Pimpbot

It's a 6 month policy, but it's taking out direct debit each month.

anotherlimey

Me too; Esurance takes it from my AMEX every month.

Not so sure about that, mine's about the same value and my insurance is $185 a month. I think age and length of time you've had your license are a bigger factor.

Ray

The amount of coverage can make big differences too ..
25/25/25 will be a lot cheaper than 300/300/300

scrubbedexpat099

I could produce you quotes the other way around.... Seriously.

There are so many factors invoved here, I am not sure where to start.

Plus of course each State make its own rules and regulations.

I am not going to sell my company, but I know that I can take into account UK driving experiance.

One of the factors is prior Insurance history, with my lot you are good to go if you have 12 months history, if you brought confirmation of your UK cover that should work, otherwise there would be a loading, the assumption is that you have been driving uninsured, not a good risk.

The other way you are likely to suffer compared to USC's is that many insurers use a 'Credit type' score, not just credit, occupation etc come into it, but that can be a third off.

One frightning statistice, well for Colorado, is that over half of the vehicles have either no cover or state minimums, which is near enough the same.

So make sure you have enough Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists cover, no MIB in the US.

Like so many other things, Insurance practice is very different, difficult to compare to UK, best not to try.

Ray

Who do you work for Dave ...

scrubbedexpat099

Having slagged off other people for advertising on this site, it would be sheer hypocracy if I said.

I thought I knew the basics of US Insurance practice before I move here, I had Clients with US Subsidiaries and also dealt with US Companies UK Subsidiaries, but there was a lot more to it at the sharp end.

From what I have seen those with low limits also have low deductibles, much better spending your dollars on cover that would help in a nasty situation.

The norm in the UK for Auto/Motor is GBP10,000,000 liability limit, the company I am with provides GBP20,000,000 in the UK. And what are we talking about here?

I had been thinking of putting a note together, see what I can do later. Its tricky when you are addressing a US audiance, as I said each state differs, each State requires you to be licensed in that State if you operate in that State. Much more painful that the UK or EU.

I have also heard negativities with Geiko and Allstate, claims issues, but have no personal dealings with them. They have a different business model to the likes of State Farm which were also mentioned here.

And if you have children driving here - look up Family Car Doctrine.

Ray

I have been have sex with my Insurance agent for 10 years now
she pays my premium for me .. no idea who I am with or cost....

gruffbrown

I've just got my insurance renewal after my little prang, it's gone up to $1200 for 6 months for a Dodge Ram We're with All State......Robbing Bastards.

jibsymalone

I thought Saga was meant to be pretty cheap? Now what does that tell ya? Lol

Ray

But you live in the car crime capital ....

Just Jenney

We have our auto insurance with USAA. In fact, it's the only company I've ever insured with. (We also do all of our banking, investing and loans through USAA as well.)

Adding Mark to my existing policy was no problem at all, even though we did so before he got a Virginia drivers license. USAA accepted his UK license number and the information we gave them about his UK driving record (licensed driver for 13 years, no accidents, no tickets). They did NOT consider him an "inexperienced driver" just because he had no driving record in the States. I don't remember the exact figures, but I do know that the cost of adding Mark to my existing policy only increased about $10/year. That's when we only had one car. Right now we pay about $475/6 months to insure two cars.

USAA is a GREAT company (and no, I don't work for them!) who are used to dealing with people who are living in or citizens of foreign countries. I've been dealing with them for 15 years now and have never had a problem with them at all. Their customer service is excellent.

The only downside is that I can't simply recommend USAA to anyone off the street -- you must have (had) some kind of an affiliation with the US armed services in order to become a USAA member. I became a member years ago because my father, a career US Army officer, was a member. When I married Mark, I passed membership on to him.

Although it never applied to me, someone can get USAA membership even through a former spouse. I mentioned this on another message board once and another poster went to USAA's website to see if she was eligible. Turns out she was, because her ex-husband was a USAA member -- even though they had been divorced for many years -- and she immediately used their travel services to plan a trip to Japan with her son. (She couldn't afford such a trip before, but their rates were so good that she could finally do it.)

So for those of you married (or previously married) to a USC, go to USAA.com and see if you're eligible for membership. In all honesty, it's about the only company I can recommend without any hesitation whatsoever.

~ Jenney

gruffbrown

Insurance fraud capital ......

snowbunny

USAA are bloomin excellent cos they can limit who they cover.

I'm peeved with them because they only covered officers and officers dependents at least through WWII My former FIL was an enlisted navvy in WWII, faced the perils of the Pacific theatre but hell no, doesn't qualify for Geico.

State Farm are the best at paying claims with little stalling or trying to get out of paying them. Allstate is notorious for trying to wangle out of being held responsible.

It is indeed staggering that the UK and Canada both have far higher minimums than the US, when you consider that high claim payouts are usually due to medical bills and disability, and the UK and Canadian government have better government coverage for those! I guess they are shifting the potential burden of paying for someone who's been injured, to the insurance.

In the US if you're badly injured by someone with low limits and no assets, you're just screwed, plain and simple.

scrubbedexpat099

One of the reasons to have sensible deductibles, they will always get their money back and more on small claims. So why pay for cover if it makes no sense to claim.

gruffbrown

It was a 6k small claim The deductible was $500, although that seems to have been haggled down, car hire, them taking longer than they said, etc.