Friends of ours in the UK have an 18 year old son who is planning on an extended visit to the US during part of the year before university studies. Since no American car rental company will rent to kids this young (especially kids who drive on the left and use roundabouts instead of traffic lights!!!), his family is considering buying a car for him on the East coast of the US, which he would sell on the West coast at the end of the trip.
Ignoring the practicalities of buying/selling a car, how would he insure it? Which state’s laws would apply? Would some states be better than others?
Advice please, if you all would be so kind.
The State of New York will allow 18 year olds to hire a car. I’d suggest hiring a car in New York and paying the high underage fee. Easier than buying and dealing with insurance. National Rent A Car has high daily fees that allow drop offs within the US. This applies to the entire state of New York, not just New York City. This won’t be an inexpensive option, but far easier than buying a car, selling it, and dealing with insurance.
The State of New York also has an easier collision requirement. Hiring a car there, although subjected to a high underage charge, may be less expensive than getting a car elsewhere and paying for collision coverage.
US Car Hire sites
www.alamo.com
www.nationalcar.com
www.hertz.com
Aye aye aye…ya might be better off hiring him a driver. But, nuts & bolts of your questions sum up to the following:
Hard Way
18 y/o unmarried male = expensive
ANY driver new to the US & Canada (read: licensed for less than 3 years in either country) = expensive.
Here’s a fact: Car insurance costs less in some parts of the country than in others. The price within a state itself can vary widely from dirt cheap in farm country to 'fuhgeddaboudit" city rates. The rate is determined according to the principal garaged location of the car. Meaning, if the guy’s point of entry is New York, you can determine the least expensive area of that state and have him get an address there (May as well–I can’t think of an insurance company that will write a policy for someone with no permanent US address).
Buy a cheap (disposable) car that meets his minimum standards for safety & dependability (i.e. mid-90s Ford Taurus) and buy only Liability insurance & Medical Payments Coverage if it’s available. Comprehensive & Collision are expensive for this driver and are NOT required to legally operate the car.
If one has liability limits of say, 25/50/25 and he enters a state that requires higher limits, his policy will automatically be amended to meet the higher standard. So you don’t have to worry about that. Please do not buy only 25/50/25–too damn low. Should not even be legal, but that’s a different rant.
Easy Way
If he knows someone already in the US who has a car & insurance he may be in luck. Many policies have a “Permissive Use” clause which means, basically, If I have a car and an active insurance policy I can let anyone else not specifically excluded (wouldn’t apply in this case) drive the car. In the event of an accident, the policy will perform as written, just as if I had the accident myself.
Basically, He comes to the US & is met by Inigo at the airport. I give him the keys to my 2005 Ford Mustang GT Convertible (black) and wish him well. All will be copacetic & legal. DO NOT DO THIS unless it is clear that permissive users are covered as some companies may not look kindly at this situation and may try & deny the claim. I know of at least one company however, that would pay the claim and honor the contract as written with no fuss at all. Of course, the poor bugger who initially took out the policy might get smacked around by the underwriters (and have some expensive insurance for a few years), but that’s all aftermath.