# car insurance



## david_oz (Jul 23, 2009)

hi everyone

i'm an australian living in calgary. ive been here for about 6 months and im looking to buy a car pretty soon. im probably not going to get anything fancy, likely a small car around the $5-10k mark.

i'm looking at quotes for insurance though and the premiums seem to be off the charts expensive. a bit about me:

- i'm a 23 year old male
- been driving for 6 years without any incidents and have a perfect driving history (although only in australia, never in north america - some insurance companies are asking this)
- i live in the NW of calgary in a very safe area
- im probably going to put < 10,000km / year on the car

the sorts of quotes im getting are around the $3,000 / year mark!!! even if i just go for 3rd party liability insurance the quotes are still anywhere around $1500+ which in my mind is just crazy - especially since im only buying the car to drive to the snow every weekend in winter! apart from that it probably wont get used that much

has anyone else had a similar issue and can recommend something for me??

cheers

Dave


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

I'm sorry to tell you but auto insurance in Canada is inordinately expensive. You're going to have to do a lot of shopping around but even the best quote will be very dear. It may help if you can obtain confirmation from your Australian insurer of your good driving record there but your age here is against you.


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## JulianQ101 (Jul 17, 2009)

I often joke about insurance in Canada. The country shouldn't brag about low crime rates because car insurance is a legalized mugging. 

When we arrived here 5 years ago I also paid several thousand a year insurance on a cheap car. My pocket hurts just thinking about it; and my current rates are still waaaaaaay too high in my opinion.

Canada is a great country - car insurance EXCLUDED.


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## mcd1203 (Nov 25, 2008)

get a record from your insurance company in Australia. Also decide how much coverage you want for a vehicle. When we bought older vehicles or cheaper ones we always went with the basic


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## spandza (Jul 29, 2009)

david_oz said:


> hi everyone
> 
> i'm an australian living in calgary. ive been here for about 6 months and im looking to buy a car pretty soon. im probably not going to get anything fancy, likely a small car around the $5-10k mark.
> 
> ...


Hi Dave,

When we first arrived here we rented a vehicle every weekend from Budget for $30 and our insurance was covered on our RBC Visa Avion credit card and then we'd fill the tank, or it is often $99 for the week. Means you can flip cars, sometimes get upgrades etc. Being under 25 can be a hassle though. We found Canadian Direct Insurance to be best and we got driver extracts as well as copies of all our licenses from previous years

Sharon


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