<p>The car is in my name and registered in VA, but listed as being "garaged" in CA.The fact that it is in LA has no effect on in the insurance. Nationwide has no problem with that as long as he is a student. Once he graduates, or if he drops out of school, then we'll have to make other arrangements. I plan to move all our cars to Wisconsin registration and insurance within the next 6-12 months.</p>
<p>And, btw, he has had no damage down to his car. He has lived off-campus for the last two years in 90007. He does have off-street parking, and was able to put it in a garage the first year he had it. We bought in Virginia when he was home the summer after his first year, and had it shipped across country in an enclosed van. It was pricey, but well worth the money.</p>
<p>Tsdad-
If you buy the car in CA - you have to register it there - right? I don't think I can get around that, but it is a good idea. Also, I just got a lead on a sweet 2002 Hyundai for $4,300 with almost 70,000 miles so I am most likely going to go for that, but not pay for the uninsured motorist and theft. And hope for the best!</p>
<p>Find a better company. I also found Geico to have wierd packages when I was shopping around. You should be able to get uninsured/underinsured motorist without getting full coverage.</p>
<p>Wow, that was worth it to ship the car then!</p>
<p>Larationalist, Yes, you may be right, I found an online site that gave it to me. I think I will call them though just to make sure. Geico scared me by warning me against these companies.</p>
<p>Try websites of companies you've heard of- State Farm, AAA, Progressive, USAA (highly recommend, they've been excellent to me), etc. Keep the quote on hand, but call them and talk to a real person. There's a decent chance you'll get a better quote from a real person, but if they give you a worse one, refer to the quote you got online. I agree that going 100% through an online broker has the potential for shady dealings, but Geico's restricted policies really turned me off- they said I couldn't have both Uninsured Motorist and Collision at the same time, which just didn't make any sense. Now they're telling you that you can't get Uninsured Motorist without getting theft, and it just seems to me like they're trying to talk people out of getting Uninsured Motorist coverage.</p>
<p>I shipped it because I didn't want my then 19-year old son to drive across the country by himself, and I didn't want to take the time off from work. And it's a small car. It would have been very uncomfortable. Shipping was like $1100-1300. It would have been cheaper had I used an open car carrier, but I didn't want the kind of road damage that could happen from putting it in an open van.</p>
<p>I don't know if this would be helpful. AIS advertises like crazy in So CA-my brother changed to them and said he saved quite a bit. I like being able to call our agent and get service whenever so I haven't shopped. I would not feel comfortable w/o uninsured or theft.</p>