Mod note: Posts merged. Back to back posts. Thanks. Quote:
Originally Posted by shankar.balan
In this scenario, being on L1 and since I am only visiting from time to time and staying for no more than say a month at a time, will I need to get an US License in order to rent a car or will my Indian DL + IDP combo do? |
Ideally your Indian DL should work just fine. But given that you have an L1 and will be there for a month, I would advise you to get a US DL. It should not be a hassle for you since you will be able to get an SSN on L1 papers. And once you have that alongside a valid L1, getting a US DL should be straight forward.
But if you are hellbent on not getting a US DL, your Indian DL will work. The 6 month validity of IDP/ DL is a bit of a grey area and can be interpreted differently by different people. Is it 6 months cumulative, or 6 months per trip or 6 months with a gap of x years in between is gray - so ride your luck till for the first 6 months and be sure to get a US DL in that period.
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Originally Posted by shankar.balan I normally buy those 'peace of mind' covers whenever I rent, so I guess that should cover the insurance part, right? |
Yep, it will. Also helps to rent your car using a good Credit Card. Most good US credit cards have a built in protection clause for Rental Insurance. It can be used to cover your deductible or in a very bad scenario, the amount that your Rental Company's insurance doesn't cover.
Is that a real scenario? Oh yes. Every insurance has a cap. The ones that rental car companies provide have a very high cap. But if you are responsible for a chain of collisions on a highway that involve a few Jaguars and Mercedes and some property damage thrown in for good measure, you will run out of your primary insurance cap.
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Originally Posted by shankar.balan Now, in case, after a while, my wife buys a car while she is there, can I drive that car using my Indian DL + IDP combo?
Of course, I will ensure that car is insured for Additional driver as well. |
You can. But let me explain...
In an ideal world, a third person can drive your wife's car. If they damage her car, your wife's insurance will kick in. However, if the husband is involved in an accident and wife has not declared that her husband may drive the car, then the insurance company may consider that you tried to hide important information from them and may rescind (cancel/withdraw) your policy (after filing a claim) under the pretext of concealment or misrepresentation of information. I have seen this happen in case of an acquaintance, so be cautious.
Make sure you indicate that you will drive your wife's car on her insurance. Given you do not have a well established US DL or have a foreign license, her Insurance cost will be higher than normal. But it does not beat your peace of mind. You can add, remove driver, from an insurance policy anytime. So, you may consider adding yourself in for a few months and some some money. Your mileage will vary with your insurance company though - some may offer a significant saving, others may not.
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Originally Posted by phamilyman Its a bit more complicated than that. My Garmin had uneven coverage of the exits. In some cases it would tell you the exact lane, and even display an image of the particular lanes/exits i would see. Very cool. Except 1 in 5 exits would not have that, and I'd get confused. |
I agree. It's not perfect. In my experience, my Tom Tom did a better job with lane assist than my Garmin. Tom Tom and Garmin, in the US, use a different maps database, so its quite possible that one may be better than the other depending on the area you are in. Also, my Tom Tom would only show lane assist if it had that info. If it did not, it would just tell me to take whatever exit - never confused me.
Technology helps, but blindly relying on it is not a good idea. I used to always take the GPS recommendation and validate it with the road signs. It helps.
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Originally Posted by phamilyman Further these arterial SFO roads like the I-101 and suchlike had weird exits at times. Sometimes only one lane would exit, sometimes two, sometimes three (that was I-580 near Berkeley). What that would do is to catch me napping at times, like you mentioned. Then i'd either be forced into exiting or forced to take a total detour. |
Again, my Tom Tom gave a very good experience with those type of weird exits too. It would visually show me how many lanes are exiting. It was an expensive GPS but I considered it money very well spent...