Car Insurance for Expats

Sheridan in Wexford did well by us.

Liberty insurance.

Yes, we ended up with Liberty. Now that I remember they were the ONLY company willing to insure us. We hadn't made any claims for years in the US and our insurance company there (Horace Mann, a great company) provided them with a statement that enabled us to get (I think) one or two years no-claims bonus--which is a biggie in terms of savings.

We then had one year for one of us to get our Irish driver's license. This is not an easy task. It also involves mandatory driver education which is pretty time consuming and expensive. Do not put this process off. It will take you close to a year to accomplish it. We benefitted from those lessons--there's a lot more to driving in another country besides "the other side of the road" business. In many ways, that's the least of one's problems.

My husband passed his test the second time around (it's 85 Euro each time). We were really sweating it because no full license = no insurance and no insurance = no legal way to drive the car.  I am on a learner's permit, intend to stay that way for as long as possible. I seriously doubt I could ever pass the test for a full license despite 50 years of driving in the US. It's hard to describe how crazy hard it is. I can't drive without a fully licensed driver in the car (although I do at times). I would probably move into town and forget about having a car if anything happens to my husband.

I believe Sheridan are the people who put us on to Liberty. I was familiar with Liberty from my work in the US so I felt okay with them. Insurance in general here seems to be one big extortion racket in which you pay mandatory premiums but never dare to make a claim because then your premiums become exorbitant, beyond all reckoning. We were lucky to get the no-claims bonus but of course we can never make a claim because then we lose it.