Getting a drivers license in North Carolina

[LMK74 1]

Hi All,

As this website has been an unbelievable help to us in this very long drawn out process, I wanted to just post my experiences on getting a drivers license and insurance in North Carolina.

U.K history - I passed my driving test in the U.K about 20 years ago (God that makes me feel very old!) but as there wasn't really a great need for me to drive as I lived in London...I just didn't bother and got the bus everywhere...far cheaper than having a car. I was added to my dad's insurance as a additional driver so I could take my mum shopping if my dad was busy so not much driving experience.

I'm now married to my USC and living in North Carolina and we are going through the AOS procedure. There is NO public transport here so if you don't drive or have a car...you're not going anywhere. So I had to brave the car to start to get a life here. We managed to get a great deal on an old Toyota for me to have as a runaround. I started going out with my husband to practice driving on the right hand side etc.

To get a N.C license, you have to have proof of insurance to take all the tests but I was a bit worried about how much this was going to cost after reading about some other peoples experiences with insurance. When I felt like I had studied the books and got to know the signs etc, we set out to try to get insurance.

The biggest words of advice to anyone looking for insurance is.....shop around with every place possible....it ranges so wildly it's just crazy. My poor husband basically spent a day calling and explaining everything to each company...by about the 3rd place, he'd worked out to open with the line "Let me start by saying my wife is from the U.K...can you deal with that?".....some companies point blank would not deal with me!! Some didn't know if they could so had to call the underwriters to check....and some were fine but wanted to charge a fortune.

As we have breakdown cover with AAA, we called them at the beginning....for a 1998 truck and a 1996 Toyota...they wanted $1958 for 6 months....I nearly passed out!! I was scared that that was going to be the amount we were looking at. We called various other places...$1000....$600 then finally we called Geico...they said the foreign license was fine as I was going to go for the N.C license and ended up giving us a quote for 2 people, 2 vehicles both insured on both vehicles for $181 for 6 months........it was something to do with adding me on after and not doing the insurance for both of us straight away....I didn't really understand...I just liked the $181! The guy was great on the phone and explained that I needed a DL-123 form as this is what the license agency want to see as insurance proof. You have to request this form and they send it out to you, but it's only valid for 30 days and is numbered so you can't switch insurance while you're in the process.

We also called Allstate as we wanted to do a joint auto / home and they came up with a great deal for both together so we might well go for that instead.

Anyway on the insurance subject....call around and always ask for all the discounts you can get.

I finally felt kinda ready to try for the license so we called Geico and they sent the form out. So last Thursday I drove to the license agency. I was so nervous that I had to do all these tests and take someone out on the road.

A man went through all the paperwork I needed, I took my passport for photo id and date of birth, my marriage certificate to show name change, my social security card in my married name, my NOA for the i-485 to show my address and that I was allowed to be here, my EAD card, birth certificate and the DL-123 insurance letter. He gave me a number and then I waited. Finally got called up. The lady was quite stern and gave me back my U.K license as she said she didn't need that. She then went about filling out loads of computer stuff and looked at all my paperwork. Then it came up that it needed a secondary check as I was a non USC, so she photocopied all my stuff to send through to Raleigh to confirm everything was good. Then the tests began:

Firstly, I had to look into a machine that has the letters like you're having an eye exam, I read the lines fine.

Next up was basic road signs so I had to explain what they meant...all good.

Then there was just the outline of the signs, I had to tell what the sign was and what it meant...i.e Octogan sign is a stop sign....passed again.

Then she set me up on a computer with headphones. I was then given 25 questions out of a pool of 100 to answer. You have to get 20 right (80%) to pass. While I was waiting, 3 people failed this test....oh dear....but I passed with 20 right and 2 wrong. Basic road rules really.

Finally she said ok, you've passed all of those so let's go out on the road now....the bit I'd been dreading! My husband gave me a wink as we passed him. Took her out to the car and she asked me to get in. She then asked me to turn on each indictor, brake lights etc to check the car was roadworthy...then she got in and explained that she would give me directions and then ask me to do various things.

We went out and went to intersections and lights etc then we went to a quiet street where she asked me to do a 3 point turn which went great, then I had to reverse in a straight line until she told me to stop then finally a emergency stop....then back to the test place. We pulled up and she said you did great, now lets finish the paperwork. I was so relieved!

Back in to have my photo taken and I was given a temporary license as N.C doesn't issue the license straight away. They check if you have any criminal history first then issue it. She gave me back all my things and sent me on my way. I was so happy and got a big hug from my husband.

So now I just have to build my confidence up to drive and off I go to investigate this beautiful state!

Hope this post helps anyone thinking of going for their license in North Carolina.

Lynn x

[lynndy38 64]

Thank you for sharing Lynn,

Im also Lynn living in NC, but never drove in the UK so have to learn from scratch here and Im terrified!!!! Good to know its not too horrific!!!