Insurance when you do not have a Florida licence yet
This is one of the most common questions in the Florida market, and most of the internet answers it badly. The honest version has three parts.
What is actually true
Florida requires the vehicle to be insured, and it requires the person driving it to be licensed to drive. Those are two separate requirements. Several carriers will write a policy for a driver holding a valid foreign licence, and some will write a policy where the named insured is not the primary driver. What no honest agency will do is help you insure a car around a suspended licence, because that is a fraud problem for both of us.
How we handle it
Tell us exactly what you hold
A valid licence from another country, an international permit, an expired Florida licence, a permit only. Each of those goes to a different set of carriers.
We match it to a carrier that writes it
This is a nonstandard market and the differences between carriers are enormous. A single-carrier office will tell you no. We look at the ones who say yes.
We revisit it once you convert
Once you hold a Florida licence and build Florida history, your price should come down. We put a reminder on it rather than leaving you on the high rate.
What to expect
Expect to pay more at the start, and expect that to be temporary. The premium reflects an unrateable driving record rather than anything about you. Twelve months of clean Florida history usually changes the picture, and that is a conversation to have at renewal.
Bring what you have, not what you think we need
Passport, the licence you hold, proof of your Florida address and the vehicle's VIN is normally enough to start. We will tell you what is missing in the first five minutes rather than after an hour of forms.
What this touches
Questions people actually ask
Can I insure a car that is not in my name?
Sometimes, and it depends on your insurable interest in it. Tell us the real arrangement and we will tell you which carrier accommodates it.
Do you speak Spanish?
Yes, and Haitian Creole. That is the point of this site.
Work it out before anybody sells you anything
Four calculators that run in your browser, a page for every situation Florida puts people in, and the claims data for your own county. All of it free, and none of it behind a form. The form is for the other half of the job: when you have read enough and want a person on the phone.
Leave a name and a number and a licensed Florida agent gets in touch. No obligation, and no call from six companies you have never heard of.
A licensed Florida agent may call, text or email you about your request.