mrsmaccmoo

Hi All

Just bought first car in US and investigating car insurance..... Geico have advised that the most coverage they can provide (as we only have a learners permit US licence) is $500k. Spoke to them about umbrella insurance to cover all our assets, but they do not provide to anyone without a full US licence..... we have only just got our learners permit and have to wait 3 months before we can get our full CT licence, so we are now very concerned that we are vulnerable.... looking at previous postings on this site, it seems that even our UK assets are not safe from any legal claims made against us.

Has anyone got a way round this and managed to get any sort of substantial legal protection insurance before they have a full US drivers licence?

Thanks.

Speedwell

Hi there. I'm a Yank and a driver for 30 years. I have NEVER heard of a case where someone is sued to the limit of their insurance for a road accident which was not due to extreme negligence or criminal behavior. Provided you don't do something weird like drive the wrong way down a highway drunk, or drive your car through a plate glass window, you should be fine with the coverage limits stated or even less. As a learner you will be driving carefully and probably more safely than half the people on the road anyway. When I was a learner, at 17, I managed to hit a bird in flight and, disgusted, refused to sit behind the wheel for 6 months, but I was a timid child and it was a freak sort of thing.

The most important thing you must buy is "uninsured motorist" coverage. I have only been in a few accidents that caused any significant damage, and two of the three times were with uninsured people who caused the accident (the third time was a sudden stop on a rainy road behind someone with no taillights). One of those times, the uninsured person had a forged driving license. Even at times when I can't afford comprehensive coverage (i.e. I can only take the minimum liability required by law) I always add uninsured motorist coverage.

Shop around; differences in premium can be shocking and the lowest cost insurance is usually every bit as good as the highest cost insurance (assuming similar coverage limits).

Pulaski

"... have to wait three months ....". Have never heard of that, states always push for a rapid switch to a local license. Are you sure? ...... Or is that just the earliest available road test? .... If so, look at other smaller, more rural testing centers, where waiting times may be dramatically less. I took my (NY) test several hours north of where I lived for a test the following week as opposed to the three month wait I faced locally.

civilservant

Pulaski - some states have minimum period of learning before you can take the test. GA states you must have received 40 hours of tuition, including at least 8 at night.

Although there is no enforcement of this, you sign to say you received that amount of training.

Nutmegger

Did you not have a full license in the UK, or had it expired? If you had a current UK license you should not have had to get a learner's permit in CT.

Pulaski

Right, but as Nutmegger said, that is for complete newbies, not for those with non-US non-exchangeable licenses.

audi4t

It is possible to get umbrella insurance not linked to your auto insurance.

Ask your insurance agent.

I know I have it.

mrsmaccmoo

Thanks for the advice and comments - we do both have full UK licences (and international) and between us have about 50 years of driving experience in UK, and can provide evidence of no claims on UK car insurance..... we are in CT and have been told we need to do 8 hours of training (after we get learners permit) and wait 3 months before we can apply for driving test and full CT licence. Maybe its just Geico, so we will try another insurance broker and see if we can get something separate from our auto insurance, thanks.

S Folinsky

BTW, umbrella coverage need not be with the same company as the underlying policy.

As to Speedwell's comment, it is unfortunately extremely easy to reach policy limits with simple ordinary negligence. All one has to do is collide with the S class Mercedes which then hits a BMW 7 Series and two people are paralyzed for life and another killed. And the UM coverage of the victims will hardly begin to cover the injuries.

BTW, one nice thing about umbrella, is that one can reduce the limits on the underlying policy and get the same coverage for less money. Where Speedwell is right, is that most accidents rarely exhaust any decent policy.

Nutmegger

If they told you this at the DMV, you need to speak to a supervisor, it just isn't correct that you have to first get a learner's permit when you have a full license from another country. I do believe that the 8 classroom hours are mandatory, but the learner's permit is not.

Brat1

Who told you that you need a learners permit in the state of Connecticut??

We moved here in 2010, both my husband and myself had full UK driving license's, and from what I recall, you have 30 days in which to obtain a Connecticut license. We had to sit through the 8 hour drug and alcohol class, and do the small test at the end. They then give you a yellow slip of paper to say that you have successfully completed the course, and you take that, along with all your documentation, when you go to sit your driving test. You have to do a multiple choice test and eye test at your local DMV before you can do this though, but neither myself or my husband had to get a learners permit. So, unless things have drastically changed in the last 4 years or so, I think that information is wrong. I do remember having a nightmare hassle with regards to proving who I was, and ended up going back 3 times but that's par for the course at our local DMV

Whereabouts in Connecticut are you? I would go back and check with your local DMV about the learners permit, as that doesn't seem correct. Good luck

Yorkieabroad

[QUOTE=S Folinsky;11187295]BTW, umbrella coverage need not be with the same company as the underlying policy.

QUOTE]

Its not consistent though.

I used to have auto, home and umbrella with Farmers. A couple of years ago following my "price check" shoparound, I switched to Costco recommended providers, 21st Century (which apparently is the online version of Farmers) for the auto, and Ameriprise for the Home. I left the Umbrella with Farmers.

2 or 3 weeks ago I asked for a quote to increase the coverage on the umbrella, but the response was a check in the mail, cancelling my policy as they had realized that the umbrella was the only policy I had with them. In calling the other 2 mentioned above, both of them have given me the same reply "we can only issue an umbrella if you also take out Auto/Home with us" ie, to get the umbrella, you need both of the others with them

The umbrella premiums seem very standard across all providers, but the auto/home vary considerably, especially the auto because we have a travel trailer. 21st Century added that for 100/year, AAA wanted 1200/6 months

So this weeks job is to shop other for other umbrella insurance that will sell me it without wanting the others......

MidAtlantic

Not the case in GA if you hold a valid foreign driver's license.
http://www.dds.ga.gov/drivers/dldata...41471757&ty=dl

civilservant

Which I didn't