|
Nothing is ever simple and
as I hit the 16th February here in Canada I am still working on getting my
car. Because I have no credit history and despite having a co-signatory it
seems that the leasing company will only go so far.
They will lease me the car
on a 3 year lease and then if I wish to buy it outright I then pay another
$1,000 at the end of the term. In the event I want to add additional
warranty then I have to put $3,000 down and I can then get a four year
lease.
Of course that is all quite
simple but then it comes to insurance. I must have car insurance in
place by the end of this month as without car insurance there will be no
lease.
So off I go to find car
insurance. My first quote is a bit of a surprise.... it's $5,600
<gulp>. I then went and found a broker and they got it down to
$3,600 <gulp>. It seems that because I am in Toronto prices here are
more expensive. However that is not all. I was told if you
produced evidence of having insurance elsewhere (outside the USA and
Canada) then I'd get a discount. Problem is that is no longer the
case according to the broker. That means I'm being quoted as a new
driver with no experience.
Seems if I went and took
the driving test then I'd be eligable for up to 30% discount but that
takes time and money.
I then contacted my friend
at North Kent Mutual and asked what this would cost if I'm located down in
their area of the country. I was told around $1,800 and that
included a 30% discount. The price would come down a bit further if
I also took my home insurance with them. They did take notice of my having
previous insurance in the UK.
So... my problem now is to
see if I can get a house down their way prior to the end of this month in
time to get the car.
I would point out at this
stage that while you may well have enough monthly income to afford getting
a house and car you will need a fair amount of capital to get you going.
It would help if you were employed of course but certainly if you are self
employed then it's a whole different ball game. I note they prefer the
term owner/operator rather than self employed :-)
In the event you want to
get your driver test done or take a driving course you can visit the
Ministry of Transport site. Do note for this to count towards your
insurance you must go to an approved centre and you will find a list of
them on this site. It seems totally pointless in going to an unapproved
centre.
And so am off again on a
search for a house. At least the lawyer did his job and found the title
deed problem from the last house that I almost purchased. As it
would take 3 months at least to solve the problem I just gave up as I
needed to do some renovation work to get it in the shape I needed.
I noted that down in the
Kent area of Ontario they don't show room sizes on the MSL listings which
is a bit naf really as all other areas do show them. I still wish
they'd include information on whether hi-speed internet is available.
Usually you can only find that out my quoting the telephone number to the
ISP you will be using.
This week I also attended
my first Board meeting of the Scottish Studies Society where I've been
elected as a Board Member. On the agenda is the forthcoming Tartan
Day event at which we also announce the Scot of the Year Award.
Looking forward to attending this. |
