Hi all - I know there are several questions asked around cost of insurance and time to build credit history.
Are there any (1) Car Insurance companies and (2) Credit / financial services companies that will use your US driving history and credit worthiness to help provide better service.
I am asking this, because I believe there may be some start-up companies like ‘Lemonade Insurance’ or others who are leveraging this cross-country data points to capture customer base. Similarly, I believe Geico covers both US and Canada if your driving license is US based. Not sure, what happend is you change to Canadian one.
If you’re a US resident, then with most car insurance companies (including GEICO), you can travel to Canada and be covered.
If however you take up residence in Canada, you are no longer covered by GEICO. Insurance companies will happily take your money but it’s only when you file a claim that they verify all details. This is why it’s very important to notify your insurance company of any change in your circumstances like change of address or adding additional drivers to your policy.
As for financial services, most companies want Canadian credit history. One notable outlier is American Express who have a Global Transfer program and if you had a AMEX card in the US you can get one in Canada with a relatively high credit limit without a credit check.