Well it looks like Ive landed myself a job back driving in Euroland after 14 years away from it, obviously I know alot of things will have changed over the years away so I have a few questions for you regulars. I still do a couple of trips a year over the water doing the aid runs for a charity to Kosovo so the driving o the otherside isnt a problem and I do keep upto date with things on here.
What is the best Sat nav for over the water ? Do the specialist truck sat navs still operate the height and weight limits when abroad (although height shouldnt be a problem as its a low level tipper ) ?
Best internet dongle for price and coverage ?
Best European road atlas ?
What is the HMRC allowance for night out money when abroad before you have to pay tax on it ? I will be going self employed so want to be able to claim the max possible.
Paul
Sat nav - too many to choose from. I use a garmin & it’s fine, never used any other do can’t say.
I use a Philips euro atlas & again it’s fine.
Stay away from dongles abroad if poss. Bloody expensive.
No upper limit for night out money whilst abroad ! But must be agreed with local tax office.
turnip:
Sat nav - too many to choose from. I use a garmin & it’s fine, never used any other do can’t say.
I use a Philips euro atlas & again it’s fine.
Stay away from dongles abroad if poss. Bloody expensive.
No upper limit for night out money whilst abroad ! But must be agreed with local tax office.
I never had a problem with a Tom Tom Euro XL, any satnav will get you into trouble if you are stupid in believing them, would you go down a narrow lane if a couple of 16 year old kids told you to, the sat nav is the same, use a bit of common and carry a map.
I have always bought local maps, or bought them locally. FALK or Super Strassen
Plenty of wifi hotspots around in Europe, mainly free.
Wheel Nut:
turnip:
Sat nav - too many to choose from. I use a garmin & it’s fine, never used any other do can’t say.
I use a Philips euro atlas & again it’s fine.
Stay away from dongles abroad if poss. Bloody expensive.
No upper limit for night out money whilst abroad ! But must be agreed with local tax office.
I never had a problem with a Tom Tom Euro XL, any satnav will get you into trouble if you are stupid in believing them, would you go down a narrow lane if a couple of 16 year old kids told you to, the sat nav is the same, use a bit of common and carry a map.
I have always bought local maps, or bought them locally. FALK or Super Strassen
Plenty of wifi hotspots around in Europe, mainly free.
In all the years I’ve been driving I have never gone a bought a sat nav I dont really trust them and always prefered maps, but the thing is with maps they dont tend to tell you any weight limits and so many of the nationals are now putting restrictions on thats why I am looking at the truckmate type as a back up. I have a good sat nav built into my Samsung phone that I use to double check addresses in the UK but not sure if it will work abroad, plus it connects to the internet initially to upload the map and it doesnt have truck details on it.
A dongle for the laptop would again be a back up incase parked up without free wifi
I have in the past always bought maps for each country whilst in that country but always prefered getting a European road atlas in the UK, just been that long since doing continental work I am not sure which one is the best at the moment.
Paul:
Wheel Nut:
turnip:
Sat nav - too many to choose from. I use a garmin & it’s fine, never used any other do can’t say.
I use a Philips euro atlas & again it’s fine.
Stay away from dongles abroad if poss. Bloody expensive.
No upper limit for night out money whilst abroad ! But must be agreed with local tax office.
I never had a problem with a Tom Tom Euro XL, any satnav will get you into trouble if you are stupid in believing them, would you go down a narrow lane if a couple of 16 year old kids told you to, the sat nav is the same, use a bit of common and carry a map.
I have always bought local maps, or bought them locally. FALK or Super Strassen
Plenty of wifi hotspots around in Europe, mainly free.
In all the years I’ve been driving I have never gone a bought a sat nav I dont really trust them and always prefered maps, but the thing is with maps they dont tend to tell you any weight limits and so many of the nationals are now putting restrictions on thats why I am looking at the truckmate type as a back up. I have a good sat nav built into my Samsung phone that I use to double check addresses in the UK but not sure if it will work abroad, plus it connects to the internet initially to upload the map and it doesnt have truck details on it.
A dongle for the laptop would again be a back up incase parked up without free wifi
I have in the past always bought maps for each country whilst in that country but always prefered getting a European road atlas in the UK, just been that long since doing continental work I am not sure which one is the best at the moment.
I was a bit of a luddite when it came to satnav and was probably one of the last one of my friends and workmates to buy one. I used a normal car unit with the settings on van. It never let me down except where a bridge had washed away but even my map had that marked.
As for the weight limits. I was told by a French driver that if a road has an E number they cannot enforce a weight limit on them as they are European funded for the transport industry. It certainly worked for me in France 
Did you get that job down in the Valleys?
ref self employed night out allowance you cant claim anything tax free only put in meal reciepts etc
if your a ltd company then yes you can claim the max ~£25 and pennies tax free as your an employee of your company
anything more depends on agreement with tax office and also £2 day meal allowance
gettin-on:
ref self employed night out allowance you cant claim anything tax free only put in meal reciepts etc
if your a ltd company then yes you can claim the max ~£25 and pennies tax free as your an employee of your company
anything more depends on agreement with tax office and also £2 day meal allowance
Cheers, the " what I can and what I can’t claim for " is something that I am going to have to look into closely, but a mate of mine works on the same job and has done for the past 4 years so I am sure he can help me out.
On the Ltd company bit though…would the Ltd company not be laible for employer tax and NI if I was an employee ? If not how much and what is needed to set up a Ltd company ?
Malc …no it’s not from the Valleys, I was about to call S&K when an old work mate contacted me on facebook and told me the guy he was pulling for is looking for a driver for euro work. The boss is away until this weekend so I havent accepted the job yet until I speak to him myself but my mate has spoken to him and he has offered me the job off my mates recommendation, he even wanted me to ship out today but my digi card ran out last year and because I’ve been on analogue I hadnt replaced it, so sent off for replacement and should know for definate on Saturday, then if all is ok hand my notice in at present job and wait for digi card to arrive ( that and convince the GF its ok for me to be away ) and hopefully back in euroland in a couple of weeks 
if normal self employed speak to accountant first
your mate might be ok but know people been caught out 5 years later and had to pay all the tax plusd interest on the nights out etc