Best Way To Get Auto Insurance For Foreigner ?

[hl0m4n]

so my friend from korea got relocated here for work. we found him a place but we are having a huge difficulties with auto insurance. here are the possibilities we tried but exhausted.

1. get insurance through the company: because this is a start up company in the us, they are not offering it.

2. get insurance from same insurance company from korea: they wanted to charge $814 a month

3. shop for any car insurance in us: $10,000+ a year

i guess this is because he does not have driving history here in the states?

any other ways on getting him insurance? i was thinking i can put his lease under my name and he would pay me upfront for the entire term but then it came to me the insurance would be under my name, in the event he got in an accident or tickets my insurance would go up. so that is a no go...

you guys got any other ideas?

[BigDog]

might wanna ask chelsea about that one

[DSB335d]

Relocate close to work; walk/ ride a bike.

[upstatedoc]

Drive without insurance? A lot of people do it.

[Maestro]

Your friend is not the first person to be relocated to the US for work so this is not a unusual occurrence. Even is he has no history in the US as driver it should be no different than a teen driver and as such his insurance should be about the same as any new driver which is around $1500 to $2000 per year for just liability.

Are you trying to shop the online guys like Progressive or Geico if so try going to one of the major insurance companies with real agents like State Farm or Allstate and see what they say. Go talk to them in person and not do the online thing since this could be a situation which website do not cover. I bet if he had insurance in his home country and not had any claims and can show proof of insurance they will take that into consideration.

Obviously if he driving a very expense car and wants crazy full coverage it will cost a lot.

[smyles]

If he's working here legally, i.e. has work visa & SSN, he should have no problems getting US license (? - unless all this post-9/11 / Arizona / etc. developments have really changed things around); after that getting car insurance @ reasonable rates will be as easy as for anyone else.

[munchkins]

Registering it under your name is a big no-no. Let him have his own insurance so he knows how to take care of those things. Why not shop around and maybe you'll find an insurance company that offers very cheap rates

[Orange fever]

Go to a self own ins.
They know how to go around this.

[kevinbahnz]

does your friend have a divers license in the US?

[Seminole]

Your friend is doing something wrong. We had 3 guys from South Africa come over and work for us and all 3 had zero history of driving in the US, a credit score, or anything. Once they got a SSN with their work visa's they were able to get a license and insurance and buy a car. They were paying a lot for their insurance(around 2-3K) but not unreasonable for someone with no driving history.

[Baremeg55]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

so my friend from korea got relocated here for work. we found him a place but we are having a huge difficulties with auto insurance. here are the possibilities we tried but exhausted.

1. get insurance through the company: because this is a start up company in the us, they are not offering it.

2. get insurance from same insurance company from korea: they wanted to charge $814 a month

3. shop for any car insurance in us: $10,000+ a year

i guess this is because he does not have driving history here in the states?

any other ways on getting him insurance? i was thinking i can put his lease under my name and he would pay me upfront for the entire term but then it came to me the insurance would be under my name, in the event he got in an accident or tickets my insurance would go up. so that is a no go...

you guys got any other ideas?

One thing I've done moving overseas and back is have each insurance company write a letter, basically stating (factual) that I/we have had NO CHARGEABLE accidents while insured, and providing dates of coverage.

For anyone being transferred to Europe, this will save you tremendous amounts of money on your auto insurance. For instance, in the UK, you get 10% discount per year of accident free (non-chargeable) driving, maxed out at 60%. In Norway, it maxes out at 70%. Obviously, the USA will never consider such a heavily discounted program as does Europe. Imagine paying only 30% of your current rate if the USA adopted such a heavy discounted program. As I recall, first accident you loss 0 or 10% of the discount, next accident within the next year or two drops like another 20% from your discount.

But back to my point, perhaps IF your friend drove a car in his home country, he could obtain a letter from his insurance company stating he had driven x number of years without a chargeable accident, if indeed this is the case. He might be able to parlay that into lower rates, maybe not, but worth a try.

[Baremeg55]

Originally Posted by hl0m4n

so my friend from korea got relocated here for work. we found him a place but we are having a huge difficulties with auto insurance. here are the possibilities we tried but exhausted.

1. get insurance through the company: because this is a start up company in the us, they are not offering it.

2. get insurance from same insurance company from korea: they wanted to charge $814 a month

3. shop for any car insurance in us: $10,000+ a year

i guess this is because he does not have driving history here in the states?

any other ways on getting him insurance? i was thinking i can put his lease under my name and he would pay me upfront for the entire term but then it came to me the insurance would be under my name, in the event he got in an accident or tickets my insurance would go up. so that is a no go...

you guys got any other ideas?

To OP, having read your post again, things just don't add up. There must be some extenuating circumstances that is driving your friends rates up, so not sure we are getting the full picture here. My employer has countless folks transferred to the USA that do not pay such high rates as you have mentioned, nor have issues finding competitive rates as would an American citizen.

Okay, if he is 18-21, driving a Lamborghini with full coverages at the minimum deductibles, I can see this scenario, otherwise, something is amiss.