Hey guys! I cannot for the life of me find an answer to my question. (Bear with me, I’m not sure how to explain this concisely).
I’ll be starting at UBC in the fall, and bringing my car with me. Now, BC has mandatory provincial auto insurance. I’m allowed to drive using my Texas license and registration so long as I’m there as a student (since study permits are considered temporary).
According to this site : http://www.icbc.com/FAQ/Pages/New-to-or-visiting-BC.aspx
If you’re a non-resident student coming to our province, you don’t need a B.C. driver’s licence if:
—you hold a valid out-of-province licence
—you are registered as a full-time student in B.C.
—you’re attending one of the specified educational institutions in B.C., and
—for the duration of your stay, you remain a full-time student (full-time is generally defined as 60 per cent of a full course load).
I meet all four of those qualifications, so I don’t need a BC license. HOWEVER, it seems that the insurance policy and the BC license/registration is a package deal: I can’t get the BC auto insurance unless I switch over to a BC license as well.
I need to keep my permanent address in Texas (for complicated legal reasons) which would make it difficult to get a BC license, I would think.
But wait! Why not just get an American agency that offers coverage while in Canada?
And that’s the problem.
Every single car insurance company I’ve talked to covers you driving in Canada for a maximum of only three months. Now, since the Canadian website explicitly states you don’t need their insurance if you have valid coverage from your own country, I feel like there HAS to be an American company that does stuff like this. With a permanent address in the States and being in Canada on a study permit (which is by definition temporary, according to BC), there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to find an American carrier.
I’ve seen this question come up a few times in different forums, but I can’t find a single one where someone actually provided an answer. I’m sure there are other people in this exact situation, but I can’t seem to get in touch with anyone.
Do anyone have ANY idea where to go from here? Names, forums, sites, companies? Unfortunately, the International office at UBC was decidedly unhelpful, literally quoting the website I linked to above right back at me.
THANK YOU! (Even if you don’t have a solution, you read through my novel, which I appreciate 
)