To buy a house and a car in ME without being a US citizen

[ontheroad]

Can you explain more about the domiciled clause for insurance?

And how long can a visitor, in transit, go without Maine insurance? Is there a proscribed limit (I believe there is in some or all of the states, but not certain).

Thanks.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by bobkemp

Now that is strange I know 2 people whom had Nc drivers license andf they still bought and registered vehicles in maine. And what about the big air ballon race they had when the people landed in dover foxcroft Maine the French man from France bought a truck fronm them and yes he registered it. yet he was from France?

Robert

The state of licensure is not the only issue. Proof of insurance and that proof must be on a form that meets the requirment of the Secretary of State. If the insurance company writes coverage in, say, North Caroline AND Maine, then presumably they will issue coverage in both states assuming that the driving record and loss history of the insured is acceptable.

In order to go into an insurance agency in Maine, and buy insurance for a Maine vehicle as a new policy holder, the insurance company will require a driving record check as a condition for issuing coverage. They will either do this before the coverage is issued, or afterward, and if the history is not as represented on the application, they can cancel coverage.

[ontheroad]

To the best of my knowledge, what you've explained is no different than other states. Past records of driving history were always checked in the three states I've been insured, although they may follow after you'r procured insurance (MA, NY and NM). In recently registering a car in NM, I had no problem with immediate insurance at purchase.

What I've always assumed, and perhaps incorrectly, is that higher premiums would prevail if a person's driving record is poor but insurance issued nonetheless.

Is Maine's policies more restrictive?

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

The state of licensure is not the only issue. Proof of insurance and that proof must be on a form that meets the requirment of the Secretary of State. If the insurance company writes coverage in, say, North Caroline AND Maine, then presumably they will issue coverage in both states assuming that the driving record and loss history of the insured is acceptable.

In order to go into an insurance agency in Maine, and buy insurance for a Maine vehicle as a new policy holder, the insurance company will require a driving record check as a condition for issuing coverage. They will either do this before the coverage is issued, or afterward, and if the history is not as represented on the application, they can cancel coverage.

[Submariner]

The insurance company that we use [GEICO -Government Employees Insurance Company] issues policies for every state of the nation. I have no idea if they even have an office in Maine. I would think that they likely have an office near: Kittery, Bath, Cutler, and Brunswick, though I do not know for sure.

I pay the minor little 'excise' tax and registration fees at the DMV, and they issue me the plates for each vehicle.

We were rather worried about those fees, from talking to many Maine natives, but after having transferred each of our vehicles, I was pleasantly surprised at how low the taxes and fees actually were. I am not sure how long it has been since we paid such a small amount to purchase plates, pay taxes on a vehicle, then pay to register those plates to the vehicle, and then of course pay the taxes on the vehicle/plate registration, like you do in many other states.

Going in to re-register each vehicle on the second year, I was told at the DMV, at had we lived in a bigger city, that we would have been able to do that function at the townhall. But since we are in a smaller town, we have to do it all at the DMV.

I still do not see where this has any connection to citizenship. ???

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

To the best of my knowledge, what you've explained is no different than other states. Past records of driving history were always checked in the three states I've been insured, although they may follow after you'r procured insurance (MA, NY and NM). In recently registering a car in NM, I had no problem with immediate insurance at purchase.

What I've always assumed, and perhaps incorrectly, is that higher premiums would prevail if a person's driving record is poor but insurance issued nonetheless.

Is Maine's policies more restrictive?

I did not see any greater level of restriction.

I placed a telephone call [to GEICO] and changed my state of residence on the phone. They mailed out new cards, and they offered to fax them to the DMV, or anywhere that I could recieve a fax. In fact they did fax them directly to the DMV in Bangor for me, while I stood at the window.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for that response, forest beekeeper. I am in transit, and will be spending limited time in several places, and then heading up to Nantucket, then Maine. I believe my insurance, at this time not with Geico, holds while traveling, but I was getting concerned a tad with some of the info about more stringent restrictions on this thread.

Actually, I think I will call me insurer and ask them a few questions--better to be safe than sorry!

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I did not see any greater level of restriction.

I placed a telephone call [to GEICO] and changed my state of residence on the phone. They mailed out new cards, and they offered to fax them to the DMV, or anywhere that I could recieve a fax. In fact they did fax them directly to the DMV in Bangor for me, while I stood at the window.

[Submariner]

Coming into Maine, I was pulled over three times that first summer. The LEOs said that they did not recognize me, so they pulled me over to see who I was. I was told then that moving to Maine, I could stay for 60 days, until I needed to transfer my registration to Maine. Up to that moment I was fine with Ct plates and nationwide insurance.

[ontheroad]

Yup, that is exactly what I needed and wanted to know--it may be similar elsewhere, but frankly I've only been stopped once, and that was in NY with RI plates and they needed some more income!

I'll be cautious and mindful of the 60-day limit!

Many thanks.....

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

Coming into Maine, I was pulled over three times that first summer. The LEOs said that they did not recognize me, so they pulled me over to see who I was. I was told then that moving to Maine, I could stay for 60 days, until I needed to transfer my registration to Maine. Up to that moment I was fine with Ct plates and nationwide insurance.

[Submariner]

I should imagine that whoever insures you today can continue to insure you once you are in Maine driving with Maine plates.

I do understand that each state has it's own laws, and each insurance company must have a separate office for each state, to deal with the ins and outs of each state.

But I fail to see why any of this should be of any great concern to anyone. I have moved around a bit, jumping from East Coast to West Coast, back and forth and overseas as well. Companies stateside do not offer coverage overseas, but they do have fellow 'under-writers' that they will refer you to, so it is like you have been a continuing client of theirs when they do issue the policy.

As for changing from one state to another, remaining entirely stateside, it is all done via a phone call. So I see no big deal. Now our rates did change when we moved to Maine. My bike insurance dropped a lot! and the coverage for both of our cars only dropped a little. So we got a refund from them.

[Acadianlion]

The issue of citizenship does not include one state or another. The issue of citizenship was originally raised by someone who was not a US citizen and possessed only an International license, as I recall.

It is not necessary for an insuror to have an office in the state. Geico is one of many companies that do their business primarily by telephone. USAA is another company that insures military members as well as certain levels of US gummint workers. USAA is located in San Antonio, and has an operating location in Tampa and perhaps in Arizona now. Progressive Insurance has no offices per se, and has no direct agency representation either. Progressive does almost all of its business via telephone or Internet, but also has a brokerage arrangement with independent agents who can take applications and pass along claims information but provide no other policy service.

In general Maine auto insurance rates are considerably lower than most more urban areas. Maine's auto fatality rate is lower than most other states and so is the accident rate....these things normally follow population density. But auto insurance premium costs are determined by the individual driver's driving record and most insurance companies will need to verify driving records for the three previous years. Some companies insist on five year record and the current computer recording capacity in August (for example) carries five year driving record, but it is my understanding that the data is NEVER erased, so a bad incident seven or eight years ago may well come up when a trooper asks for driving records which they can do from the cruiser. An insurance company can do this too, but if an insurance applicant doesn't have a license issued by an insuror in the US, then the actual driving record may be unavailable. What happens then is that the applicant will be issued coverage through an "assigned risk" pool, or one of the specialty, higher risk companies, such as Progressive, and the coverage will be issued at a comsurately higher rate. Sometimes a policy will be issued with only minimum legal limits as the insurance company will refuse to accept more than the minimum exposure due to driving history.