Moving my car from BC to Massachusetts - what to do ?

bbhattac
New Member



Joined: 27 Jan 2008
Posts: 3

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:52 pm

 

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I am moving to Boston, MA on a TN1 visa. I plan to be there anywhere between 2 to 5 years and come back. I am taking my car with me and my car insurance will expire after I am 5 days in USA. If I renew my ICBC insurance now, will I be covered in MA ? I found out I can get a Driver's License in MA without any problem.

What should I do ?

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cimit
New Member



Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 9
Location: Exton, PA

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 4:20 am

 

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You will want to check with the MA DMV, but my opinion would be to obtain 6months of insurance in Canada if possible and drive with it to MA. Once you are in MA and have a MA license and insurance, you can notify your Canadian Insurance company that you have effectively cancelled your insurance with them. You should get reimbursed the difference.

As an FYI.make sure you do everything in writing. I called my insurance broker and notified over the phone. They send renewal notices to my Canadian address and then sent it over to a collections agency for non-payment. I had to fight with the insurance company and collections agency to get everyone on board, as I wanted to clear up the matter, and make sure my Canadian credit rating was not hit. Thankfully the manager at the collection agency was very helpful and did check my rating and realized that with no bad hits in over 10 years that I did not need this one.

One other note. If you do plan on going back, get a record of insurance from your Canadian carrier. Not sure about BC, but Ontario insurance companies are cracking down on people who change insurance companies. I was advised to keep a record of insurance from Canada and get one from the US when I plan to leave so that when I reapply in Canada they see I have not been without insurance for any period of time.

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bbhattac
New Member



Joined: 27 Jan 2008
Posts: 3

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 9:09 pm

 

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Thank you cimit. That was very helpful. I have purchased 3 months insurance in BC. That should give me enough time to get all paperwork in order once I am in MA.

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