Possibly silly question about car insurance.

I'm thinking it's going to be necessary to have a car, so i'm planning on buying something used.  I already know that insurance is likely going to be expensive.

My question is, which comes first, the car or the insurance?

Sounds silly, I know, but i've always been in situations where I already had insurance, then just added the new car when I bought it, but since I've never had insurance here i'm not really sure how to go about things....

If I buy a car before I get insurance, then wont I be driving around uninsured? Is that illegal here?

Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a completely idiotic question!

The car comes first, then the insurance. It's not like the US where you have insurance that covers you no matter what car you drive. You have to get the insurance for yourself for the specific car, and you can't drive off of the lot until you have it.

The car comes first, then the insurance. It's not like the US where you have insurance that covers you no matter what car you drive. You have to get the insurance for yourself for the specific car, and you can't drive off of the lot until you have it.

That kind of sounds like I should actually have the insurance first then, or have already at least gotten quotes before I go look at cars.  I mean, I don't really want to be calling insurance companies for quotes from the car lot, right?

You can't get the insurance until you get the car. You'll only be insured to drive the one specific car, so until you've bought it, you can't buy insurance. You have to own the car and have the registration to get the insurance.

You can get quotes from companies if you know the specific model & options you're buying, but you can't insure the car until you actually have the car.

I guess i'm still just confused about the process then....

1. You go to a car dealership or a private owner, pay for the car, then leave it there and  go home and call around for insurance?

2. You sit at the dealership/persons house and call insurance companies?

3. You drive the car home and call insurance places?

It just seems like any time i've changed my US insurance it's taken hours and and I can't imagine doing that while at a dealership....so I guess i'm just a little confused.

You do 1 or 2. You cannot do 3, you cannot drive the car until you and the car are insured.

Or, before heading to the dealership, you call for quotes on the make and model of car you're planning on buying, pick the best one, and then do 2 to finalize the policy.

I've never had an insurance policy take hours to set up, either here or in the US!

I guess i'm still just confused about the process then....

1. You go to a car dealership or a private owner, pay for the car, then leave it there and  go home and call around for insurance?

2. You sit at the dealership/persons house and call insurance companies?

3. You drive the car home and call insurance places?

It just seems like any time i've changed my US insurance it's taken hours and and I can't imagine doing that while at a dealership....so I guess i'm just a little confused.

It's been 3 years since I bought my car here but as I remember, I chose my car from the used car place, I don't think I had to put a deposit on it although you may have to depending on where/whom you buy from, I then went home and bought insurance online. I printed out the document and went back the next day with my proof of insurance and I paid for the car and drove it off the lot.

Here are a few links to some price comparison websites, you can have a play around with them and see what kind of money you're looking at. In fact it's advisable to do this as you may fall in love with something only to find out that the cost to insure it is prohibitive.

http://www.confused.com/campaign/car-insurance/car-insurance-monthly?MediaCode=100&kw=car+compare+insurance+online+quote+broad&gclid=CLrppoXun7cCFVDMtAodpGAAAw

http://www.comparethemarket.com/car-insurance/

http://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/compare.aspx?Media=GC489&PST=1&gclid=CJTuov7tn7cCFQjKtAod5EYAcQ

So, yes, as Gwen said, options 1 or 2 are OK, not option 3.

You'll find most things a bit weird and more complicated here.  I bought my car on a Sunday and couldn't actually drive it home until Wednesday.  Drove me crazy, wasn't the insuance, I already had it ready to go based on the vehicle' number plate (license plate), but having an MOT and it needed new tires etc delayed it.

And to this day I'm annoyed that the car didn't come with a full tank of gas.  But that's part of a new country, everything is different.

These things aren't some goofy UK-only issues though. 

We moved to the US and had to buy a car. We had to insure it before we were allowed to drive it off. We couldn't get insurance until we knew what car we were buying. I didn't get a full tank of gas nor expected it.

New things can be irritating but not everything is because the UK over complicates things.

We recently bought a used Toyota from a Toyota dealership which came with 3 days free insurance. The dealership put me in touch with Toyota insurance, and they issued the 3 day insurance to start the day we collected the car.

Then I called around for quotes before the 3 day cover ended, ended up staying with Toyota and the documents were issued by email.

Actually, another thing to think about is the limitations only having a US driver's license will impose. Some companies definitely won't accept you as the primary insurance holder on just a US license. Definitely start the calling around early!

Yeah, you couldn't get insurance in the US without knowing the car either, and it would be illegal to drive home there without insurance as well. If some have done otherwise, they just got away with breaking the law.

I've bought three cars in the UK. First was from someone and the next two were from dealers.  Both dealers offered me the free insurance for a few days, but I declined because it was just as easy for me to call my own guys and set that up. It was a relatively easy process, and I just sat in the office and sorted it all out. I drove cars one and two home that day, but no. 3 needed inspection and such, so I had to come back a day or two later.

I always recommend using an insurance broker when you are looking for insurance--especially when you are new to the country.  There are nuances that they can work around that you may not understand when you use a comparison site. I used one called A-Plan (01252 541 404) and was able to have my no claims record from the States carried over, which nobody else would do. There may be something that works for you locally though.

With the first car, I had called my insurance company in advance and started some of the process like entering all my personal info in advance on their system, then we just had to add the specific car, and it moved more quickly.

Hi

The easiest way to go through things at this stage.

It all depends on the 'TYPE' of car you want, so evaluate the type of car you'd like to have and then call up insurance companies to get a range of quotes based on your specific situation. You'll then get an idea if your finances are able to cover the cost, or not as the case may be! If you find costs are high generally, you might need to think about buying a different and potentially cheaper type of car etc.

That said, some insurance companies are better than others at the time for giving quotes. You will have to shop around and use the comparison sites as well as going direct. There's many factors the insurance companies use when determining a quote for you - your postcode, age, road/driveway/garage parked overnight, driving history & any NCB, the type of car you wish to insure, anti theft devices fitted etc etc.

About 8 months ago, I called up my current insurer and enquired about a car I'd love to get and got a figure I was sort of expecting at around £1400 for the year. I called a few other places and got similar'ish amounts. I decided to leave it till later when finances would allow. I then got talking to a guy who was also fed up with insurance considering the 6 cars he has and for his business the 8-10 vans/trucks he has. We focused on one of his cars as it's the one I want too. A call to a specialist and I got a quote for £372 (limited mielage policy) for the year and once I picked myself up off the floor, I found an example I liked! Once I'd agreed the deal, I called the insurance up with the details of the car and registration number and the policy was taken out on the phone. I then made my way over to pick the car up and all was of course good as the insurance was already effective as of a few hours previously.

There's many guides about which cars in each class/catagory are good purchases as well as things to watch out for with ownership etc. I suggest you have a good look through those to help you decide on a shortlist of perhaps 4/5 cars which also fit your budget for insurance and running costs. There's plenty of places to buy and of course some are absolutely fantastic and others are very bad. I'd advise to get a pre purchase inspection on a car that you really do like/wish to buy in order that it gives you more peace of mind as to it's condition. If you do end up buying from a reputable dealer, check to see if an inspection has already been done and look at the report etc.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

My DH bought a car when he went back in March.  We found the car online and he could see the number plate so i did some researching online.  We went to the dealership to look at the car.  Went back 2 days later, bought the car and they insured the car for 1 week while we sorted it out on our end.  It was pretty easy.  But like most people said, you can go and put a deposit down, go home, get insurance, and then pick the car up....sometimes the same day.

I've never had an insurance policy take hours to set up, either here or in the US!

It's taken me weeks just to find a company WILLING to insure me.  All of them kept saying that I hadn't lived in the UK long enough to get insurance and after i'd lived here for 3 months most of the quotes were well over £3000/year for a class 1 or 2 car.  I'm definitely glad I didn't think that I could walk into a dealership and then call around to get insurance.  It's been a major pain.

I realize a lot of people on here have British spouses...so that may make it easier to get added to a policy.

Just for an update, in case it will help anyone else in a similar situation, Geico international was the only company I could find willing to insure me without me having to wait until i'd lived here for three months.  They also quoted me for about
£600/year for me and my husband (which seemed very reasonable after all of those 3000 ones).