Car things
 

Hello all,

possibly a strange place to start with the many many questions I already have whirling around me bonce - however, seeing as though the wife has gone and bought a house in NB.......:ohmy:

.... onwards ......

Can a non PR buy, register and insure a car in NB or do you need to be a Canadian or have PR status (or have a visa of some description other than just a vistors visa)?

Lord what have we done? :huh: :blink:

Thanks

DaveJ

Re: Car things
 

Anyone can buy and insure a car, so long as you have a Canadian address.

Re: Car things
 

I wonder what the insurance costs would be like for a non-resident with a foreign driving license?

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When I did it, it made no difference to the premiums. Proof of no claims was accepted without a problem.

Re: Car things
 

+1

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Good to know. I *thought* I remembered it not being an issue when I was first here as a visitor, but I was added to an existing policy.

Re: Car things
 

For the discount, the important thing is proof of no claims history, not no claims discount.

Re: Car things
 

Neither of you were in NB though. Car insurance varies between being state run, BC, privately run but tightly regulated, AB, and a bit of a free for all, NB.

A good thing is that there aren't many cars in NB so premiums are low (well, relative to some other Provinces).

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Which is why I thought it worth a bit of a "heads-up" to the OP ... ;)

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Being non-resident with a foreign license would make the OP uninsurable by the company I know well. Other company's policies vary but I wouldn't count on this being an easy arrangement to make.

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What Rich said. Although I had exchanged my license for a NB one I think.

Re: Car things
 

Thanks all.

I may have an issue exchanging my licence in that I am hoping to keep my UK business running - at least initially - and will therefore be popping back the UK every 6 weeks or so and will need to drive when in the UK.

Next whilst on the insurance front ..... we have just received a quote for house insurance and me eyes are bleeding - hecky flump! $1831 pa. Does that sound normal (£900 pa) if it is then heyho. Just want to check they are not trying to have our pants down.

We are also going through the fun of trying to 1. renew my wifes Canadian passport (her last one expired when she was 25..she is now...hum... a little older), and 2. get Canadian passports for our 4 children and the folks at Canada House in London are not overly helpful. In fact the response to any questions we ask is always ....'check our website' regardless of the question ...arrrgh!!! AS she only has the card bit of her birth certificate we now have to write to somewhere in Vancouver to try and get 'official' copies of her birth ccertificatepaper part - evidently we need a copy for each of our childrens applications. But according 'their/the website' at this stage we can't apply for passports for the children we first have to apply for their citizenship certificates first. Then we can apply for their ppassportshaving obtained those. Heck this sounds like fun.

Once we have my wifes passport sorted we will then start on the long and rocky road to trying to obtain a spousal sponsorship for PR for me.

Any how, sorry for long post and thanks to all for replies. Is there a list of expat friendly car insurance companies in the WIKI? I can't seem to find one - I am a bit technologically challenged though.

All the best

DaveJ

Re: Car things
 

You can drive in the UK on any Canadian issued drivers licence. You can drive and insure a car with a foreign license, in BC anyway, I doubt other provinces will be any different. There is a limit to how long before you have to change your license once you start living here. In BC it is now 90 days I believe (used to be 6 months).

Home insurance is based on home location, hydrant location, fire service coverage, type of build, size of building, cost of rebuilding, size of lot, contents coverage included, you don't get to choose fro how much, way more than you need.

Re: Car things
 

And on credit rating, which is where newcomers tend to be weak.

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Ahhh, I was wondering on what basis your wife & you were planning to establish yourselves over here:).

As it appears that your wife & children are Canadian citizens ( even if you need to do a bit of paperwork! ;) ), *your* path to PR (spousal sponsorship) is actually one of the easiest (even if it doesn't feel like it!).

That house insurance doesn't look scarily over-the-top to me... Usual rules apply: get more than one quote; if you have friends or family in the province, ask them for referrals to their broker(s).

Re: Car things
 

Thanks all that is really useful info. The Insurance company was recommended to us by the Realtor - who in fairness has been very helpful (he did obviously also recommend getting other quotes).

Would the moderators perfer me to start seperate threads with the other questions we may have or continue within this one?

Thanks all

Re: Car things
 

It's really up to you, the problem with putting new questions in this thread is that they may not be seen. For example, if you were to ask about healthcare, then people with experience of that may not look at a thread titled 'car things'. So I'd suggest you start a new thread personally.

Just one tip from me, do get cracking with the children's proof of citizenship certs, as it can take quite a while.

HTH, good luck with it all.

Re: Car things
 

Thank you. Just as I posted the last bit that did actually occur to me as well. The problem with the citizenship forms is that they require 'certified' copies of my wife's birth certificate to be sent with them. Her birth certificate is just a little plastic card. We are therefore writing to the BC (she was born in Vancouver) government to get certified copies sent here to the UK - which costs about $80 a pop!

It always amazes me that for instance if you are stopped by a police officer in the street (Canada, UK, USA or Germany) for example with one radio call they can check your address, insurance details, car registration, criminal record and so on and so fourth because it is all on the database. However if you contact the embassy and say here is my birth certificate with my registration number the answer is 'no can't use that, go to our website' ...so basically you need to PAY lots of money for what seems a totally unnecessary and literal 'paper exercise.' Ho Hum :sneaky:

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Welcome to Canada. Get used to unnecessary obsessions with bits of paper and spending lots on the immigration process. :lol:

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You can order a Certified Copy of her Birth certificate online - at a cost of $50. https://ecos.vs.gov.bc.ca/#

:)

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I think obsession with bits of paper is part of the immigration process for any country. Having been through it twice, once for the UK for OH and again for Canada I would say that the UK system is considerably more difficult to navigate, unbelievable as that may be to those who have only dealt with the Canadian one (which is no picnic either).

Re: Car things
 

Thanks Siouxie,

We did that very thing yesterday - only problem being you can only order a maximum of 2 copies a time. :banghead:

Thanks for every ones input so far its been very helpful.

Incase we need to go over to Canada before the kids documentation arrives does anyone see a problem with me getting the kids UK passports in the mean time? That might be the quickest route at the moment using the guaranteed check and send service from the PO.

Or will that make the computers smoke and the system inplode on itself?

Cheers

DaveJ

Re: Car things
 

I meant Canada's obsession with bits of paper in general, not just for the immi process.

You want to be an admin assistant? Great, come and apply for the job, but you'll need a degree for that. You want to nurse over here? Great, just go through a year of hassle and thousands of dollars first because we don't believe your experience is up to scratch. You want to be a roadsweeper? Ah, you'll need to sit our exams because we don't think your broom sweeping skills are as good as our Canadian ones. Etc, etc. :blink:

OK, so I made the last one up, but still. :lol:

Re: Car things
 

Mm too true.... Although I was talking to a Canadian nurse who wanted to return to practice after children... In the UK a 20 week Return to Practice course is widely available throughout the country. The UK trusts value the experience and often offer jobs while on placement to those nurses. Here the CNO said- you need to go back to school but we don't have courses for you to attend so... She's given up on it- too hard to achieve. All that nursing and life experience which for a nurse can be invaluable gone just like that. Oddly it made me feel better that they discriminate against their own too..

Re: Car things
 

Welcome to NB.

Shop around for everything here. I dont take referals that seriously here as its a small province with a small town attitude so mostly its because they know or are related to the person they are referring you to. Dont fall for the nicey nicey bs. Its just that.

Locals here also seem more concerned with how nice the person is or if they feel like they were treated well. Brits tend to be a bit more cut the crap... ow much is it and what do I get for me money??

Just renewed my house insurance 4 bed new build semi 630 for the year.

Get used to everything happening at a snails pace and paying more for less. Tis the Atlantic Canada way!

As for driving there would be no issue with insurance registering the car etc as long as you have an address. Oh and on the driving front the locals are bloody useless behind the wheel. Dont waste your time trying to work out what they are thinking......quite simply they dont think!!! (or signal or check the blind spot, they will give you the finger despite it being 100% their fault but remember they genuinely dont know that its not your fault,clearly you are in the wrong as they can do none!!!)

Re: Car things
 

This is one of the reasons I am initially going to try to keep my business running in the UK when we first make the move over.

DaveJ

Re: Car things
 

Re driving license, you probably have 90 days to switch it to a NB license.
I "get" your comments about returning to the UK, but the law here wont care. If you get pulled over for speeding, they'll add another ticket and depending on how long you want to insist on keeping your UK license, they could even tow your car.

Happened to me, when, despite having a valid (in date), but out of province license, I was over the 90 days, and my car was towed.

Get an NB license, and see if they'll let you keep your UK license. If they dont, report your UK license lost, and they'll send you a new one.

Re: Car things
 

That is kind of the impression I am start to get!

I kind of left the ultimate decision of place to live to the wife - strategic decision being that I could not be blamed for area being terrible to live in if it wasn't me making the primary/ultimate decision :p However, that is already backfiring because the counter from the wife is already one of ...well if it isn't right you know you should have stoldme so earlier :(

As with so many of these types of things it is always something of an imagined reality. Yes you can do your research (and the wife did lots of that regarding the ccommunities, you can be in receipt of the valuable information from forums such as this from those with 'experience of living their' and of course you can visit. However, this is all then still an imagined reality in a sense (you don't really know what its like to be drowning until you are drowning). It is therefore only real once you start to get immersed in it or the community in which you have chosen to live I guess.

The life in NB thread has been revealing!

So we are going to be in the middle'ish of the Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton triangle - already sounds backward to me......remember ....wifes choice! :eek:

Next .....income tax...hmmm.....new thread perhaps

Thanks

DaveJ

Re: Car things
 

You may want to look for MillieF's post on living in Fredericton area in winter - it's been bleak there.

Here's some articles: News - Record-breaking winter brings new highs to Atlantic Canada - The Weather Network

Atlantic Canada Snow Photos Show Easterners Walled In

Re: Car things
 

Thanks Siouxie :thumbup:

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Sussex then?? :thumbsup:

As far as tax goes I cant say that I have really noticed it being that bad. I know that it is higher here but that is one of the challenges the province faces.

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25 minutes away apparently Alex. Cambridge Narrows :ohmy:

DaveJ

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Check any house for history of flooding

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Is that the sort of thing that would come up on the house inspection thing?

If not where do we check that?

Cheers

DaveJ

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No idea, I'd ask around tho, esp around CN

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Wow back of beyond!! Its nice in the summer but very bleak in the winter!

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You can see flood plains on the map on this website Applications - GeoNB and slot in an address to see if it's likely to flood.

Application functionality:

Display a disclaimer
Search for a particular property, address, or location
Display flood risk areas and control transparency of flood risk areas
Display descriptions of flood risk areas

"FREDERICTON (CNB) - GeoNB, the free Internet-based application for viewing maps and aerial photos of New Brunswick, is launching a new flood information tool.

Available online, the new application allows anyone to search GeoNB for historical flooding data, capture the data, and print them.

Real estate agents and potential homebuyers will be able to determine quickly whether a prospective property is in a historical flood zone."

Flood map data on GeoNB map viewer (10/05/26)

:)

Re: Car things
 

Thanks Alex. :ohmy:

Guess we will be finding out soon enough. Are you in Sussex?

Cheers

DaveJ

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Siouxie,

Thank looks great. I will try and figure out how to use it later today. We are off to North Wales for a weeks holiday and I am not sure if we will have internet connection. I will try later and see.

Thanks

DaveJ