If you’re planning a big jaunt overseas in your car this summer, then good on you – a long road trip around the continent is the sort of adventure that will give you memories that will last a lifetime.
Here’s a checklist of things you should prepare before you go.
Licence to thrill
Your Irish driving licence permits you on the roads anywhere in the EU, but if you’re planning to travel further afield than that, you might need an International Driving Permit (IDP). It won’t cost a great deal, but you need to check if the countries you’re heading to require an IDP before you go.
Validate your insurance
Most insurance policies cover driving in Europe, but it can be mandated that you notify your provider before you go. Also, some places – Monaco being a prime example – are often specifically excluded from insurance policies, so don’t just assume everywhere west of Russia will be covered. Even if you are covered, an insurance Green Card can help with making an overseas claim, so look into getting one of those sorted out.
Ensure breakdown cover
Connected to insurance, you want to ensure you have breakdown cover in place for all of Europe. This can often be provided through your insurance, or if you have a dedicated third-party roadside-assistance provider, but make sure you’ll be OK in the event your car doesn’t make it through the trip under its own steam.
Emissions zones
With the advent of cleaner urban living and the crackdown on tailpipe nasties, a lot of big European cities now have clean-air zones or areas where driving within them requires either a permit or a visible sticker on the vehicle – even if you’re a tourist.
France, for example, has the Crit’Air Vignette for all of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Nice, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Rouen, Reims, and Saint-Étienne. Germany requires the Umweltplakette for Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart, and Hamburg. Italy’s Zona Traffico Limitato actually demands a specific permit to drive in Rome, Milan, Florence and Bologna, and not having said permit can trigger a €100 fine. Check out each and every city you plan to travel on your route, before you go, to make sure you have the necessary paperwork.
Keep all your documents together
Before the trip, have various key documents all in one folder that you can easily take with you. Include your driving licence and any IDP you’ve got, your insurance certificate and the Green Card (if you have one), proof of breakdown cover, your car ownership details or rental agreement showing proof of authorisation to drive the car in Europe, and travel insurance documents and your European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) too.
Essential items
There are some items that various countries on the continent require you carry in the car by law. These include a first-aid kit, Hi-Viz vests for each of the car’s occupants (not just one per car), a toolkit, a red warning triangle, a torch and a fire extinguisher, among more. Check each and every territory you’ll be travelling through to make sure you have these items if they’re legally mandated and purchase any specific pieces you don’t already possess.
Then there’s some common-sense stuff that you might want to carry, even if you were only driving long-distance in Ireland. Things like a blanket, spare fuel cans, a tow rope, water, replacement bulbs for your vehicle, games and entertainment for the kids, a map (yes, most people use navigation these days, but in the event your device fails or you can’t get phone signal in a remote area, it’s a good idea to have a physical back-up so you don’t get lost)… obviously, trying to pack all of this stuff and your holiday clobber like suitcases into one vehicle might be tricky, but be reasonable and assess what you might need for where you are going.
Give the car a health check
Even if you’ve got a newer vehicle and you think it’s in tip-top condition, it never hurts to check the condition of the tyres, the levels of the oils and coolants (if a combustion-engined vehicle) and other vital fluids under the bonnet before you go on a long journey.
Also, while there are a handful of exceptions (namely, the UK, Malta and Cyprus), countries in continental Europe drive on the right, not the left like us. So you need to adjust your headlights accordingly so you don’t dazzle other road users – either through physical adjuster stickers that affix to the lamp units themselves, or (if your car is modern enough) via a setting in its infotainment or driver’s cluster to switch the lights to illuminating to the right, not the left.