Car Insurance from Scratch

Hello I will (fingers-crossed) have my driving licence soon and want to get a cheap car. Unfortunately I don't have a spouse that is already driving/insured to get on the policy of. What kind of luck have people had with specific insurance companies recognising their US experience for insurance? Like many of you, I have been driving for nearly 20 years, but will be a new UK licence holder. I have my clean driving records for the last 12 years from the states I lived in from the US. I also live in a small city and it doesn't seem like we have any insurance brokers.

Directline is the insurance company I'm with - I pay a MINT for it - and when I recently called to let them know I now had my UK driving license they wanted to bump my premium up by over £100 a month as they tried to change my category to "new driver" however when I objected to this they shuffled me over to someone else who was able to take into account that I have had my US drivers license for almost ten years - and then they put me into the "five years or more" licensed category. Phew!

I came in 2006 on a work permit, so no spouse to help me either. I managed to get insured with a company called Budget who took my clean DMV record into account. Can't remember what I paid initially, but it was not outrageous. Keep calling around till you are happy!

Hi

As above, some will take into account your previous driving history so do search them out and ask.

What you will quickly come to see is the insurance situation for car's is extremely topsy turvy and you MUST shop around for the best prices. My renewal came up about a month ago and I had quotes ranging from the excellent to the beyond utterly insane (£780 - £3750!) eventually settled at around £805.

It depends on allsorts of criteria, the type of car it is, your age, address and postcode, occupation, type of cover, useage, garaged or drive or onstreet overnight...  etc etc.

So ultimately, comes down to how fat your purse/wallet is !

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

ugh this is so frustrating almost all places are treating me as a new licence holder and in really strange turns of events some *cough* directline *cough* will accept me only as a new driver, but with over 9 years no claims discount.

I sound like a broken record on this subject, but my suggestion is always to call an insurance broker.  They know who offers what and will save you all the stress and most likely get you a better deal than you can get yourself.

thanks, i did try a broker, but they only talked to one place. i got a better quote from that place so i'll probably go for them.

I sound like a broken record on this subject, but my suggestion is always to call an insurance broker.  They know who offers what and will save you all the stress and most likely get you a better deal than you can get yourself.

I'm glad you're here, mirray, because I used to be the 'call a broker' broken record! My husband is a broker, so perhaps I'm a bit partial but, seriously, they will get you the best deal.

You're better off getting in touch with a small local broker rather than one or the larger brokerage firms because the latter will likely charge you a fee. Small brokers don't do that.

Good luck!

thanks, i did try a broker, but they only talked to one place. i got a better quote from that place so i'll probably go for them.

Sounds like you only contacted one broker? You probably have more time than money so as they say in the US let you fingers do the walking and do a lot of calling.

Sounds like you only contacted one broker? You probably have more time than money so as they say in the US let you fingers do the walking and do a lot of calling.

That's the broker's job, Cheers. I think the OP is saying that he/she used a broker, but the broker only contacted one insurance provider. And that doesn't really sound right to me. Brokers all pretty much use the same software which gives them access to all providers across the board.

That's the broker's job, Cheers. I think the OP is saying that he/she used a broker, but the broker only contacted one insurance provider. And that doesn't really sound right to me. Brokers all pretty much use the same software which gives them access to all providers across the board.

Sorry if I wasn't clear.
I was trying to say she should call other brokers if that one she called didn't find anything for her.

I did contact several brokers and they were useless. Luckily I contacted the same company the broker wanted me to use myself and saved over £200.