DrivingFrench Car Insurance

One problem we ran into was me being considered a young French driver. Pacifica never ask about my driving record when my wife purchased our policy, she just made sure to have a second unnamed driver listed on the policy. In retrospect Pacifica should have asked about my driving record because as a young driver the only way to be insured is by being named on the policy. If I had gotten into an accident it would have been possible for Pacifica to refuse the coverage on our policy. Of course me being named on our policy would have meant a 100% premium the first year and 50% the second. By the third year I would have been considered a regular driver and had no extra premium.

We did not find any of this out until we started shopping around for a better price during our second year in France. When insurers saw that I had a license less than two years old some would figure out a price including the 100% young driver premium. Others did not know what to charge, as they were not sure if I was a young or regular driver because of my age.

What Matmut agreed to do was charge us the 50% second year premium and forgo the 100% first year premium, as I had already driven in France for a year. Also, the agent at Matmut told us one way around the young driver premium is to have proof of insurance from any of the last few years, even from the US, something we forgot to bring in our move to France.

Jeff Steiner likes

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