.

Please don't let what I've said put you off coming to Romania though - I need guests for Casa Cristina! Keep your cool and let the budding Formula One drivers overtake, even if you are in a line of vehicles behind a slow truck. Generally speaking Romanian roads are much straighter than those in the UK and with no hedges to obscure the view, safe overtaking opportunities are plentiful.

I have always found that patience pays off. Often when following a slow vehicle up a winding hill I have been overtaken on a blind corner by an impatient driver and yet just round that corner the road is straight again or an uphill overtaking lane starts. Many times a car or van which has overtaken me in an inappropriate place has reached its destination 10kms down the road shortly before I go past again and the driver is only just getting out of his vehicle, having risked his life to save a few seconds.

My personal view, for what it's worth, is that many Romanians, especially in rural areas, haven't quite got used to the relative increase in car ownership (see below) and still drive as they did when it was possible to go for many kilometres with only horse drawn carts and people on bicycles to impede their progress.


* All statistics are from "EU Energy and Transport in Figures" 2009 (latest available downloadable PDF and based on 2007 figures) from which I reproduce a few facts.

1) Land areas of Romania and UK are similar at 237,500 and 244,000 sq kms respectively
2) Population figures though are very different with 21.5 million in Romania and 61.2 million in the UK
3) Car ownership in Romania was up 165% between 1995 and 2007 to 164 cars per 1000 population (still by far the lowest in the EU) and only one third of the UK figure of 476 cars per 1000 population
4) Road network (metalled surface) Romania 79,953kms (including 228kms of motorway), UK 174,942kms (including 3,670kms of motorway)
5) Road fatalities Romania 2,794 (130 per million population), UK 3,058 (50 per million population) for all categories of road user including pedestrians
6) Road accidents involving personal injury Romania 8,450 (393 per million population), UK 187,120 (3,063 per million population)

Note: According to the EU the last statistic may be distorted by the way different countries define an accident involving personal injury

Home to Roandola (Part Two)

Next day (Saturday) I had a substantial breakfast and was back on the autobahn by 9:30 heading for Hungary. Traffic was fairly light and thankfully the road was dry making the journey much more enjoyable. I stopped for lunch at a McDonalds 90kms west of Budapest then pressed on at a good pace. Around 30kms beyond Budapest the E60 parted company with the M5 motorway and became a single carriageway road via Szolnock towards Romania. Once darkness fell, my tired eyes were getting dazzled by many oncoming vehicles with badly adjusted headlights and I decided to find a hotel for the night.

In Berettyoujfalu, 30kms from the Romanian border, I followed signs for Hotel Angela but when I found it, they didn't take debit or credit cards and I did not have enough Forints in cash. The chap on reception, whose English was not very good, said there was an ATM at Tesco (Aaagh! I hate Tesco!) just down the road. I drove off to find it but could only see a Lidl store and while turning the car round, noticed another hotel with a Mastercard sticker on the door. I parked the car, confirmed that they took credit cards and also found that their price was only €25 including breakfast whereas Hotel Angela would have cost me €55. So, for considerably less than I would have paid for just bed and breakfast at Hotel Angela, I also had a nice steak dinner and a couple of beers at Molo Hotel!

On Sunday morning I had a large plate of scrambled eggs with bits of bacon which filled me up nicely before setting off for Romania. Another diesel fill up just after Oradea and then on to Somesul Rece. I went to the Tambuc house first but the gate was locked so next stop was the Lazar house. Denisa was at home with her parents, Saul and Maria, so we had no communication problems and spent an hour or so catching up on what had been happening since I last saw them in June on a visit with Louise, Chris and the kids. I left at 3:30pm and was soon cruising down the new A3 motorway and on towards Targu Mures. After turning onto a back road which bypasses Targu Mures, it started to get foggy so the rest of the journey was at a fairly slow pace and I finally got home at 6pm.

When I opened up the house it was colder inside than it was outside! The thermometer in the living room was reading -2C but outside it felt warmer and the snow still on the summer kitchen roof was thawing rapidly with melt water dripping everywhere. I had drained as much water as possible from the pipes before I left but the taps were nevertheless frozen even though they had been left open. The water in the toilet pan was also frozen and it was the middle of the next day before a couple of electric heaters warmed the kitchen and bathroom sufficiently for everything to be defrosted. However, my problems were not over. After turning the supply back on in the cellar, I went back to the bathroom to hear water running in the shower cubicle. At first I thought the instant shower heater had frozen and split but after turning the water off again, a closer inspection revealed it was the mixer tap which had a split in it. The mixer tap was replaced the same afternoon and the house is gradually warming up again now one of the wood stoves has been lit.

It took a while to unload the car, started on Sunday evening and finished Monday. I have slept the last four nights in a sleeping bag on an airbed on the living room floor as there was only enough cut wood to keep one stove burning. More wood was cut yesterday (Wednesday) but the chainsaw was getting decidedly blunt. Today I went to Sighisoara and had the chain sharpened again (cost 7 RON - £1.40!) and I'm sure it is actually better than when it was new. Once the chain was refitted, I managed to cut considerably more wood in half an hour than I had managed in three times as long on Wednesday! Tomorrow I shall attempt to build up enough cut wood for at least a month - here's hoping it doesn't rain!

The photo at the top of this post was taken on Wednesday 12th in Danes, a small town about 10kms from Roandola on the road to Sighisoara. As you can see Christmas/New Year lights are still very much in evidence here in Romania, probably because the Orthodox church does not celebrate Christmas until January 7th. Presumably the lights will be there until January 18th - or possibly longer!

Home to Roandola (Part One)

After a very enjoyable time in Newbury with my daughter and her family, I headed down to Hindhead to spend my last night on British soil with my son and his family. My car was loaded to the top of the front seat headrests with suitcases and boxes containing all the things I was taking to Romania. On the front passenger seat I had a cool box with some food for the journey and in the passenger footwell was my laptop bag and an A4 plastic sleeve with passport, vehicle documents and Channel Tunnel Shuttle train booking confirmation. Daisy, my newest grandchild, was pleased to see me again and I had a delightful time looking after her on my last morning when daddy had gone off to work and mummy was having a shower. All too soon it was time to say goodbye and set off for Folkestone.

I had planned to go to a shop in Folkestone town to buy two new Makita rechargeable batteries for Cole, my builder and new friend, as they are cheaper in the UK. The journey was not pleasant as it was raining quite hard all the way but to add to the unpleasantness, almost within sight of Folkestone, the car started spluttering and was running out of fuel. Fortunately I was very near a junction slip road and managed to make it almost to the top of the ramp. The low fuel warning light had come on but previous experience led me to think I had around 100kms (60 miles) of fuel left which should have got me to my destination. I put in 5 litres from a spare fuel can and tried to restart the car, forgetting that a diesel engine has to be primed again after running out of fuel. My efforts to start the car eventually flattened the battery so I got my tow rope out and stood on the slip road waving it at the cars and vans coming up the ramp. Not much traffic was coming off at that junction and after a few vehicles just drove round me, a Belgian couple in a 4x4 stopped and towed me the short distance to the service area where I put more fuel in, found the hand priming pump and then asked the filling station staff if they could give me a push start. "No mate, the forecourt's not long enough" was their excuse but fortunately a lady who was paying for petrol overheard and offered the use of a booster battery jump start. However, it didn't have enough power in it to start a diesel car so she then brought her car round to mine and produced some jump leads. Moments later my car was running again and I thanked her profusely for her kindness.

By this time it was too late to carry on into Folkestone, collect the Makita batteries and get back to the Channel Tunnel before the check-in for my train closed. Sorry Cole, no batteries this time!

Arriving in France at 6pm CET, the drive to Belgium was in heavy rain. This produced lots of spray from the trucks and I was often plunging almost blind into what seemed like a wall of water but at least traffic as a whole was fairly light. On my first night I was unable to find a reasonably priced hotel in Belgium despite a couple of short forays into towns just off the motorway so by 10pm I gave up and parked up in a large layby and wrapped myself up in a sleeping bag for a slightly cramped night in the car! Much to my surprise I did manage to stay warm and slept, in spite of the rain drumming on the roof and windscreen, until around 6:30am. Resuming my journey, I stopped at a service area after 30 minutes or so and breakfasted on coffee and croissants. Refreshed and ready to continue my journey, I put in enough fuel to get to Luxemburg where I could fill up to the brim on the cheapest diesel in Europe at 91p per litre. Although there was still plenty blanketing the fields, the roads were clear of snow - the problem now was heavy rain which persisted for the next few hours.

On into Germany and following my satnav to head for Passau and the Austrian border I felt things were going well. Even the rain had stopped. Then near Heilbronn all traffic was directed off the A6 autobahn due to an accident. I spent over an hour going round in circles trying to find my way out of Heilbronn and back towards the autobahn, hoping to rejoin a couple of junctions further on. My satnav couldn't help me as it kept trying to put me back on the A6 at the same junction where the police had directed us off! Finally I reset the satnav to take me to a small town a bit further east and close to an A6 junction. At last I was back on track after seeing rather more of Heilbronn and surrounding German countryside than I had anticipated although one minor road did take me past a spectacular ruined fortress on top of a steep sided hill covered in vineyards.

By late afternoon I was in Austria, having stopped briefly to buy a vignette at Passau, and heading for Wels where I hoped to find accommodation and the next fill of reasonably priced diesel. Driving slowly past two or three filling stations I realised the price of diesel had gone up by around 13 Eurocents since December. Did Austria have a VAT and/or fuel duty increase since I filled up in the same town three weeks earlier? Nevertheless, diesel was still cheaper in Austria than in Germany or Hungary so I filled the tank and refilled my 5 litre spare can.

The search for accommodation took me south out of Wels for a short distance until I saw a "Pension" sign pointing along a right turn off the main road. Not far away I found Pension Oberpfennigmayrgut (photo #2) run by a family who gave me a warm welcome. They had no restaurant but I had food in the car - a large lump of Cheddar cheese, a baguette, some sunflower spread and half a packet of Jaffa cakes! This was sufficient for my needs and was washed down with a can of Romanian beer, one of four which should have been delivered to a friend in Grove but never got there as I ran out of time on the final trip to my old home village. Sorry Dave!

Back in England for Christmas (Part 3)

As my stay in England draws to a close, I will have many memories to take back with me - as well as jars of Marmite and bottles of brown sauce, two things I haven't found yet in Sighisoara supermarkets! Most of the memories will be of my three lovely grandchildren, Noah, Martha and Daisy. All three have made me smile a lot and have changed since I last saw them in July, especially Martha and Daisy.

Over the last few days I've been trying to clear out my storage unit and have failed! However, I did find a photo album with irreplaceable family photos and also some documents, including a comprehensive list of my grandmother's siblings' birth dates, which will help immensely in my family tree research. I did manage to get six loads to the local rubbish tip/recycling centre and this would have been more but for the New Year Holiday closing. Before I leave the area on Wednesday I shall check through the last couple of boxes and try to arrange for the waste and recycling company which has a depot on the same estate to empty the rest of the unwanted items for recycling or disposal.

Unfortunately on my way back from the rubbish tip I was caught speeding by a policeman with a radar gun who was lurking behind a garden fence! Result is a fixed penalty of £60 and 3 points on my licence which has been clean for well over 30 years. Doh! By the time the police had finished with me it was getting dark so all I could do was to load the things I am taking to Romania back into the car, lock up my storage unit and head back to Newbury by way of Grove and Wantage to call in on a couple of friends.

Wednesday is my last morning in Newbury so I will be saying "Goodbye" to son-in-law Chris as he heads off to work and to grandson Noah as he goes back to school. While Louise takes Noah to school I will be looking after Martha and once her mummy is back it will be "Goodbye" to them both until my next visit. I hope to be at my son's flat in Hindhead by mid-afternoon and will stay with Rob, Ali and baby Daisy overnight. Then it will be "Goodbye" to them after lunch as I head for Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel to catch 16:20 Shuttle train to France and start the long drive back to Roandola.