joem1619

I am going to be spending 90 days a year in Florida & am trying to figure out:-

As a UK citizen can I own a car there with a UK driver licence or do I need a Florida driver licence?

I visited an insurer to try & get a handle on typical car insurance but without an actual car details they could not help. Anyone any ballpark figures for a small car & driver has no convictions/claims in Uk or US.

Lastly it was suggested that it may be possible to reduce level of cover when the car is parked up & I'm back home for 9 months?

Thanks for any ideas...

Nutmegger

The suggestion is that a 90 day rental will be far cheaper and far less hassle.

Flabound oneday

insurance without a Florida license is a huge hassle. if you can find any its v expensive. IIRC my Sarf Afrikan mate pays over $1500pa thats 3rd party only and reduced (monthly) when he isnt here. as stated its far less hassle to rent and you can rent for 3 months for that sort of figure.

TimNiceBut

Actually the simplest, cheapest, but not most hassle-free way is to rent a car for 30 days at a time. For some reason the cost of the rental goes up considerably once you want them for more than 30 days.

cranston

try Progressive, I've heard they do those policies.

Hotscot

I bought and insured a car in CA while only having a UK license.

Jerseygirl

As with most other things...rules and regs differ from state to state.

Pulaski

A good part of the problem is finding an insurance company that will tolerate the idea that you will be parking your car, locking it and leaving the country for up to 9 months. The risk of theft is elevated, as is loss to flooding or other weather damage as you won't be there to move it when bad weather closes in, and in Florida it does fairly frequently.

Even cars don't like that, the battery will be flat, the tires may be misshapen, and the gas degraded unless you put a treatment in it.

Honestly, as others said, renting is the way to go - not only does it solve several insurance problems, it also avoids problems with damage and degradation, service requirements, and last but not least, depreciation.

Wibblypig

Definitely! When we moved to Florida last year, longer than 30 day rentals added an extra $800 a month on top!! So I would just take it back and swap it at the end 4 weeks period until we got our own car

Ray

you cannot get a US licence now ...
progressive may help .. but its quite a nightmare

6mthBreak

Hey Joe, did you ever get car insurance, if so who with? I'm out for 6mths and buying a car rather than renting.

Ray

Go to an independant agent ..who carry lots of companies

i spent so much time sorting that out back in 97 ..
I ended up marrying the insurance agent

joem1619

No at the moment I am getting a rental from Rentalcars.com and paying about £15 a day...

Bink

And they sometimes will make you bring the car back to be changed out during that period to meet servicing requirements etc! So, yes 30 days at a time is the way to go.