insurance

I just got my UK license (hooray!!) and am starting to look for a used car and, consequently, car insurance. Right now the quotes I'm getting are at least 1200 a year, for just third-party and on a beater car! I'm sure some of this is because I'm a "new" driver, even though I have a long and very clean driving record from the States. Does this quote sound typical to yall? Can anyone recommend a decent insurer that might take into account my US driving history?

Thanks!

We had much the same problem when we moved back to the UK after living in the US and SE Asia. Although we weren't treated as new drivers we didn't have any no claims bonus, and were treated as new to the country. Toyota Insurance was the most reasonable for us in the first year, then we switched to Admiral, and we're now with Aviva. Nothing wrong with any of the companies, I just go where the best deal is. Aviva have also agreed to insure the car that I'm leaving in the UK while we're back in the US, so that's a major plus for me.

Try contacting taagl.com - someone on here put me on to them back in 2012. They sorted the best rate for me and accepted (to some degree) my no claims thingy from the states. I think the most they could give me was 4 years with a letter from my previous employer. Was still about £880 for my first year if I remember, but we did have a new car. Has gone down by half since then. Best of luck.

Thank you!! I'm going to call Aviva on Monday, I've had a couple of people recommend them. I asked Admiral and they said they wouldn't take our American driving history into account.

I got a car before I got the full UK license. When I got insurance on my US license, I was treated as an experienced driver which reduced the premium, even though I didn't have any years of no claims bonus.

I was told on the phone that I will lose all my years of driving experience when I change the insurance to my UK license and the premium will go up by a few hundred pounds. I told them that that's ridiculous, but apparently their system is in charge . This was with admiral by the way. Now I'm just going to keep it on my US license until I HAVE to change it to the UK one.

Might be worth it to use your US license for part of the year....

We bought a car at the end of April last year....insured through Tesco. Why? Can't remember. For my UK wife and I it was around £650.....they didn't take the US driving history but we were in a hurry so we just got something. Just got another new policy through Tesco (they shopped for something cheaper) and we are about £460 for this year.....I now have my UK license.....they didn't seem to care other than to charge me £60 to make the change to their records. We are mid/late 50's which also helps. Also in a fairly low crime area.

I recommend Aviva. I went on Compare the Market and Confused, and the lowest car insurance was around £1000 per year! Aviva charges me £465 year/£38 per month - it's by far the lowest I found. And they accepted my no claims letter from Allstate back in the US. I'm still driving on my Ohio license (my year is up in a few months) on a 2004 Ford Focus.