bairn7

Hi all

I'm making the move to Canada (Calgary) in January. I'm getting confused about the order of steps I need to take in order to purchase a car. I will have a rental for a couple of weeks on arrival.

1. Do I need to change my UK licence for an Alberta licence before I can buy a car? This may take some time as I don't have any proof of address etc (I'll be staying in an AirBnB for at least the first month)
2. Should I have an insurance broker lined up before I start looking for a car? Or should I just wait until I find a car I want to buy and then arrange insurance?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but there is so much that I need to learn about and plan for that my mind is slowly turning to mush as the days count down!

Thanks

Former Lancastrian

1. Rent on arrival using UK licence.
2. Once you have a Canadian address then change licence.
3. Start shopping for vehicles and insurance quotes. The quotes will vary dependent on vehicle.
4. Buy vehicle then get insured. This could all be done in one day once you know which vehicle to buy. Most dealers/sellers will drive you to an insurance company once you have decided on the vehicle or hold it for a few days until you get insurance sorted out. I suggest getting a UK driving extract and letter(s) from previous insurers before coming to Canada.

https://airb.alberta.ca/drivers/faq.aspx

https://airb.alberta.ca/drivers/getting_insurance.aspx

https://www.alberta.ca/exchange-non-...ces.aspx#toc-2

dbd33

Unfortunately, address is a bigger factor than type of vehicle so, if you want to know the price, you'll need to know where you're going to live.

Former Lancastrian

Well yes there is that to it but I tend to think more applicable to Ontario and the GTA rather than Calgary but I could be wrong.

dbd33

Agreed, ask anyone living in Brampton. I suspect High River is High Risk for everything, will have a look on Tuesday.

scilly

In BC, distance driven per year or per day/week is also a big part of insurance. Don't know whether that applies in AB

Piff Poff

not as far as I am aware.

Siouxie

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Car_Buying-Canada

bairn7

Thanks Siouxie, this is helpful, but I'm still confused as to the timeline of buying a car (sorry if I'm being thick).

For example - I see a car I like (private sale) and I want to get an inspection done. Presumably I'll need to already have insurance to take it for inspection? Or does the buyer do this?
Also - the wiki mentions I have to get my own plates, so presumably I can't just turn up, pay cash, and drive off (with insurance in place of course)?

Would someone be kind enough to talk me through step by step, how a standard private sale would go and what would have to be done or in place at each stage?

Siouxie

This might help https://www.alberta.ca/buying-vehicl...te-seller.aspx
https://ama.ab.ca/2015/07/03/beginners-guide-car-buying

bairn7

Thanks Siouxie. So from what I can gather, I (as a private buyer from a private seller) would take the car to an inspection centre. Am I right in thinking that it is the seller's insurance that will cover me for this, as an incidental driver?

sharkus

Lending Your Vehicle
You'd be an incidental driver on the sellers insurance, so would be able to test drive the car, and take it to the inspection centre (providing the seller agrees to that).

Almost Canadian

No inspection needed to register a vehicle in Alberta (foreign vehicles and the such excepted).

The process is buy vehicle, get insurance for vehicle (the insurer will issue a pink slip and can email that to you) take it to a registry and register it. No need to hold a driver's licence.

Most will obtain a licence first, they will issue a paper temporary licence and the plastic credit card type licence will arrive in the mail a short time later. Purchase vehicle, insure it and register it. The registry will give you plates and you then take the plates to the purchase place and fix them to vehicle.

If you buy from a private seller, you will need the bill of sale from them to register. The insurer will need the VIN for the vehicle to insure it so you need to get this first, speak to insurer, turn up with pink slip and then head to registry or, if you can find the right insurer, call them to get insurance, get them to email pink slip to you and take to registry.

The plates on the vehicle belong to the seller and they will likely want to take them off and use the plate themselves.

Piff Poff

Just to add to AC's post, if the car is an older car the insurers may ask for an inspection, more often than not they will give you a couple of weeks to do this.