American Car Insurance, one for our American Posters ?

Caporegime
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West Yorks
can somebody clarify how car insurance works in america ? been watching Hogan Knows Best on MTV, and its one of the older ones where his son gets "his learners permit"

at this point my jaw dropped. At the ripe old age of 15, he got let loose in a car with only having to sit a written exam and an interview at the Driving Agency. After passing this basic test, he is allowed to drive any car, providing an adult is in it

and this was the best bit, apparently in the state of florida this automatically turns into a full drivers license at the age of 16 ? without them ever having driven a car ? i was like WTF ???

so anyway, he gets learners permit at 15, then proceeds to drive his Tuned Toyota Supra !!

i know id heard that things were a bit more relaxed over there, but getting insurance to drive a supra at 15 ?

Has hogan just paid like 10k for insurance, or what ?
 
Caporegime
OP
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West Yorks
Morba said:
its american
its mtv

i was thinking i was going to get some constructive input on how American Car Insurance works

I'm still in shock that the only thing you need to drive a car in florida is a written exam and a statement from your parents that you've driven 50 hours and to not have got any points

http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/ddl/geninfo.html

cant believe theres no practical exam at all. And at a time when we're proposing to put the minimum driving age to 18, they allow 15 year olds to drive.
 
Soldato
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11 Mar 2004
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5,000
MrLOL said:
i was thinking i was going to get some constructive input on how American Car Insurance works

I'm still in shock that the only thing you need to drive a car in florida is a written exam and a statement from your parents that you've driven 50 hours and to not have got any points

http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/ddl/geninfo.html

cant believe theres no practical exam at all. And at a time when we're proposing to put the minimum driving age to 18, they allow 15 year olds to drive.

They may not have a real problem of 17 year old idiots wrapping their Saxo's around trees killing four teenagers at a go....
 
Caporegime
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Stolly said:
They may not have a real problem of 17 year old idiots wrapping their Saxo's around trees killing four teenagers at a go....

good point

but why is the boy racer phenomen specific to the UK ? young lads like fast cars no matter where they're from.

and ive just seen this post in another thread

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=9870580&postcount=26

seems that, like id read, all they have over there is some basic form of liability insurance. Much like insuring a house, so car insurance is the same for every car they drive. Doesnt make any difference if you drive a Ford Focus or a Supra at 16, insurance will be more or less the same.

seems i live in the wrong country ...
 
Associate
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18 May 2004
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Location
West Sussex
also they got things a better way round

drive at 15
and can't drink until you're 21

therefore you actually learn to drive properly before you can go out and get wasted, whereas here people pass tests at 17 then most will get served no problem and think they're road gods.......we have a hell of a lot of ignorant drivers over here
 
Associate
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Skipton
Stolly said:
They may not have a real problem of 17 year old idiots wrapping their Saxo's around trees killing four teenagers at a go....

They have more than twice as many road deaths as we do taking into account the difference in population.
 
Associate
Joined
1 Jul 2007
Posts
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This is from my wife, whos american, it works just like over here, it all depends on the make , model and year of the car. But him being 15 doesnt make much difference.

If he has a claim then it will rocket up. but unlike the UK new drivers arent stung for insurance.

I drive a honda H-RV over here with 6 years no claims, fully comp and my insurance with protected no claims is £48 a month.

Our joint car insurance with geiko for our car in New hampshire is $50 a month.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jul 2007
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Location
Solihull-Florida
the driving test in fl is a BIG joke.

i went for mine i smoked about 20 before i went.

a guy gets in with you, you then drive car to the back of the place where you get you driving licence

its like a mini road way,no one on there but you so you cant hit any one lol

the guy next to you will just make you reverse between to polls.
then after that he will say take a right BUT WATCH FOR TRAFFIC ???

then he will say "park your car as if your going up a hill " ok easy
thats it...

YOU PASSED :D

i thought he was joking so i said " when do we go out on the road "
nope that was it 5 mins thats all it took..

oh and the touch screen exam before..well that was a laugh as well
 
Associate
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NH USA (Brit Expat)
newbidood said:
Our joint car insurance with geiko for our car in New hampshire is $50 a month.

Ooo.....hello neighbour. :D

Me and my wife also use Geico (I love the caveman ads on telly btw :D ) for our joint policy, which was just over $900 a year for our new Yaris.
I can't remember what coverages I selected when arranging the policy online, but I did ramp things up a few levels from what the minimum requirements are in NH.*


*For the non-US posters.
Car insurance here is VERY user-definable and customisable, it's not just a case of selecting between TPO, TPF&T or FC.
You can choose the individual coverage values of collisions, injury, damage to property, legal cover etc etc etc. I was actually a little daunted when I first started shopping around for insurance a few months ago, but you get used to it and it is nice being able to specify the EXACT policy that you want.
 
Associate
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NH USA (Brit Expat)
deuse said:
i thought he was joking so i said " when do we go out on the road "
nope that was it 5 mins thats all it took..

I had to do a public-road test up here in NH, but it was definately just a formality (the tester knew i'd been driving for years back in Britain and just wanted to see that I was comfortable on the other side of the road and the car).
 
Associate
Joined
1 Jul 2007
Posts
120
daveyj27 said:
I had to do a public-road test up here in NH, but it was definately just a formality (the tester knew i'd been driving for years back in Britain and just wanted to see that I was comfortable on the other side of the road and the car).

Where abouts in NH you living ? The wife lives in Hampton, fantastic place i love it there, but were going to live here in burnley ( lancashire ) for about 3 years then move to NH.
 
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