Overseas: Two Separate Problems

An extended trip abroad creates two unrelated insurance questions, and people usually think about only one of them. The first is what happens to the car you are leaving. The second is what covers you when you drive in another country. Neither answer is what most travellers assume.

Driving abroad: your policy almost certainly does not follow you

A California auto policy is written for use in the United States and, commonly, Canada. Coverage in Mexico is generally excluded or extremely limited — and Mexican law requires liability coverage issued by a Mexican insurer, which is why separate Mexico policies exist and are sold at the border. For travel further afield, your California policy is simply not in the picture. Assume it does not cover you and work from there.

What actually covers you overseas

• Rental company coverage in the destination country. Often mandatory, sometimes bundled into the rental price, sometimes sold aggressively at the counter. Read what the liability limit actually is.
• Credit card benefits. Frequently narrower than advertised — many exclude particular countries and vehicle types, and most cover damage to the rental car rather than your liability to other people. Read the benefit guide, not the marketing.
• A travel or standalone policy, depending on where you are going.
• An International Driving Permit where the country requires one. That is a licensing matter rather than insurance, but it can invalidate a rental agreement, which has insurance consequences.

Now the car at home

If it will sit for months, do not cancel the policy. A parked car is exposed to theft, fire, vandalism and weather, and canceling also breaks your continuous coverage history — which carriers price when you insure again. Ask instead about reducing the vehicle to comprehensive-only coverage for the period. It removes liability and collision, which is where most of the cost sits, while keeping the risks a parked car actually faces covered.

Two conditions: if there is a loan on the car, the lender almost certainly requires collision to stay in place; and a comprehensive-only vehicle must not be driven at all, including moving it for street cleaning.

If someone will use it while you are gone

Then it is not stored, it is in use, and that person should be listed as its driver. A house-sitter running errands in your car is a regular operator, not a one-off borrower. Sort it before you fly rather than by email from another time zone.

Before you leave

1. Set up payment from an account that will not close or expire while you are away.
2. Make sure notices reach someone who will act on them.
3. Check the registration renewal date against your return date.
4. Get any storage arrangement in writing from the carrier.
5. Note the odometer reading, and leave the keys with someone you trust.

When you get back

Restore full coverage before the first drive. A comprehensive-only car has no liability on it, and the airport pickup is not the moment to discover that.

Tell us the dates and we will set the policy up so nothing lapses while you are away and nothing is over-insured either.