richbogle84

Thanks both,

This is really helpful, and I suspect will be a lot easier to obtain before I actually leave the UK. I contacted the DVLA and will send a letter of request to them pronto.

Thanks again

Rich.

richbogle84

Thanks,

Based on what I have read on this thread, I'm planning to get both; a letter from the DVLA confirming that I have no points, penalties, or disqualifications, etc, and also a letter from my UK car insurance provider confirming my no-claims status.

Better to err on the side of caution and have both, especially if it saves money when we get to the states

Rich.

GeoffM

Can't say I've heard of getting something from the DVLA but if it works then great. Your paper counterpart is supposed to have the points on anyway. Just make sure you shop around for quotes and then you won't be treated like a newbie.

Wibblypig

As you are still the in the UK have a good look into AIG/Travelguard as Harrythespider mentioned. We used them too and they saved us loads of money on insurance and a car, also got us a really good deal on a credit card (12mths interest free with a $10K limit) etc etc.

Bob

But shop around quickly and get quotes within a couple days of starting to look. That way your SSN and thus credit history only gets dinged once and the rest come as soft dings, so don't lower an already lacking history/score.

jeffreyhy

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/28/pf/a...?iid=H_PF_News

Regards, JEff

sunnysideup

This is a common question and problem. I often find most newcomers (and most Americans frankly) have no idea what or how to buy insurance. There is no simple 'quote' for car insurance. The premium is composed of usually about 6 separate items, all of which you have control of regarding insurance limits and deductibles. You must understand each component and assign a reasonable limit to each yourself. If you get a 'quote' you will be sold as much as the agent can push on you, whether you need it or not. Here are the main ingredients of a policy:

1) Comprehensive - covers damage to your car caused by fire, theft etc. You can set a deductible (excess) for this. Cheap.
2) Collision - covers damage to your car in an accident with another vehicle. You can set a deductible for this. Cheap.
3) Bodily injury liability. Covers medical expenses for other people you injure or kill in an accident. You can set a liability limit for this. EXPENSIVE.
4) Property damage liability. Covers expenses for things other than people you damage in an accident. You can set a liability limit for this.
5) Uninsured motorist protection. Covers your medical expenses if injured by someone else in an auto accident who is uninsured or under-insured. You can decline this if you have adequate medical insurance. EXPENSIVE.
6) State mandated 'no fault' medical coverage. Depends on state, obviously. You can set a deductible for this. Can be Expensive.

Those are the big things. In general, anything related to medical expenses will be a large part of your premium. The cost of insuring the actual car will be laughably small by comparison. The important thing is to set liability limits correctly and have a reasonable deductible. The correct level for liability depends on your assets which you need to protect from a predatory lawsuit after an accident for which you were or might have been at fault. Only you can answer that. After a while you will get to know which assets are fair game and which are protected by state and federal laws. Until then many people are frightened into buying too much insurance 'just in case'. Welcome to the USA - land of the not so free.

kodokan

Sunnysideup's post is excellent. There's a lot to understand about insurance here, especially if you assets you want to protect.

We took out car and renters' insurance with State Farm, by going into the nearest office to our home and spending 1-2 hours going through ALL the options with the sales girl. We could probably get cheaper, but for the first year or two it's worth going with a local 'big name' office, because the ability to sit down and talk it all through properly, then pop in with your future questions and be on first name terms with your agent is invaluable.

For comparison, we're in our early 40s and pay $693 and $772 every 6 months on a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and Ford F-150; both are 2012 models. They let us get the insurance on our UK licenses at US rates, and the underwriters just let it ride for a few weeks until we got licensed here.

Insurance and mobile phone contracts are two of the bonkers expensive things here. On the plus side, they tell me that adding my teen in a few years when he starts driving will only add some hundreds a year, rather than some thousands.

ian-mstm

Would you consider adding this to our Wiki? It's terrific information.

Ian

Holliver

I also went with State Farm. I used my UK drivers license, I just showed them the paper copy of my UK driver's license to show that I hadn't got any points and that lowered my rate slightly.

I visited two State Farm offices and both times found the people working there extremely friendly and helpful. The second office I went to offered me a lower rate than the first.

My quotes from Geico and Progressive were higher, but that is perhaps due to the fact that I didn't really know what I was asking for and was just inputting guesses as to how much I wanted for comprensive/collision etc. I forget who, but somebody mentioned earlier how confusing the insurance system is here. I recommend talking to someone in person so you can understand what it all means, then go back and look at online quotes.

Mine is about $600/6months in San Diego.

stacrat

Very interesting about the different bits that make up the insurance. We have v. good medical coverage, so maybe I could get a reduction on the uninsured drivers component.

For some reason, state farm are not insuring drivers from RI. I went online to try and find a broker.

Can someone explain the best way to find a broker? i.e. what to look out for?

What sort of fees do they charge?

Thanks

Bob

They take a cut of the rate from the insurance.

As for providers, they're essentially a separate entity in each state and some don't operate in every state because of local state laws.

TimNiceBut

Amica Mutual is supposedly one of the best insurance companies in the country - together with USAA, they tend to consistently get the top customer satisfaction rating from Consumer Reports every year. One thing they aren't is cheap and they are really geared towards a specific part of the population - reasonably experienced drivers (as per their US history) with no accidents.

We are with State Farm and as we are currently kinda sorta vehicle shopping, I had them quote me for one of the cars we were looking at - even with a US driving and insurance history, their quote was roughly double of what State Farm wanted for the same car and coverage.

As a US "newbie" you're better off dealing with a local agent and you probably have to take what you can get, at least initially. Ideally you'd want an independent agent who can shop you around to multiple insurers - there are a bunch out there that don't do glitzy TV commercials, but still offer good rates and good coverage, but unless you're plugged into the US insurance market they'll be hard to find. The rates will go down over time and also as your credit history improves, but they are higher than what you'll be used to in the UK with less coverage.

As an aside, just saying "X quoted me Y for car insurance" isn't really saying very much. In order to compare properly, you need to look at the coverage offered. State minimum coverage can be ridiculously low. Also, a lot of insurance companies offer discounts if you have multiple policies with them - we originally had our renters insurance with State Farm as well as the car insurance and that netted us a discount on the car insurance. Same with multiple car policies, you usually get a discount for that, too.

GeoffM

I didn't quite grasp this initially but put simply, if you're at fault and somebody claims off your insurance, the insurance will pay up to the maximum - and then the other party will sue your pants off for the rest. As an example, a day or two in ICU would eclipse California minimums. Not sure what other states are.

stacrat

I was quoted comprehensive. Would ALL expenses be paid, or is it just a higher maximum? The above scenario sounds scary - there would be no limit. Surely the whole point of insurance is to have a limit to your costs?