Auto Insurance in the U.S.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Thanks, Derek and Flames!

That's awesome info.

So glad I created this thread. There were more steps than I had initially thought!

[zenaxe 22]

Sounds correct. Your VA license will probably expire on the date ur 2 yr greencard expires. BEWARE that they dont always remind you when it expires! I drove around here for a month not realizing it had expired, duh!! Only way i found out it had expired--is when I went to the liquor store and the clerk told me,lol The DMV almost made me do my whole license over again and loose my motorcycle endorsement, but they took pity on me.

We deal with USAA , they are awesome, but one has to phone around and compare. For us they were the lowest back in 2006 when we switched from State farm. Never compared after that, soo happy with their service, cant be bothered too,lol

Taxes on your car every year?? What a crock of dung that is.

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Taxes on your car every year?? What a crock of dung that is.

Yeah, I'm none too pleased about that little bit of information. It's almost like an incentive to drive a clunker.

[zenaxe 22]

My wife has USAA and she loves it. I'll be getting on that policy toot sweet. I don't think Arizona taxes your vehicle annually but I'll be sure to ask her tonight.

There's a lot to deal with and know when it comes to the all of us moving there so it's great to be able to throw issues and quesitons around and get lots of help.

VJ has truly been a superb resource.

[La Souris 19]

Thanks for your post... it got me motivated to review what needs to be done in Massachusetts; I read about it briefly last year, but now it's for real. I'll ask about the yearly taxes, I've never heard of it, but maybe it does exist there. Do you have to pass the test for the licence too? It is not necessary in MA, but I need to "present a driving record not more than 30 days old." So many little details...

[Krikit 1,165]

Well, the glorious commonwealth of Virginia taxes your car each and every year, yee ha! It's based on a percentage of the blue book value of your car and you pay it to whatever county or city you are living in. I think (like us) you are in the City of Alexandria and you can find more information here:

http://alexandriava.gov/Cartax

I am not sure how much it will cost you but we pay around $125 per year for the 2003 Impala but the Saturn is so old that it has no real value so they only charge $50 for the decal.

And I would definitely check with both your Canadian insurance and the VA DMV to see if your insurance carries over down here.

So in order to register your car down here you will need to pay for registration which is about $40 or so, plus a safety and emissions inspections which will be about $50 or so for both, then whatever your personal property tax is, plus whatever it will cost for your license itself which shouldn't be more than $32. Personal property tax aside, Derek was gobsmacked about how cheap it is down here as compared to Montreal. Flames, am I forgetting anything?

Sounds correct. Your VA license will probably expire on the date ur 2 yr greencard expires. BEWARE that they dont always remind you when it expires!

Are you KIDDING me???

OMG, I am hating this move more and more!!!!!!!!

[Flames9_RN 358]

Are you KIDDING me???

OMG, I am hating this move more and more!!!!!!!!

Ya when I went there with my expired license, I asked if they sent out a notification and the counter lady said sometimes they do, sometimes the don't,lol

Once ur here, emissions testing is every 2 yrs and the inspection is yearly.

Our 2005 Scion yearly property tax was $129 and our 98 Camry was only $55. So want to trade that camry in for a Venza, but wife wont allow me,lol She sees no reason to when it runs and looks as good as it did new for the most part. But why should that matter? lol

[Krikit 1,165]

Jeezus. They're going to charge us an arm and a leg for our cars.

[Flames9_RN 358]

you can probably go on various counties websites and find out how much they will approx tax you. my 2005 scion was Assessed to be valued at $9400. The tax amount was $430, then they give you what they call car tax relief of $300,which left it at approx $129. And even better, if u pay by credit card,they add a surcharge!! so dont do that,lol. They almost want you to NOT have nice things!

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Jeezus. They're going to charge us an arm and a leg for our cars.

Yeah...I guess you'll have to sell either your Mercedes, your Bentley or your Lamborghini. Decisions, decisions!

[Flames9_RN 358]

Was another reason for wife not allowing me to buy the Venza--more proprtytaxes,lol

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

I'm going to sound extremely dumb by bumping this thread, but...just to be clear, the order of the steps will be as follows once I arrive in Virginia:

-Get VA car insurance

-Get safety and emissions inspections

-Go to the DMV and get title and registration, plus pay vehicle tax and get new DL and plates

Is that right? Changing to VA insurance will be the first step? Or will I need to get the inspections first, use my Canadian insurance as my coverage, get registration and title, THEN get VA insurance?

[Texanadian 10]

Don't you just love how each state is a little bit different with all of this?

New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't require car insurance (or seat belts for that matter. No helmet law either)

I too had ICBC before I moved to Texas. Here the steps are as such.

1) Vehicle inspection/emissions test. (need to show insurance for this. ICBC was fine)

2) Vehicle registration (DMV, give you a plate and windshield sticker....this would be the same as the rear plate sticker in BC.) Had to show insurance to do this. But they wouldn't take ICBC. So I got Geico instead.

3) Get a Texas driver's license. (then phone up Geico and give them my TX license number to replace my old BC license number)

Oddly enough you can't do them out of order. You must have your cars registered in TX before you can get a TX driver's license.

You will find that the reason car insurance can be cheaper in the US is that the coverage is highly reduced compared to ICBC. For example, the bare bones coverage in BC is "Basic insurance." That covers 200K liability, hit and run, underinsurance.

In the US, most state minimums will read something like 25/50/25. That means $25,000 liability (per person), $50,000 liability (all persons), $25,000 property liability. As you can see, this is very little in the way of insurance. Put somebody in a wheelchair? You're screwed. T-bone a new Mercedes? You're screwed. Somebody hits you and they don't have insurance? Well you'd better hope that you bought underinsurance. Because if you didn't, YOU will have to pay to fix your own car. (tracking the other person down in court is futile)

In BC, most people opt for 1 million or even 2 million dollars of liability. Most US insurers won't even offer that much coverage.

States have more uninsured drivers than BC does. In Texas, the official figure is that 25% of the drivers on the road don't have car insurance. They can do that because the registration sticker and license plates aren't connected to insurance. Sure you have to have insurance to get a plate and up to date registration sticker. But if you cancel your insurance, nothing will change. You keep the plate and the sticker. (some states do this differently). So people will buy insurance, get a new sticker or plate and then promptly cancel their insurance and get their money back. There is no way looking at a vehicle to know if they have insurance or not.

My advice? Get the driver's abstract from your local DMV and ICBC history letter. Geico doesn't accept them and deems me to be a driver with little experience (and thus I pay a surcharge for the first 3 years). But Geico was light years cheaper than all the other insurance companies. BUY UNDERINSURANCE! I can't stress that enough. Might want to up your liability coverage to something like 100/200/100. At least that way you should be covered enough to pay for a luxury car you hit in the event of an at fault accident. And it gives some breathing room as far as personal injury liability on the other person.

You may want to get medical or PIP insurance as well. Pays your medical insurance deductible. PIP pays your medical insurance deductible and lost wages from work. This coverage is fairly cheap.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Texanadian

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

A wealth of information there, Texanadian. Thanks!

I was looking at USAA, but it looks like they require an SSN. I'm going to want to get all of my car issues straightened around in the first few days that I'm down there, which will be before I get my SSN. Looks like I'll still be shopping around... Not sure if Geico is my best bet or not. I wonder if there are any that will accept one's B.C. driving record as proof of safe driving? Hmmm...

[Lorenzoid 12]

New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't require car insurance (or seat belts for that matter. No helmet law either)

Apparently "Live Free Or Die" is a literal choice.