broma25

I am in PA and would be interested if to know if any UK citizens have bought a car and registered and insured it using their british licence.

Also any info on reasonable insurance companies?

Thanks

fatbrit

Why are you fighting getting the license?

Reasons for getting a US license:
The test is easy peasy.
It's the standard form of ID in the US.
Insurance will he harder to get and more expensive without it.

The only company I've heard of readily insuring non-US license holders is Progressive. But their insurance is crap, and you will pay a premium for not having a US license.

NC Penguin

As Fatbrit above points out, why bother to drive in the US on a UK license? What are the benefits? Even if you're within the time period when it's OK to do so, sooner or later you'll have to get a US license if you're resident in a US state (unless PA is an exception).




NC Penguin

AdobePinon

If you can pass the UK licence exam, you can pass a few dozen in the States. So take the test and quit making your own life more difficult.

Lottie

Hi Broma

Welcome to the US! Hope the move went well from Wigan!

Didn't you post the same question a while back?? I've attached the link as I think you got some good information the first time:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=293531

You may get a better response if you are more specific about what your outstanding questions are, rather than repeating the same one....don't mean to be rude, just trying to help.

Also, have to agree with the other posters that the sooner you get your PA license the better...we bought and insured cars on our UK licenses, but that means we have been lapse in going for our licenses, now we have 6 weeks to pass, or we have to stop driving....I know no-one else to blame but ourselves, just semed to have a million and one things to do since we moved out here and this slipped to the bottom of the list.

broma25

The reason I want to use my UK licence is to buy and insure a car so that I can get in some practice driving in the US. I certainly intend to switch to a PA licence as soon as possible. However since I cant get my licence until I have my SSN I thought I would do it on my UK just for the time being.

Lottie

Well for insurance I would go with State Farm, they were a lot cheaper than a number of other insurers we tried.

I'll speak to hubby about registration - not sure what hoops he jumped through - he's at the disaster of the GP at the moment so I won't be able to get back to you for a couple of days.

Also, on a separate note, if you are not paying cash for the car, you'll probably be stung for not having a fantastic credit score - when we bought our car, they wanted to charge us 10%, we took it as we got a $1000 rebate and promptly switched the loan to hubby's company's credit union - 4.5%!

NC Penguin

You're married to an American so why can't the car be purchased in the other half's name? You could get a US license and be a secondary insured driver on that vehicle.

This way, the cost of insuring a vehicle for you to drive should be considerably cheaper than having you as the primary insured on a British license (unless your spouse has a bad driving/insurance history in the US).




NC Penguin

anotherlimey

Don't know if it's already been mentioned but....

... assuming you do manage to buy the car and get insurance on it with a UK license, there's probably a state set time limit for how long you can drive on a foreign license.