I'm a 28 year old software designer who works and lives in London, 
England and my girlfriend is a similarly aged banker who also lives 
and works in London. 
 
In April we plan to spend a couple of weeks touring the west side of the 
US in my Ferrari 360 Spider which I have arranged to be shipped to San 
Francisco. 
 
During our tour we plan to drive through the following states= CA,NV, 
,AZ,TX,LA,FL. 
 
Can you please provide a list of companies who offer the appropriate 
insurance cover for both myself and my girlfriend to drive my car 
while touring the above states bearing in mind the below. 
 
1. I'm under 30 years of age. 
2. The value of my car is $180,000. 
3. We will be travelling through a number of different states. 
4. We have both held driving licences for over 10 years 
5. Between the two of us we have ONLY ONE speeding conviction. 
6. We don’t want to have any mileage restrictions. 
 
Thank you in advance and please feel free to ask any clarification 
questions.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 17 Mar 2003 16:45 PST

Have you confirmed that you're not covered by your present insurance? 
And if you're not, is the policy simply not in effect under these
circumstances, or does it provide only limited coverage and you're
looking to increase it?

---

Clarification of Question by andys-ga on 18 Mar 2003 00:36 PST

>Have you confirmed that you're not covered by your present insurance?

My current motor insurance policy provided by an London based
insurance company covers me to drive in England full time and for up
to 31 days in Europe.

I have been informed that to drive in the USA I require a policy from
an American firm which includes covers for the states I plan to drive
in.

---

Request for Question Clarification by aceresearcher-ga on 20 Mar 2003 22:17 PST

andys,

I made some inquiries about your situation, and here's the long and
the short of it. I am not familiar with how they do auto insurance in
the UK, but I AM very familiar with how they do it in the US, and I'm
guessing the two are pretty similar.

An insurance company's willingess to underwrite a policy depends on
evaluation of a considerable number of risk factors. The bad news is
that you hit almost all of them.

Your good factors:  
- You have both held driving licences for over 10 years.
- Between the two of you, you have only one speeding conviction
(although how long it has been, and the severity of the violation will
make a difference -- 5 miles over the limit? 15? 50? In the US,
anything over 15 is considered a SERIOUS violation, with fines in the
hundreds of dollars. Have you had any other moving violations, like
blowing a stop sign, or failure to yield? In how many accidents have
you and your girlfriend been involved while driving?)

Now the bad factors:
(and please don't take offense, but based on statistics of past
behavior and driving performance by people with your demographics,
these are honestly the sorts of things the insurance underwriters will
be thinking.)
- You're under 30 years of age and you're unmarried.
    To them, these are MAJOR risk factors -- you're probably 
    less mature, and you probably have fewer family obligations
    that might make you be more careful.
- The value of your car is $180,000.  
    The payout on a claim for such a policy would be 
    10-20 times that on an ordinary vehicle (and 10-20 times 
    what they could charge for your policy premium).
- Your car is considered a sports car.
    (Based on statistics, that, your youth and your 
    unmarried status, are together considered by insurance 
    companies to be darn close to a certain recipe for disaster.)
    They'll wonder why don't you just rent a car here? Why would
    you insist on bringing your own, very expensive, very FAST
    car over here? Perhaps you are planning to drive very fast???
    Perhaps you're hoping you can have just enough of an accident
    to be able to claim the big payout, then dash back to the UK?
- You will be travelling through a number of different states,
  and you don’t want to have any mileage restrictions.  
    You are only going to be in the US for 2 weeks, and you are 
    going to drive through 6 states (roughly 3,000 miles -- perhaps
    a LOT more). To the insurance company, that means you will be 
    driving at least an average of 200 miles per day. Maybe you'll
    start out with jet lag. Maybe you'll be so busy seeing and doing
    things that you won't get enough sleep before you drive each day.
    (Underwriters are paid to think about these things.) Whatever 
    the case, your vehicle is going to see an inordinate amount of 
    mileage in a VERY short time (12,000 miles in one year --
    52 weeks -- is considered "average" driving mileage here in the
    US. You're going to do 25% of that, in less than 4% of that time.)
- You're not going to be in one stable location 
  during the time that you're here.
    Insurance companies usually require that an expensive sports
    car spends a certain percentage of the time garaged (stored) 
    in one location and not being driven. Furthermore, for
    short-term insurance like this, they usually require that
    you don't cross ANY state lines.

This page lists 4 companies that handle very high-risk, special
instance insurance for foreign visitors.
http://web.archive.org/web/20020605075127/http://www.insure.com/auto/foreignlicense.html
Another company that provides special-needs insurance is
AIG Agency Auto (formerly AIG Specialty Auto) 
http://www.specialtyconnection.com/body.html
http://www.specialtyconnection.com/about.html

I talked with Progressive, and they would not be willing to even
consider insuring you.

I called a US broker for Lloyd's of London -- which specializes in
special-needs insurance -- and he's pretty sure that none of the reps
in London would be willing to even consider insuring you, either.

I'm afraid that in the eyes of insurance companies, you are likely
considered a 100% risk. Not even high-risk insurance providers will
play those odds.

My recommendation to you is that you cancel your arrangements to ship
your Ferrari here, and that you start NOW making arrangements for a
rental car (because they will require you to go through a lot of red
tape in order to be able to rent one of their cars, and to be covered
by their insurance).

I regret that I am not able to give you better news.

I do hope that you are able to make alternate arrangements in time for
your trip, and that you enjoy your visit to the US.

Regards,

aceresearcher

Impossible to determine without bookoo information, like credit
history, past insurance claims paid, 1 speeding ticket (going 220 kph
in 100 kph zone), insurance table for car (some companies wont insure
certain "high-risk" vehicles). The following are some insurer in the
USA that will be able to help you out.

Insurance companies:

http://geico.com

http://www.azfb.com// Arizona chapter Farm Bureau

http://www.insure.com/

http://www.iadc-club.com/

http://www.progressive.com

http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/9/0,2163,51969,00.html

http://www.insurancefinder.com/

http://www.travel-insurance-travel.co.uk/insurance-links/insurerprovidersuk.html

http://www.startingpage.com/html/insurance.html

Alternative idea: Buy then resale.
http://www.motorcarsusa.com/homepage.html

Rental:

http://www.bhrentacar.com/vehicle_group.php?vg_id=4&

http://www.drivenimage.com/cars03.asp

Others.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?GetResult&SortProperty=MetaHighestPriceSort&query=ferrari+360&newu=1&combine=y&st=2

http://search.dogpile.com/texis/search?q=ferrari+360&cat=web&top=1

VERY BEST PLAN:

I realize you are bringing your own vehicle because of a number of
reasons; you know how to drive it, it will give you some sort of
"gee-golly" bragging rights, if it gets stolen "I will make out like a
bandit", etc.

There are a number of ideas in my mind of what you really should do
though:

Rent a similar vehicle or something you think you would like to own
here, give it a test-spin. Forget the "Cannon Ball Run" dream
vacation... most states will incarcerate you for speeds over 25 miles
per hour (you don't want to spend your holiday being some gorillas
pin-cushion (wink). Some states even give their officers permission to
shoot you for public endangerment when speeding. There are way too
many things that can go wrong with any auto at high-speeds not to
mention if a dog, cat, skunk(pew), cow, horse, elk, buffalo or just
some stupid bastard pulling out in front of you. It happens here all
the time, cruising down the street at a mere 45 miles per hour and
some dick half-a-rugby field away pulls out in front of you. Their
rationalization because you did not hit them this time, "I had room,
time, or maybe they will hit me in the rear and I can get a new car
out of the deal, etc."

Why spend your valuable holiday time driving from one location to
another, especially if you are going to do it under 25 miles per hour
over the speed limit? Oh, and if you think the cop cars can't catch
you? Most cities, counties and states have access to air patrols or
news choppers(they love a good road chase), road blocks, and some have
"good old boys" that will screw with you because they CAN (then all
your money won't keep you out of the county jail for two or three
months).

Now if you want to see the sites, and cruise fast from one location to
another, I have a most excellent idea. Find yourself a flight
instructor that you can rent him, his plane, and his knowledge. The
guy or gal agrees to take you and your fiance up on an all expense
paid working vacation for him and his spouse, you and your girlfriend
end up with pilot licenses, you spend roughly the same money or less,
you don't get corn-hulled by Bubba, and your girlfriend gives you the
best time because you were so smart to think this all up. WOW! You are
the MAN!!!


An alternative that would work:

Contact several local exotic car sales stores in the locales you plan
on arriving at, tell them you want to find one of their customers that
owns the same car you do or something better. You would like to either
rent it outright from that individual or trade them for 2-3 weeks
vacation where you currently live. If the idea of a stranger living in
your place is too strange, put them up at your cousin Vinny's bungalow
that he is looking to rent. Fill it up with some rental furniture for
the time.

Above is a link to ebay's automotive sales site, contact a few of
those sellers or sellers of cars you might like to try out and use the
"ask seller a question" tool. Ask them if they would be interested in
some keen arrangement? You are a software designer maybe you could
work out a trade. I know money is no object (u suk).

Sgt. Shultz

P.S. Bubba says, "Hey baby!"

Thanks for the above information.

Can you please confirm what is the legal requirement in terms of
insurance for me to drive my vehicle.

EG. In England you need a minimum of 3rd Party cover in order to
drive. Is this the case in the USA or will it differ from state to
state? (Would be handy if you can find a link which sets out what
insurance is required in order for visitors to the USA to drive their
OWN vehicles)

personal information.

http://justoffbase.com/geico/

Good site to try.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/disaster.htm

Don't join these folks.


That will be $50.00 please.


BTY Bubba says, "Looking forward to seeing you mate!"

http://www.iadc-usa.com/

About international drivers license.

http://www.driverlicense.net/

I'd also suggest a map :-)

"In April we plan to spend a couple of weeks touring the west side of
the
US in my Ferrari 360 Spider which I have arranged to be shipped to San
Francisco.  During our tour we plan to drive through the following
states= CA,NV,AZ,TX,LA,FL."

Try 'southern' US :-)