hughiemg

Morning all,

Quick question for you please - I'm currently in the process of moving to Chicago and was looking in to driving licenses.

I am told that in Illinois you can get an equivalency license issued on the back of your UK licencse (not all states do this).

I'm just curious if there is any opinion on whether it is better to do this or sit the test and get a genuine US license.

Does an equivalency license reference the amount of driving years which would be a benfit for insurance / driving history?

Or would the insurance algorithims prefer to see a genuine US license vs something that isnt common.

Or am I over thinking it....!

Any advice welcome.

Thanks!

petitefrancaise

I couldn't find anything on the driver's license website Driver's License/State ID Card to show that you could exchange your UK license.

However, as someone that did exchange their license (a french one) - when you exchange your license, you MUST surrender it and it gets returned to the issuing authority. You don't have to do the written test or the driving one. Both of these are easy, peasy anyway and makes you aware of the differences between the UK and Illinois.

My OH with a UK license could not exchange in Texas and so he still has his UK drivers license as well as his Texas driver's license. I don't know that it makes any difference what you do with your license tbh. It doesn't help with getting insurance, they don't transfer your driving record.

tom169

LibertyMutual would take my UK driving record even after I had my US license.

Pulaski

The ONLY state I have ever heard of waiving the road test in exchange for a British licence is NJ. .... That said US tests are an utter joke, it is no wonder the US has a road-death rate 20 times that of the UK, and rising, despite only having five times the population.

When you take the road test just be sure to focus, stop completely at any STOP signs, and avoid running over more than one pedestrian, and your license will be as good as in the bag.

Nutek

The only stop sign I had on my test was the one in the parking lot.

kodokan

My driving test took about 5 mins and consisted entirely of right turns.

Nutek

Mine too.

Six of them (including getting out of and into the parking lot).

Pulaski

Obviously not in The South (NASCAR country).

dj6372

I had always thought the CA driving test was farcical, but having read through a lot of the posts on BE, it appears the CA test is one of the harder! We do left and right turns, and reverse backwards for 10 feet or so, yeah and on open roads!!

Nutek

I didn't touch reverse.

Pulaski

I had to do a parallel parking manoeuvre during my test in NY, which I didn't even have to do in my test in the UK.
Yeah, I hear the CA test is tough, whereas I have heard that in some states, such as Florida, and I think Texas, you can take your test without actually driving on a public road!

vikingsail

To the OP and for perspective. As P says about US tests nothing to worry about and likely to be much easier with both insurance and should you ever have to 'produce' you licence. However, the only state I have ever had problems obtaining a driving licence was NJ! Indeed, when I did have small fender bender the cop (think Blakey from On the Buses) who turned up issued me with a ticket for no licence as i produced my UK licence and passport (I had just arrived there). This was subsequently voided. However, I will always remember 'Blakey's response when I said I had a licence and showed him my documents, verbatim; " well when I was in the UK last year they wouldn't accept my licence so I'm not accepting yours now."

Don't you just love arbitrary discretion in government officials!

Ironically, the state where I am now were very receptive. I would stress that obtaining a driving licence involves a government department therefore search and select a DMV office in a quiet suburb where you can obtain better service and the locals are more inclined to be friendly in their application of arbitrary discretion. For example, applying for and taking a driving test in central Chicago imho is fraught with the danger of a bad experience - if nothing else the poor DMV workers(not all) are going to be stressed out and have little time for you other than perfunctory processing. Compare, that with visiting a DMV in nice quiet leafy suburb type office....

Jellyfish

Ahh, but the danger in the quiet(er) offices is they are not used to dealing with a driving license from another country. My UK license (one of the old, paper kind even though this was 2014) was looked at with wonder - "never seen one of these before!" - and I was told that because it is foreign I would have to pay to have it translated. When I pointed out that the US and UK share a common language (mostly) and, in fact, the license was in English, I was told "them's the rules". A higher-up did overrule this bit of insanity, I'm happy to say. As far as easy tests are concerned, it may be because the examiner knows you are an experienced driver. At least, that is what my examiner told me. When he got in the car he asked how long I'd been driving and when I told him, he said, "Well, you'll know what you're doing," and was clearly pleased that my test which was in a 30-minute slot would take five minutes and he'd have 25 minutes to himself. When my daughter took her test as a new driver, the test was more rigorous.

tom169

Why would they need to deal with a driving licence from another country?

Unless you're in NJ and purposely trying to exchange the licences, you don't need to bring it up at all.

Pulaski

I took my road test in the back of beyond in upstate New York. I booked on line and took the test the following week. If I had done the test locally in the northern suburbs of NYC, where I did my written test and classroom training, I'd have had to wait three months. That was in December 2001. Funnily enough I was never asked to produce my British licence!