inpd

Firstly, note my insurer is State Farm so its a reputable company with agents.

1. You suspend your car insurance and take up comprehensive insurance. This protects you against said joy riding teens and its cheaper.

2. When you come back to the US you can temporarily reinstate your policy for a week (you have to pay of course) and then suspend it again when you leave.

guv1976

Does your home state permit you to "suspend" auto insurance on a car that is registered? Do you have to cancel the car's registration before you can suspend the insurance?

Often1

OP - Before listening to broad-based statements about defined terms, read your policies carefully. "Permanent Residence" may well be defined and your home here may or may not qualify you.

Same thing with overseas rentals. The possibility of damages to a third party individual is not simply their medicals, but might include lost earnings (which might be substantial for a wealthy person who can't work again).

State Farm ought to be able to advise you in this regard. Even though you won't be able to purchase through State Farm, your situation is very common and what you need overseas is a country-by-country analysis and is also dependent on your personal risk tolerance and profile.

Lastly, be careful about cancelling your domestic auto policy if you have an umbrella. Many expressly require auto with specific minimum levels well above what individual state laws require. You definitely don't want to lose your umbrella.

airac

I use https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/. Fortunately, I have not needed their reimbursement yet but the offer and reviews are positive.

RaoulM

This is good advice because otherwise you will heave a difficult time getting car insurance when you return to the US. I found this out when, after not owning a car for years, I moved to the country and bought a new car. Insurance companies refused to even quote me and it was only by my broker bundling home, umbrella, and car insurance with a single company that I was able to purchase comprehensive cover at a vastly inflated rate.

Insurance agents are very good at telling you after the fact that "you should have bought non-owned-auto insurance" but I was never even aware it was an option and was never offered it.

Quokka

What you use covers neither injury to other drivers (or pedestrians or bicyclists) nor damage to other cars.

TravelinSperry

USAA has tried to sell me this policy as well (claiming my rates would go up since I wouldn't have continuous coverage). I never took it. Over the years I've had auto, not had auto, and then had auto again. My rates never went up. Unless you need the coverage they sell - don't listen to their "pitch" that your rates may go up.

radryan

Many insurers change the way that rate often, so what was true for you just 1 or 2 years ago may not be true to today even with the same company, let alone a different company.

der_saeufer

Your sidebar info says you live in Los Angeles... changing auto insurance rates based on whether or not someone had prior coverage is illegal in California and has been for quite some time.

That is unfortunately not the case in most of the US, though the amount of difference in the premium varies widely by company--and I suspect also varies widely depending on the applicant's credit score where it's legal to use as a rating factor. Ironically, USAA has never cared whether I had prior insurance when I've signed up for new auto insurance with them (whether I was switching carriers or hadn't had a car for a while), even when I didn't live in California.

TravelinSperry

Well that's quite interesting! Also interesting that USAA should know that - and yet always tries to sell me "continuous coverage" that you've taught me I legally don't need.

der_saeufer

You might if you move states while not owning a car. DAMHIK... luckily I still had my motorcycle with Progressive and they charged me as if I'd had cars with them for that length of time. USAA ignored the fact that I hadn't had car insurance, but for some reason they wanted a lot of money to insure a rusty old Volvo in Wisconsin. (I feel compelled to post that I paid Progressive $170 per year to insure that car.)

(and, obviously, you need it if you need insurance coverage... the US non-owner policy with USAA is only $24 if you don't live in the US, which is worth it to me since rental cars don't always include liability insurance in the US and when they do it's often only the ridiculously low state minimum)

..but I suspect the USAA rep who helped you cancel was just reading a script.