[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by arindamray

I picked-up a car yesterday. the quote (for only third party) was as low as $61/month, but not having a US license, made it to $140/month. So if there is anyway to reduce it - let me know.

140 a month for just 3rd party is rather steep! Which provided is giving you insurance? Which state/city are you registered in?

[infotech58]

Originally Posted by arindamray

I picked-up a car yesterday. the quote (for only third party) was as low as $61/month, but not having a US license, made it to $140/month. So if there is anyway to reduce it - let me know.

congratulations on the car..

$140 per month that too only for a third party sounds too high. do you have an SSN? what insurance company is this?

back in 2007, i purchased a car in US on my Indian License and paid $8xx for FULL coverage for six months; i got my US license in three months and when I updated the same with Insuracne company (Progressive), they adjusted the amount to some $5xx for six months which kept on going down as i built up my driving history (without any tickets).

[bala80]

Thanks for your tips on Insurance. So, can I safely conclude geico and progressive offers you the best rates out of which geico is a preferred one. And as VV had suggested, do I re-negotiate the rates for insurance after 3 to 6 months or so? How does it work?

Also, a little more on the choice of cars you had mentioned below. I'm currently researching on these to shortlist a few for TD when I arrive there. My priorities are relibility, good driving dynamics (amongst the class, not expecting sedan like handling), fuel efficiency and maintanence cost. If you have any additional suggestions, please do let me know. I'm very new to this segment and hence my knowledge is very limited.

Originally Posted by chevelle

I have listed some options below. Please consider them. Best is to come and test drive them. You will get more idea.

Soft Roaders - CR-V, RAV4, Tucson, Santa Fe, Murano, Escape, Outlander, Element, Suzuki XL 7

[arindamray]

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

140 a month for just 3rd party is rather steep! Which provided is giving you insurance? Which state/city are you registered in?

Geico. Lexington, KY.

@infotech58: I do have a SSN.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by bala80

Thanks for your tips on Insurance. So, can I safely conclude geico and progressive offers you the best rates out of which geico is a preferred one.

Geico, I have seen, has been very good for me and a lot of my friends too. Doesn't necessarily mean they are the cheapest. Once you land here, check with a few of your colleagues in the same city (if they have similar backgrounds as you - i.e., new driver in the states etc). Do shop around a little bit as you can end up saving several hundreds of dollars in the process.

Originally Posted by arindamray

Geico. Lexington, KY.

You definitely need to shop around a little bit more, because just for liability insurance, that is way too high a premium you are paying. Like Chevelle said, it might even be worthwhile visiting a local insurance agent.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by arindamray

I picked-up a car yesterday. the quote (for only third party) was as low as $61/month, but not having a US license, made it to $140/month. So if there is anyway to reduce it - let me know.

Some photos of the car below. Its Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GS, 2002, Silver w/ black top.

Congrats on your buy. Its a great car. My friend had a stick shift. It was hoot to drive. What's yours?

$140/MO is too much. Its daylight robbery. Talk to other insurance companies. My friend had a farmer's insurance for just third party for $35/mo a year ago with new US license. Talk to other companies i have listed below.

Originally Posted by bala80

Thanks for your tips on Insurance. So, can I safely conclude geico and progressive offers you the best rates out of which geico is a preferred one. And as VV had suggested, do I re-negotiate the rates for insurance after 3 to 6 months or so? How does it work?

Also, a little more on the choice of cars you had mentioned below. I'm currently researching on these to shortlist a few for TD when I arrive there. My priorities are relibility, good driving dynamics (amongst the class, not expecting sedan like handling), fuel efficiency and maintanence cost. If you have any additional suggestions, please do let me know. I'm very new to this segment and hence my knowledge is very limited.

Progressive is supposed to be the most expensive insurance. But they are pretty good and so is geico. There are plenty of other options so its not necessary that you go with either of these two. You will have to hunt. You don't need to re-negotiate. After one month, if you go to other insurance company, they will give you better rate compared to current one. And each month your rate will lower and if you relocate, it will go down too.

Some insurance companies that come to my mind are farmers, geico, progressive, aaa, state farm, nationwide, esurance, all state. There will be small insurance companies too local to state and city. You can get their quotes too. What i would do, i would take quotes online. Talk to their agent on phone or in person and see what they can do to lower it. It has worked pretty well so far. Right now i am paying $85/mo for 2 cars with 100% coverage from Geico. It started with me paying $110/mo for 2 cars in september 2011.

As for the cars, you didn't mention if you want to go pre-owned route or new. If i were you, i had stick with a pre-owned Japanese SUV/Xover/Sedan. One can always experiment with better cars some 6 months down the lane as you may later require a second car for your wife. CRV, Rav4, CX-7, Forester will satisfy most if not all of your requirements. Then you have Santa-Fe, Tucson, Sorento. You can easily find such pieces for good pre-owned prices. You can check these suvs out when you are here and see which one fits your need. Go from there.

MSN and AOL autos usually give good reliability charts. Go through them. You will get a brief idea of what to expect from all SUVs.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by arindamray

I picked-up a car yesterday. the quote (for only third party) was as low as $61/month, but not having a US license, made it to $140/month.

meaning you still don't have a license? get one quick!

and congrats on the car, how many miles has it done?

[arindamray]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

meaning you still don't have a license? get one quick!

and congrats on the car, how many miles has it done?

In KY, I can drive for one year with Indian license, and I won't be here that long - so not planning to get one.

140K miles. I will be selling it in 3 months time hopefully.

[vivekiny2k]

if you are here only for 3 months, then the 140/mo may not pinch that much. Where in KY? I am on KY border.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by arindamray

In KY, I can drive for one year with Indian license, and I won't be here that long - so not planning to get one.

140K miles. I will be selling it in 3 months time hopefully.

Quite high miles for a 10 yr old car. Hope you got it for a good price. Even though its 3 months, i doesn't make sense to pay so much more even though you don't have a US license.

[arindamray]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

if you are here only for 3 months, then the 140/mo may not pinch that much. Where in KY? I am on KY border.

Work in Frankfort. Stay in Lexington. Pretty close to Cincinnati. Actually have flew thru' CVG.

Originally Posted by chevelle

Quite high miles for a 10 yr old car. Hope you got it for a good price. Even though its 3 months, i doesn't make sense to pay so much more even though you don't have a US license.

Whatever I was looking was having 15k/year on them. Got a good price, checked against kbb.

Yes I am shopping around now for insurance. If I get a better one, will cancel the other.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Whatever I was looking was having 15k/year on them. Got a good price, checked against kbb.

Yes I am shopping around now for insurance. If I get a better one, will cancel the other.

Was it a private sale? Some old ones were real good pieces. They will easily last 200k without spending anything significant especially ones with less electronics. It all went downhill from there.

Did you check Edmunds TMV? They are pretty spot on pricing compared to KBB.

[tj123]

hi I am looking out for a used car in Atlanta, GA with a budget of around 5K, which is a good place to look at other than craiglist ?

The dealers rates for a Corolla/Civic seems to be quite high. I will be using this car for a maximum of 1 year.

Suggestion from Team Bhpians from this part of the world are welcome.

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by tj123

hi I am looking out for a used car in Atlanta, GA with a budget of around 5K, which is a good place to look at other than craiglist ?

The dealers rates for a Corolla/Civic seems to be quite high. I will be using this car for a maximum of 1 year.

Suggestion from Team Bhpians from this part of the world are welcome.

Try the following websites.

- sulekha.com
- autotrader.com
- edmunds.com
- kbb.com/used-cars
- usedcars.com

[Jomz]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

if you are here only for 3 months, then the 140/mo may not pinch that much. Where in KY? I am on KY border.

Me too, just 45 minutes north of Louisville. Maybe we should have a IN,KY,OH meet.