UK CAR INSURANCE

I ended up getting full coverage insurance for a £100 a year on my husband's Admiral policy.

£100 a year??

£100 a year??

Yup.  £102 to be exact. 

ah, an add on his insurance, makes sense it'd be cheaper.  I wonder how much your policy'd be if it were just in your name though. 

Which makes all sorts of sense not to have your own. 

I'd recommend looking into Sainsbury's insurance if you're getting high quotes to due being a "new" driver. They took into consideration that my husband and I weren't new drivers, we were just new UK drivers. They were the only company that would do this, and we called every company we could. My husband had been driving in the UK for 3-years on a US license (as soon as I arrived I made him get a UK license once I found out he was driving illegally) so he had 3-years of no claims, but he was considered a brand new driver with a new UK license, despite having his US license for 10-years. I'd had my license for 12-years. Once I received my full UK-license and we got an automatic that I could drive, we were getting quotes of £1200-£1500. Sainsbury's was only £500. My husband is a terrible driver and ended up scraping the side of the car on a brick wall, and they were very easy to deal with. For £250 they fixed the damage and only deducted 2 of our 5-years of no-claims. I'd definitely look into Sainsbury's if you're getting high quotes.

Is it good to get a copy of your driving record from the DMV prior to going to the UK? Will it lower your rates?

Got my wife with an Arkansas license insured on a Citroen Xsara hatchback with Budget Ins for £328 full comp. Found it on moneysupermarket. Not bad since some clown on there wanted 6k !!!

Certa.

Got my wife with an Arkansas license insured on a Citroen Xsara hatchback with Budget Ins for £328 full comp. Found it on moneysupermarket. Not bad since some clown on there wanted 6k !!!

Certa.

Beware, once she passes her test and has a British licence, almost all the clowns will want thousands to insure her...

Beware, once she passes her test and has a British licence, almost all the clowns will want thousands to insure her...

Yeah I know, the robbing ba***rds... one reason why the thing is going to be registered at my Mum & Dads place in France next year French tags , French rules & best of all French insurance premiums. I used to flag out my cars when I was younger , saved me a fortune. And its not illegal if you know how to play it.

Certa.

Is it good to get a copy of your driving record from the DMV prior to going to the UK? Will it lower your rates?

No, they won't consider it. You'll have to be a "new" driver in the UK.

I have had my full UK license for about 7 years now, and my husband has driven a company car for years now, we called the insurance company and they transferred his no claims discount to me, so I was able to get cheaper car insurance as a new driver. We just renewed with LV and they honoured that also, so my quote showed 15 years no claims but only holding a license for 7 yeas, apparently that was okay. So we paid about £800 last year and this year only £400 this year. Go figure, but now I want a new car, so its probably going to go up more.

Our insurance didn't change at all when I got my British license, they didn't mind that I was a "new" driver. And they took into account my no-claims from America (although they gave me 5 yrs rather than the 10ys it actually was) when I first signed up last year.  We're with Aviva and pay £55 a month (it's cheaper if you pay annually).  I'm definitely going to look for cheaper options for next year though!

Geico only covers service people or 'professionals' is what they told me

I'm an additional driver on my wife's policy (direct line) and our insurance went down when I was added on my US license. I have since passed my test so soon I will need to change over to my UK one. If its much different I will just keep driving on the US one for as long as I can.