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.......

.... 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?

Thanks

DaveJ

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

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

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

+1

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.

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

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).

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

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.

Driver's Licences for New Residents

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

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

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.

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