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CARS and INSURANCE 2002-2009
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Foreign driving experience does not count for much in Canada unless you have proof from a foreign insurer of accident free driving.
A foreign driving license will however let you take the road driving test almost immediately. The first step , of course, is the writen (or computer) test which is easy if the right trainig materials are used.
Acing the road test is a bit more problematic. They fail you easily the first couple of times and make you take more driving lessons.
Overall, you can expect to pay a few hunderd dollars for the license (with lessons of $35/hour+ - 10 years ago) and tests of about $80.
Of all people I knew. the person who had the greatest difficulty at the test was a friend from Macedonia with long years of driving under his belt but no knowledge of English.
He failed the test 7 times, as the instructors were not pleased with his left turns on a "Turn right" command.
Back in 2001 I had a foreign driving license issued in the late 80's, no car insurance record and , since I owned no car back home, very limited driving experience.
This called for high insurance premiums. When I bough my car (which I still have) in 2003, its monthly insurance premium was more than the monthly payment on the car.
The actual amount was around $250, which was also a freaking deal compared to what other companies were asking.
"Insurance is something you ALWAYS want to have but NEVER want to use!" - this is how the saying goes and in my case this is exactly how it worked - I always had it, never used it, paying thousands of dollars to the insurance company.
Accidents are caused by reckless driving and /or lack of luck.
I have to regretfully admit that my car has looks more esthetically pleasing than those of my wife, so I take good care of it, changing oil frequently, flushing the engine and NEVER driving like a real Canadian in town.
What many tend to do is put the peddal to the metal once the green is on and come to a screaming emergency stop at the red lights.
My driving is mellow; slow accelaration, smooth stops, less stress on the engine and higher fuel efficiency. Once out of town, though,I am hard to follow.
Most people are speeding here doing 70-80km/h in a 50km/h zone; never saw one get a ticket and I didn't have a ticket till 2 years ago.
It was a warm summer day and I was taking a friend to a place 140km away. We were nearly there driving on th elast straight stretch of 10km with no people or residential areas around. We were out into the wilderness. While talking I never noticed the police cruiser taking my speed on the radar. It was, according to him, "121" in a "100km/h" stretch. The guy was bent on collecting his money and mentioning my employment status did not help any. $137 went down the drain.
Only two months later another cop starts chasing me on the highway and I am so pissed I do not even slow down. I tdrive with him in tow for anoher 5km, then I pull over.
He was quite red in the face; asked me why I did not stop. I told him, I had no idea he was after me. His second question was if I knew what I had done wrong. Again I replied I had followed all rules on the road.At this, he went inside his car and started checking my license and the record against it. I was convinced, for a second speeding offence he was going to ask a steeper amount, impossible for me to pay. Two minutes later he shows up and in the most polite tone, wishes me a safe trip and returns my documents with no ticket inside. I figured I must have already paid my "cop dues" for the year.
By 2008 I had already paid about $8,000 in car insurance never claiming a dollar back. This was the year I first checked the quality of this protection. While driving in town, a small bus tried to turn left from a parked position; I was just passing the buss and th ecolision was almost impossible to avoid. I swerved left, and saved the front of the car, but the bus caught the rear right mudguard leaving a small dent in it. Overall a hardly visible damage but worth $1,000 to fix.
The female driver of the bus, decided to take the initiative in her hands, taking my license number, at which I took hers. She started telling her story that had nothing to do with th truth, and she told a similar unbelievable story to the insurance company. Despite my clear explanation of the accident, a drawing, an simulation with toy cars and a request for the insurer to visit the site, located 3 km from them, they did nothing and made me 75% liable for the accident. Very convenient, as his meant they were not going to pay me anything to fix my car.
I was about to trigger an appeal procedure, but to do that they wanted me to pay a non-refundable fee. The appeal was being made to......THEM! Yes, I was supposed to appeal to their "independant commission". Forget about it!
I later adjusted my insurance in such a way that my premiums are the lowest possible. If my car is stolen, I will get nothing back. But I was not going to get anything back from those crooks anyhow.
CARS and INSURANCE 2002-2009
===============================
Foreign driving experience does not count for much in Canada unless you have proof from a foreign insurer of accident free driving.
A foreign driving license will however let you take the road driving test almost immediately. The first step , of course, is the writen (or computer) test which is easy if the right trainig materials are used.
Acing the road test is a bit more problematic. They fail you easily the first couple of times and make you take more driving lessons.
Overall, you can expect to pay a few hunderd dollars for the license (with lessons of $35/hour+ - 10 years ago) and tests of about $80.
Of all people I knew. the person who had the greatest difficulty at the test was a friend from Macedonia with long years of driving under his belt but no knowledge of English.
He failed the test 7 times, as the instructors were not pleased with his left turns on a "Turn right" command.
Back in 2001 I had a foreign driving license issued in the late 80's, no car insurance record and , since I owned no car back home, very limited driving experience.
This called for high insurance premiums. When I bough my car (which I still have) in 2003, its monthly insurance premium was more than the monthly payment on the car.
The actual amount was around $250, which was also a freaking deal compared to what other companies were asking.
"Insurance is something you ALWAYS want to have but NEVER want to use!" - this is how the saying goes and in my case this is exactly how it worked - I always had it, never used it, paying thousands of dollars to the insurance company.
Accidents are caused by reckless driving and /or lack of luck.
I have to regretfully admit that my car has looks more esthetically pleasing than those of my wife, so I take good care of it, changing oil frequently, flushing the engine and NEVER driving like a real Canadian in town.
What many tend to do is put the peddal to the metal once the green is on and come to a screaming emergency stop at the red lights.
My driving is mellow; slow accelaration, smooth stops, less stress on the engine and higher fuel efficiency. Once out of town, though,I am hard to follow.
Most people are speeding here doing 70-80km/h in a 50km/h zone; never saw one get a ticket and I didn't have a ticket till 2 years ago.
It was a warm summer day and I was taking a friend to a place 140km away. We were nearly there driving on th elast straight stretch of 10km with no people or residential areas around. We were out into the wilderness. While talking I never noticed the police cruiser taking my speed on the radar. It was, according to him, "121" in a "100km/h" stretch. The guy was bent on collecting his money and mentioning my employment status did not help any. $137 went down the drain.
Only two months later another cop starts chasing me on the highway and I am so pissed I do not even slow down. I tdrive with him in tow for anoher 5km, then I pull over.
He was quite red in the face; asked me why I did not stop. I told him, I had no idea he was after me. His second question was if I knew what I had done wrong. Again I replied I had followed all rules on the road.At this, he went inside his car and started checking my license and the record against it. I was convinced, for a second speeding offence he was going to ask a steeper amount, impossible for me to pay. Two minutes later he shows up and in the most polite tone, wishes me a safe trip and returns my documents with no ticket inside. I figured I must have already paid my "cop dues" for the year.
By 2008 I had already paid about $8,000 in car insurance never claiming a dollar back. This was the year I first checked the quality of this protection. While driving in town, a small bus tried to turn left from a parked position; I was just passing the buss and th ecolision was almost impossible to avoid. I swerved left, and saved the front of the car, but the bus caught the rear right mudguard leaving a small dent in it. Overall a hardly visible damage but worth $1,000 to fix.
The female driver of the bus, decided to take the initiative in her hands, taking my license number, at which I took hers. She started telling her story that had nothing to do with th truth, and she told a similar unbelievable story to the insurance company. Despite my clear explanation of the accident, a drawing, an simulation with toy cars and a request for the insurer to visit the site, located 3 km from them, they did nothing and made me 75% liable for the accident. Very convenient, as his meant they were not going to pay me anything to fix my car.
I was about to trigger an appeal procedure, but to do that they wanted me to pay a non-refundable fee. The appeal was being made to......THEM! Yes, I was supposed to appeal to their "independant commission". Forget about it!
I later adjusted my insurance in such a way that my premiums are the lowest possible. If my car is stolen, I will get nothing back. But I was not going to get anything back from those crooks anyhow.
Keep on digging. You may find a few more carrots on the net.
