Will My Car Insurance Cover Me While Driving Out Of The Country?
Filed under: Teenager car insurance, Teenager insurance
Reader’s Question:
I am planning to have a vacation in Thailand. Can I use my California driver’s license if I drive in that country? Will my car insurance cover me if I get involved in a car accident there?
Gene
San Jose, CA
Many foreign countries do not accept a United States driver’s license. This is why you have to obtain an International Driving Permit (IDP) as this is honored in over one-hundred-fifty countries, and Thailand is included. You have to remember that this permit is not a replacement of your United States driver’s license. The IDP comes only secondary and supplements your valid license. Additionally, IDPs are not valid in your country of origin, in this case the United States. Before traveling abroad, contact the American Automobile Touring Alliance or the American Automobile Association (AAA) to obtain your IDP as they are the only ones who can give you this.
About your car insurance concern, in most cases, your existing car insurance coverage in the State of California will only cover you overseas if you will be driving in countries neighboring America. But since you will be flying halfway across the globe to Thailand, this means that you will have to purchase separate car insurance coverage there. Whether you intend to rent a car or borrow a friend’s vehicle in Thailand, you will need to have car insurance just to be on the safe side. For rental cars, coverage can be obtained from the same company where you rented the vehicle. As for borrowing a friend’s car, it might be best to obtain a short term non-owners policy.
Before leaving the US, do some Internet research about Thailand. You can also obtain valuable information from the US Department of State Overseas Security Advisory Council because they provide guidelines on driving overseas.
Tags: auto insurance coverage, car insurance, non owners insurance