Car Insurance
 

Just sorted a lease with BMW through their international exec leasing program. It was really easy and didn’t have to provide much paperwork.

I need to sort out car insurance but I don’t understand all the different options and coverage levels. What is the right level of cover etc?

Re: Car Insurance
 

You should discuss that with your broker - there are state minimum levels of coverage, but they are often scarily low - such as $25,000 for third party injury, and zero for third party property damage.

A good rule of thumb is that overall liability insurance should cover your net worth, i.e. what you could be sued for. That said, if you just ask a broker for "car insurance", they will almost certainly be offering you a fairly decent policy - the state minimum policies are typically for students, drunks, and rednecks!

If you are worth more than the liability coverage on a "typical" car insurance policy you should look into whether you are eligible to buy a liability umbrella policy - they are typically a cheap add-on to a home insurance policy.

Re: Car Insurance
 

I can't tell you much about insurance, but could you fill me in on this 'exec leasing program'? I haven't heard of BMW doing such a thing, only VW, Audi, Ford. I am a big BMW fan so would be interested in the options.

Re: Car Insurance
 

If you go in and ask them they will give you a letter that shows you what you need.

I provided passport, visa, i94 print out from PC, mortgage details from UK and a letter of employment.

BMW have their own finance underwritten by someone and they can use UK credit history.

Got a 30 month lease with nothing down on a loaded BMW X5 3.5i

Re: Car Insurance
 

Alsonsorted my Insurance though Geico and they took my UK driving in to consideration.

Went on the DVLA site and printed off driver record and it saved me $50 a month.

Re: Car Insurance
 

How much did that end up costing p/m?

Re: Car Insurance
 

Fully loaded on 30 months with 12k a year and no deposit was. $1.1k a month.

Re: Car Insurance
 

Progressive will insure you if you have a foreign driver history. And they don't up their price like Geico does when they do it.

Re: Car Insurance
 

Liberty Mutual are BMW preferred, their rates are much lower than our previous insurers for both DH Beemer and my Audi

Re: Car Insurance
 

And liberty mutual will honor UK driving history. Was cheapest by far for me and my spouse when I moved here.

Since then we have gone elsewhere due to a home insurance bundle.

Re: Car Insurance
 

Whoa ... Jan, it is so nice to see you here. You've been missing for a long time. Hope all is well. Happy New Year!

Re: Car Insurance
 

GEICO didn't up my insurance premiums with my husband added to the policy with only his Canadian license.

Re: Car Insurance
 

We did, as well. Left GEICO after being an insured member for 40+ years to Nationwide when we added a policy for home insurance and another for apartment insurance. GEICO doesn't do apartment insurance in metropolitan NYC area.

Re: Car Insurance
 

Hi Tom,

How did you request the quote from Liberty? Do you do it online or call them saying that you moved and have your proof of no claims document from the UK?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Car Insurance
 

I initially went with Progressive but a few things to note when leasing is that there are minimum levels of coverage required by both the leasing/finance company and the state - and they may not be the same. Also, you usually need to add the leasing/finance co as an interested party.

I was happy enough with Progressive although I never did get them to take my UK history into account. After a year, I had to call them and have them run a credit check as they usually only do that every two years (so they still assumed I had no credit history after 1yr). Unfortunately 18months of clean driving history, prices went up without any real explanation (they said the cost of doing business went up in my state) and so I changed to Geico.