Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

Hey all.

We're leasing a new car next week and I just had some questions about the insurance. We don't have CA licenses yet but we'll need insurance straight away so will we have to pay more insurance per month if we don't have a CA license?

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

I wouldn't be leasing a car until you have a CA licence. New residents are legally required to obtain a CA licence within 10 days.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

I would Uber around until you get your CA license. You don’t have long to get it sorted.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

The chances of getting a CA license in 10 days is somewhat unlikely - though the process should be started ASAP to show that you've at least set the wheels in motion.

Uber might be a bit pricey depending on what OP needs to do. I'd look into a regular car rental for the interim. But (to OP) what does the leasing company say about insurance? I'm not sure they'd lease it without proof of insurance?

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

Maybe things have changed since we came to CA in 2008 but I leased a car, and insured it before I had a CA license. I think it took close to 60 days to get our license. We used Allstate for insurance and they just asked us to send them copies of our CA license once we had them.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

OK update. So leasing a car when you've just arrived in the country is hard! Who knew?! :D The only companies my wife and I could find that lease to people who are new to the country with a new visa were VW and Audi. Actually, other car companies will lease you a car but with a massive down payment and an expensive lease per month cost.

So it took us 4 hours sitting in a VW office with the salesperson but we came away with a new leased car.

The deal with insurance was even harder than leasing the car. We were able to get a month-long insurance ‘Binder’ bundled in with our deal from the car dealership so we got it for free, but dealer Binder insurance deals usually costs over $350 for a month! We called an insurance broker and they gave us good inside information on how to get long-term insurance deals. Basically, we were told until we get our CA license our monthly insurance will be exorbitant. So we have a month of insurance with our Binder insurance from the VW dealer and then if it takes us longer than 30 days to get our CA license (everyone I've spoken to says it takes at least 60 days to get it...) then we will get another month of expensive insurance that is offered to people without CA license. BUT the moment we get our CA license our insurance broker says she can easily move us to a new insurer to get a WAY cheaper rate.

So you can get insurance with a UK license, it's just expensive, like $300 a month expensive! But once you get your CA licence you can easily move over to a much lower rate of insurance.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

Would the equivalent monthly rental from Hertz or similar be cheaper?

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

Yeah it was for me. I rented from Hertz for 4 weeks while I sorted my license then bought a car.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

We did, which is why we keep recommending arranging a car through International Autosource before arriving in the US, to anyone who asks! :nod:
Go out into the sticks to get your license, it is usually, quicker, a LOT quicker in most states, than getting your license/test in a city. The further you are prepared to go, the shorter the wait. .... In CA you only have ten days after taking up residence to get a CA license. :nod:

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

As for the practical test, it is probably a joke.

The written test, if like NC, is 90% common sense with some more abstract questions around drink driving BAC. I'd suggest trying a free app for making sure you know this.

Re: Car insurance in LA for UK license.
 

We bought an SUV and the cheapest SUV on Hertz was just over $1000 for the month. Even the cheapest smallest car on Hertz was $590. We looked into hiring for the month to get our licenses but the sums didn't work out for us. It was cheaper to lease the car and pay the higher insurance for the month than hire. And that way we have our car already!