Hi all,
I’m 27yr old male living in Seattle, WA (South Lake Union / downtown area), and I’m trying to buy my first car in the U.S.
I have several years of foreign driving experience and a clean record, but I have little/no U.S. insurance history yet.
I’ve been getting quotes that seem insane, even for old used cars:
- 2023 Tesla Model 3: ~$463/month
- 2024 BMW X3: ~$409/month
What’s surprising is these quotes are for pretty basic / low coverage:
- Bodily Injury: 25k / 50k
- Property Damage: 10k
- $1,000 deductible comprehensive/collision
On top of that, parking in Seattle is around $300–$350/month, so I’m looking at ~$700–$800/month before gas or the actual car payment.
insurance alone is close to a car EMI/payment.
My questions:
- Is this normal for someone new to U.S. insurance history in Seattle?
- Do insurers consider foreign driving history / no-claims letters?
- Would an older luxury SUV like a 2020–2021 BMW X3 / Mercedes GLC help materially?
- Are there specific insurers better for international drivers?
- Is it smarter to wait 6–12 months and avoid buying a car for now?
Would really appreciate advice from people who’ve been through this.
Thanks!
New to Seattle / new to US insurance history — being quoted $400–$500/month for basic coverage. Is this normal?
byu/ashwini571 inInsurance
Posted by ashwini571
1 Comment
My son needed a car during college for a summer internship in upstate New York. He was early 20s and had been licensed for two years in Thailand. He obtained a New York driver’s license and went car shopping. We checked insurance costs before we bought.
Several insurers would not insure him at all since he was a new driver and had no credit history. I think one issue was that he had been licensed abroad for less than three years and his NY license was brand new.
The only option we could find was Progressive at around $4,700 for six months on a four-year-old Japanese sedan we bought for about $20,000. We bit the bullet and went with progressive.
When Progressive offered the same premium for another six months, we shopped again. We were able to cut the premium in half and increase the third party liability limits by going with a different insurer as he now had a record of being insured and having a NY DL for a while.
You might also have to put up with an initial six months at very high rates. My advice, no matter what you decide, is to substantially increase the third party limits of liability. State minimums are a joke nowadays.