Car Insurance advice for the USA

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

We emigrated to the USA on the 1st December 2005, and we bought our first car on the 18th December 2005. On the 8th February 2006 we had a massive car accident and fortunatly for us we lived but I have injuries which will take a fair amount of time to heal, and will cost many thousands of dollars in medical expences. Also fortunatly for us we were hit by an insured driver and a company lorry so their insurance is good. So now I want to share with the UK nurses who are on their way over here and the ones who are already here and may be oblivious, of what kind of insurance it is vital to have.

Car insurance is very expensive here but it is important that you pay for the best in this country or else you could be in deep trouble. Fully comprehensive insurance is not the same as it is back in UK.

You will not be covered by your company's medical insurance ( by this I mean the company who employs you) for any medical occurance as a result of a road traffic accident-not even the ambulance which recovers you from the scene of the accident which cost us $700 for one person. So you need to ensure you are medically covered in your own auto insurance just in case your are hit by either an unisured driver or a underinsured driver.

Expect a fully comprehensive policy to cost up to $1000 per six months anything less than $800 is not worth the paper it is written on. We paid $115 per month and it covered NOTHING, only $15,000 per person which doesnt even cover medical expences. No car hire, no road side recovery no medical expences!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if it had been our fault then we would have been in a dire situation.

If you are over here check now your policy, if you are coming over here then PM me with details of what you have been offered by your insurance company and I will advice you. I can tell you everything you need to have included in your policy.

Nobody here in USA will advice you because they do not know how things work in the UK with car insurance. Remember all health care is free in UK so you dont need to worry about that in UK. I believe the ambulance will charge for RTA's at home but you are talking around 25 pounds.

Please please take this post seriously because I feel we knew nothing about car insurance when we came here, the insurance looked ok to our uneducated mind and had we not had an accident we would not have know how much danger we were in.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Thanks Suzanne for making this a stickie. :balloons:

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We emigrated to the USA on the 1st December 2005, and we bought our first car on the 18th December 2005. On the 8th February 2006 we had a massive car accident and fortunatly for us we lived but I have injuries which will take a fair amount of time to heal, and will cost many thousands of dollars in medical expences. Also fortunatly for us we were hit by an insured driver and a company lorry so their insurance is good. So now I want to share with the UK nurses who are on their way over here and the ones who are already here and may be oblivious, of what kind of insurance it is vital to have.

Car insurance is very expensive here but it is important that you pay for the best in this country or else you could be in deep trouble. Fully comprehensive insurance is not the same as it is back in UK.

You will not be covered by your company's medical insurance ( by this I mean the company who employs you) for any medical occurance as a result of a road traffic accident-not even the ambulance which recovers you from the scene of the accident which cost us $700 for one person. So you need to ensure you are medically covered in your own auto insurance just in case your are hit by either an unisured driver or a underinsured driver.

Expect a fully comprehensive policy to cost up to $1000 per six months anything less than $800 is not worth the paper it is written on. We paid $115 per month and it covered NOTHING, only $15,000 per person which doesnt even cover medical expences. No car hire, no road side recovery no medical expences!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So if it had been our fault then we would have been in a dire situation.

If you are over here check now your policy, if you are coming over here then PM me with details of what you have been offered by your insurance company and I will advice you. I can tell you everything you need to have included in your policy.

Nobody here in USA will advice you because they do not know how things work in the UK with car insurance. Remember all health care is free in UK so you dont need to worry about that in UK. I believe the ambulance will charge for RTA's at home but you are talking around 25 pounds.

Please please take this post seriously because I feel we knew nothing about car insurance when we came here, the insurance looked ok to our uneducated mind and had we not had an accident we would not have know how much danger we were in.

Thank you for telling me as i presently in the process of making the transfer to work in the USA and i had no idea will contact you when i a a bit closer to my objective.

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I am US born looking to relocate to the UK with my UK born husband.

Auto insurance is a real sticky wicket here in the US. In an accident your personal auto insurance doesn't usually cover if the other driver is at fault. Theirs should cover it. You really need to shop around between companies. The most expensive isn't always the best, check the reputation of the companies in your area.

The key is to not sign off of anything too quickly. If you know that you are going to need ongoing medical attention, physical therapy, surgery, time loss from work, etc. it is advisable to get an attorney.

Every state has different laws regarding insurance. Some companies and states will pay for what they call "pain and suffering" or emotional truama.

I am sorry to hear that one of your earliest experiences here was a traumatic one. :o Hope things go much better from here on out.

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Hello

I just received some stuff about autosource which came with my last package of stuff from OGP. Does anyone know if this is any good? Or if I should just do it myself when I get to the states?

Thank you in advance

:)

p.s sorry to hear about your accident I hope you get better soon :)

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Kay, insurance coverage varies from state to state. When I was in a car accident in Virginia, I was covered by my husband's medical insurance while I was receiving care and while we were waiting for settlement from the other person's auto insurance company.

Also, in some areas ambulance service does not charge for a run, it's covered by county taxes. Other ambulances will charge.

In general, an auto insurance company will not pay out for medical expenses as you go, while getting treatment. Some will try to get you to settle immediately and they will give you a check. But if you have further medical expenses r/t the accident, they will not cover it. So if the accident is serious, it's one time I would recommend getting a lawyer.

In my accident, the care lasted 6 months and 2 surgeries. In the beginning, we didn't know I would be needing the surgery. If I had settled for the $2K they wanted to give me up front, it would have ended up costing another $20K later that the other guy's insurance would not have had to pay. But my medical insurance would.

Whenever you do get an insurance policy, check the laws in your state as well to see what is and is not covered. That way you can better prepare yourself.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Hello

I just received some stuff about autosource which came with my last package of stuff from OGP. Does anyone know if this is any good? Or if I should just do it myself when I get to the states?

Thank you in advance

Hannah :)

p.s sorry to hear about your accident I hope you get better soon :)

Cant help you I never recieved anything like that form OGP sorry

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Kay, insurance coverage varies from state to state. When I was in a car accident in Virginia, I was covered by my husband's medical insurance while I was receiving care and while we were waiting for settlement from the other person's auto insurance company.

Also, in some areas ambulance service does not charge for a run, it's covered by county taxes. Other ambulances will charge.

In general, an auto insurance company will not pay out for medical expenses as you go, while getting treatment. Some will try to get you to settle immediately and they will give you a check. But if you have further medical expenses r/t the accident, they will not cover it. So if the accident is serious, it's one time I would recommend getting a lawyer.

In my accident, the care lasted 6 months and 2 surgeries. In the beginning, we didn't know I would be needing the surgery. If I had settled for the $2K they wanted to give me up front, it would have ended up costing another $20K later that the other guy's insurance would not have had to pay. But my medical insurance would.

Whenever you do get an insurance policy, check the laws in your state as well to see what is and is not covered. That way you can better prepare yourself.

Hi Cat,

I imagine that insurance varies from state to state everything else does but I just wanted a stickie that helped the UK nurses who really havent a clue how different it is over here. i feel that this stickie will prepare them for the worst and then anything different will be a bonus.;)

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In most states, car insurance is required in order to drive legally. It helps to protect the people and things that are important to you as the driver. Without it, a person could be sued for thousands of dollars for damages or even have to pay for the funeral of a loved one without any assistance.

If you are still shopping for insurance my advice is go online. I recently checked out some quotes at www.insurancepaylite.com they have a couple of known companies here. so it's cool. actually there are things that we all have to consider. Age is a major consideration. Old vehicles pay a higher premium than new ones. The type and model of the vehicle has a major role also. When buying car/auto insurance online, there aresites that provide automated tools. They're using an auto coverage analyzer where you have to answer a few question about your financial standing, automobile condition, etc. From this information it will generate what category of coverage you need.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
In most states, car insurance is required in order to drive legally. It helps to protect the people and things that are important to you as the driver. Without it, a person could be sued for thousands of dollars for damages or even have to pay for the funeral of a loved one without any assistance.

If you are still shopping for insurance my advice is go online. I recently checked out some quotes at www.insurancepaylite.com they have a couple of known companies here. so it's cool. actually there are things that we all have to consider. Age is a major consideration. Old vehicles pay a higher premium than new ones. The type and model of the vehicle has a major role also. When buying car/auto insurance online, there aresites that provide automated tools. They're using an auto coverage analyzer where you have to answer a few question about your financial standing, automobile condition, etc. From this information it will generate what category of coverage you need.

Thanks for your advice-it is slightly different for non US citizens when they first arrive here.

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Specializes in Surgical, Breastcare, Minor ops, OPD.

Great sticky I am about to make the move from UK 2 US so all the info here has given me some knowledge of what questions I should be asking when looking for auto insurance.

ukrn2us

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Specializes in Paed Ortho, PICU, CTICU, Paeds Retrieval.

This is a great idea for a sticky Kay....

When I came to the US from London 2 years ago and I was looking for car insurance I was bewildered. Luckily for us we had met a really nice guy (a car salesman would you believe?) who helped us out.... but it was still a shock, let me paint you a picture:

In the UK I have driven for 15 years and my fully comp insurance is only 600 pounds a year. I have never had an accident and qualify for total no claims discount.

When we got to the US we couldn't find car insurance at first because we hadn't been in the country for over a year. Our car salesman vouched for us and gave us a reference for the insurance company who accepted our application.... BUT, because we had only just qualified for our Arizona driving license we were told we would be treated as brand new drivers... in the end we paid $1800 for a 6 month coverage on a VW Beetle, that meant that our monthly bill was $300, after 6 months it came down by $50/month then by another $50/month.

As if it wasn't bad enough that we had to pay so much, the insurance company needed to have 6 months up front as we had no credit history.... guess what, our US credit cards only had limits of $500 because we had no credit history with them either... which meant we had to use UK cards and send money back home to pay them off.

For those coming over from the UK... speak to your insurance companies first, I have been told that some have arrangements with companies here (although I don't know which ones... I could never find out!)... this may help to reduce the cost a litlle.

Good luck to all of you... keep a stiff upper lip, it is a jungle out here!!;)

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