So if you live in NC, are a foreign national with an NCDL and have tried to get auto insurance, you'll find that thanks to the NC rate bureau, international driving experience can no longer be counted (as of 2006) and you are charged the rate for an inexperienced driver, which on average is around $1200 for 6 months!!!!!!!!!!

personally I have 18 years driving experience, most of which is commercial 'professional' driving experience, and in all my time on the road I have NEVER had an accident. I am mortified that the hundreds of thousand of miles and years of accident free experince I have is now worthless and I have to pay the same as some bratt nosed 16 year old who has never driven a car in their life. Or for that matter, more than some 19 year old with a couple of years experince tearing around with thier buddies.

I consider it highly unfair and am currentyl lobbying the NCRB to change their policy. I understand their need to have 'verifiable proof' of foreign driving experience, but to have it dismissed totally is unfair and unacceptable.

Anyways, 'breathes', I am currently hassling every insurance agent I can find, and scouring every resource I can find for workaround to this issue. I am not talking about anything illegal, I firmly believe everyone on the road should have insurance. I am simply talking about loopholes that would reduce the cost of said insurance for those of us with experience.

So, as I find out more info, I will post information on here. In the meantime, if any of you have experience with this issue, or know of any LEGAL workaround, please come here and post it for the rest of us, lets see if we can't beat this grossly unfair policy!!!

I wonder if you can get a driver's extract from your home country which shows your good driving history? I'm not sure which country you are from, but one of my Canadian friends (who also drove professionally for many years) obtained a driver's extract from his Canadian insurer and used this to prove his good record. It may have been a fluke but it's worth a try.

I found the same thing - 920 dollars for 6 months on a beater old rodeo despite 13 years of driving experience in the UK. However, i have since found out that that level of insurance is very good, equivalent to top-spec fully comp in the UK. Minimum requirements for my state (CA) would cost about 250 dollars for 6 months. However, i've now been struck by the paranoia bug - cheap coverage in a bad accident is no use..

as far as lobbying goes, try your hardest by all means, but i know from personal experience that insurance companies are amongst the most stubborn entities in the universe. Their main mission in life is to accumulate money, with a powerful secondary calling of not giving any money away

I don't know if it is unfair or not - the insurance market is pretty competitive. If drivers with foreign experience were such a good risk, insurers would gladly offer us coverage at good rates.
It certainly is annoying, though.

Hi,

We are a married couple moving from France, I am from the Uk and my husband is French, and unfortunately we are going through exactly the same process as you. However we are getting quotes of over 4000$ for 6 months, although this is for quite comprehensive coverage it is still completely extorniate. I would be very grateful if you could tell us where you got your 1200$ quote from and what coverage you got. I am also hassling all insurance agents to try and get the best deal, we are quite a few expats coming over so we could offer quite a few potential contracts to whoever would give us the best deal.

Anyway let me know

Thanks

Insurance is really complicated. It will be based on the state and city of where you live, your driving history, your license status, your credit score, your *social risk* factor (education, profession, etc), your car, and the type of coverage you are seeking. If a lot of those things are missing, then your rates go through the roof. It sucks. Are you sure you can't live without a car where you are going for a few months?

NC insurance agreed to disregard foreign history completely as of 2007... Happened to us. However, not all insurance companies go along with that, call around. They also didn't care in NC that my DH has a BA and I have a MA, it was completely ignored, all that mattered was the years of driving experience (Geico).
In CA however it was taken into account, my experience from Europe, my education, my record from the German DMV stating I never ever had accidents nor tickets, our credit score. We are now paying for two cars what we paid for one car in NC!!!!!!!! That is totally crazy, I know.

I do believe it is simply a way to milk people for money, because the e.g. the European DL has such high requirements, when I did my CA license I laughed so hard how easy peasy that was here. The test is a joke! The driving test too! You can totally pass that blindfolded compared to the ordeal of getting the license in Germany (attending driving school, a real test that you actually had to study for, a 45 minute driving exam, 56 hours minimum of driving school during day, night, highway, normal road, city, etc).... I actually think we should get credit for that! Seriously, my driving test person here in CA said all the Europeans who he had to retest drove really perfectly and safely.

The amusing thing about all of that is that Germany completely accepted my Indiana operator's license and gave me a regular führerschein for 40 euros. I didn't have to take a single test. I am very puzzled as to why German licenses are not accepted here in Indiana after seeing the courtesy extended to me in Germany. They are in Wisconsin, for example. States.