Written by Q: Hi. I am shipping my 1975 MGB from England to Baltimore MD and plan to tour USA and Canada for 5 weeks then ship the car back here to England. Is there a company in the USA that would insure me?
AIS Answer: This is definitely not an easy question to find the answer to considering that car insurance policies in the U.S. are for typically for U.S. Residents with U.S. drivers licenses, and short-term or temporary car insurance doesn’t officially exist for those that live and drive in the United States. Before you go around asking every insurance company if they will cover you, try your current UK insurance company first if you haven’t already.
According to a few of the websites I’ve looked at for direction, there really is no easy straight-forward way for a foreigner to get a temporary car insurance policy in the U.S. – Outside of rental car insurance or begging a friend to add your name (and imported vehicle) to their policy (not sure how effective that would be if you don’t meet possible requirements of their insurance company).
Acquiring car insurance in another country, including the United States, may have a few stipulations like an international drivers license, and since you plan on driving through Canada as well, only the specific insurance company that will insure you in the U.S. can tell you if they will also insure your foreign vehicle in both countries (U.S. and Canada), and even then Canada may have its own driving requirements for foreign visitors.
Insurance companies like Progressive and AIG are said to specialize in providing this type of temporary foreign visitor car insurance, though I can’t substantiate that claim through their website’s. However, it doesn’t hurt to give them a call if you have the time, as a licensed insurance company can tell you specifically if they cover this type of driving and if so, what the necessary requirements will be for the countries you’re visiting.
I’m from the U.S. and I’ve driven through Canada a number of times, in fact, if it was an issue for a U.S. driver to drive through Canada they probably would ask you for proof of temporary car insurance at the border.
Car insurance the U.S. might be harder though, I mean your car has to be insured to drive and if you’re from the UK, or some other area then it might be a little bit tougher.
I wonder if there are any restrictions on drivers from the U.S. going to the UK, or Germany…I know many car manufacturers have delivery options at their plants (Porsche, BMW, Mercedes) and I’ve never seen a single mention of needing temporary car insurance or an international drivers license in any of the literature.
Shouldn’t your current cra insurance cover this?
I’ve had no issues driving through Canada and I’m from America.
not sure about Canadian laws, but I’ve been ok driving through Canada with Progressive.
There are a lot of companies I’ve seen that offer both Canada and U.S. auto insurance, but you can only get car insurance where your vehicle is registered, so your company should cover you if you travel to either of those countries.
Canadians cross the border each day into Washington with B.C. plates and I don’t think many of them have US auto insurance. Why would they? Just because they work in the U.S. doesn’t mean they need to insure a vehicle in a different country.
I’ve driven all through Canada with U.S. auto insurance…it’s never ONCE been an issue. Not sure about CDN auto insurance in the U.S. though.
I’ve driven with Canadian insurance on UK plated and registered vehicle in Canada and the US. Just contact any insurance company and tell them your situation.
Its not a big deal. The insurance company can issue you pink cards while the vehicle is overseas as long as you provide registration with the VIN and an MOT certificate stating the car is in good health.