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Oceania Life in America

Leasing is popular because it’s a low monthly cost. A lot of people just happily give the car back at the end of the lease and start a new lease with a new car, and it never bugs them that they dole out of tens of thousands of dollars and never actually end up owning a car...they’re happy with low cost and perpetual new or nearly new cars.
 
I'm leasing and it's pretty cool. I don't see a car as an asset (at least not here in the States) so I'm happy to pay for a car and then hand it back.
 
EmilyW said:
I'm leasing and it's pretty cool. I don't see a car as an asset (at least not here in the States) so I'm happy to pay for a car and then hand it back.
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How long did you wait until you leased a car? Did you find that insurance was more expensive or was it included as part of the lease price?
 
As I understand it with Australia and other countries you can import your driving history and get lower premiums on insurance has anyone here done that?
 
Mijoro said:
As I understand it with Australia and other countries you can import your driving history and get lower premiums on insurance has anyone here done that?
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I tried that with several insurance places and no one was able to use my australian driving history - please let me know if you find one that does
 
Absolutely I will as I am moving to Nevada where insurance is crazy high so I’m going to find one that does. I’ll keep you posted.
 
Mijoro said:
As I understand it with Australia and other countries you can import your driving history and get lower premiums on insurance has anyone here done that?
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we managed to do it with Geico in CA - we did get a "no claims certificate" from our previous insurer that we brought with us - but it seems a rare occurrence. None of the other companies that quoted us would use it.

Outright owning a car or two makes sense if you have kids, with the driving age being 16 it's nice to have a decent hand-me-down car for them to drive to school. I have a friend who leases nice cars for normal driving and keeps an old car for when she drives the dog around!
 
Mijoro said:
How long did you wait until you leased a car? Did you find that insurance was more expensive or was it included as part of the lease price?
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It was 2.5 years before I leased my first. Insurance was marginally more expensive (perhaps $15 a month) leasing versus owning.
 
Mijoro said:
As I understand it with Australia and other countries you can import your driving history and get lower premiums on insurance has anyone here done that?
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It depends on state and/or insurer. Here in NC, they won't recognize any license other than a US or Puerto Rico license. So you're effectively a 16 year old and have to put up with three years of inexperienced driver premiums.

We brought our VicRoads histories in the hope it would help. It didn't. Beyond the DMV lady not really caring during our driving tests because she knew we had 20 years experience up our sleeve.
 
EmilyW said:
It depends on state and/or insurer. Here in NC, they won't recognize any license other than a US or Puerto Rico license. So you're effectively a 16 year old and have to put up with three years of inexperienced driver premiums.

We brought our VicRoads histories in the hope it would help. It didn't. Beyond the DMV lady not really caring during our driving tests because she knew we had 20 years experience up our sleeve.
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Yeap, same experience for me in IL (tried the good driving certs and all that including previous car insurance) --- previous driving history didn't matter for insurance. I've changed providers, am on to my third in two years. I started with a very high price company (Bristol-West) as no one else wanted to touch me, then went through Farmers, and am now with State. Prices have been dropping each six months and I think should continue to.

I'd been warned before coming to the US about this. A Spanish friend in CA was complaining how his driving history couldn't be transferred for insurance, and that "was being treated as a teenager". :)

Buying a car is another piece of "fun". Car sales folks can live up to their dubious reputations, so we shopped around carefully before settling on an agency that treated us well.
 
Mijoro said:
Its amazing the price difference as well between automatic and manual cars there as well. You can pick up a bargain if you know how to drive stick.
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I thought it to be the other way around- auto in Florida seem so much cheaper than manual cars.
 
kb's quest said:
I thought it to be the other way around- auto in Florida seem so much cheaper than manual cars.
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In Vegas it seemed to be a significant difference even in the cheap cars. Maybe it varies by state.

Does anyone know if you go for your drivers license is it like here where if you do it in a manual car you get a license to drive both but if it’s an automatic then you’re only licensed to drive auto?
 
Mijoro said:
In Vegas it seemed to be a significant difference even in the cheap cars. Maybe it varies by state.

Does anyone know if you go for your drivers license is it like here where if you do it in a manual car you get a license to drive both but if it’s an automatic then you’re only licensed to drive auto?
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There is no driving license category based on transmission type.
 
Xarthisius said:
Unfortunately buying a new car with a stick shift is becoming increasingly difficult. I'm surprised that insurance company doesn't treat it as an additional anti-theft device and give discounts...
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I agree

“The report from U.S. News and World Report show only 18 percent of U.S. drivers know how to operate a stickshift. It says that because of advancements in automatic transmissions and fuel economy, only about 5 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. today come with a stick shift”

That was from 2016 :oops:
 
@Mijoro I looked at the restriction codes and stand corrected. There's a code E (can drive only auto transmission) that apparently may be applied to any driving license.

Nevertheless, I used auto on the exam, but I don't have that on my dl.
 
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