Car Insurance – Germany vs USA

 

Driving along a highway with your favorite music turned on is one of the most relaxing and beautiful thing in the world. But suddenly it comes to your mind that driving a car is not only fun or a relaxing issue, but has its drawbacks too, unfortunately more often than it comes to one’s mind: accidents, unwanted incidents, vehicle breaks, any many more.
When it comes to driving along a highway there is not a mentionable difference between Germany and America, but when it comes to care about your Motor Vehicle Insurance, there is a range of dissimilarities.

The Germany Car Insurance System

In Germany a Motor Vehicle Insurance affiliates compulsory insurance to asseverate financial prophylaxis for the injured party and includes comprehensive plus collision, accident and breakdown cover, passenger’s accident insurance and defense and recovery insurance. Without this compulsory insurance no vehicle can be permitted in public traffic.
Insurance companies classify cars yearly, depending on statistical probability of damage and on the decision whether you insure your car with the legally determined minimum (car liability insurance) or an extension of insurance coverage (accident and breakdown cover).

The US Car Insurance System

Some states of the United States do offer similar car liability insurance regulations to those in Germany, but traffic regulations are not a part of federal law and in hands of each state on its own so the states do not differ in how they award driving licenses, but also regarding motor vehicle insurances. In most American States, at least basic car insurance, which in its main features is similar to the German standards, is statutory. In almost the same manner as in the German system the insurance holder is rewarded for getting through traffic without having caused any accident themselves.

Conditions for Motor Vehicle Insurances

In the world of insurances it is a common standard that you have to fulfill conditions to be able to get insurance, no matter what you want to cover with asseverating, life insurance, retirement pension insurance, casualty insurance and of course, the topic we talk about, car insurances. Insurances are always bound to certain criteria, in Germany as well as in the USA.
In order to get insurance for your motor vehicle you will have to be able to prove that you are in possession of a driver’s license and if you are the insurance holder, the car you are about to insure is yours. A German ordinance says that the insurance holder does not have to be a German citizen, but their insurance company has to be situated in Germany, on the other hand, if you want a permission to drive and to be insured in America you will have to prove a permanent residence in the United States for at least three months.

Country change – Classification change

If you are a German citizen and you move to the US and vice versa, you have to be aware that the classification onto a foreign insurances system depends on the extent of how long you are in possession of your driving license and if the discounts awarded in the home country are transferable. It is very hard to obtain a general classification of German and US insurances because the diversity of both insurance countries depends on complexity and compatibility of the system and also responsiveness of the insurance companies.

It is a common standard that insurers situated in the United States are not familiar with the German system and vice versa, so before moving, it is very useful to find US insurance companies represented in Germany, because their brokers will be most likely to be familiar with the German insurance system. In that case it might be possible to transfer previous discounts partly or even fully. If you are an US citizen and you wish to adopt the German citizenship, there is no guarantee that ensures you that years driven safely in the US and sustained accounts can be adopted by German insurance companies, so the same rule applies to you: make sure, that you find insurance in the country you are about to move to, that is situated in your home country as well as in the country where you want to adopt your new citizenship.

So to make sure you can keep the costs of your insurance as low as possible be aware of the diversity of conditions between Germany and the United States and make sure you find insurance company that is familiar with insurance system of your home country.