If You Decide To Own A Car…
Dear Student,
I’ve cautioned you previously in this program against the idea of keeping a car of your own in your new place of residence overseas. Owning a car anywhere is a liability, an expense, and a hassle, so consider first whether you really need one. Some places, it’d be foolish to invest in your own vehicle. We lived more than four years in Paris happily car-free. This is a city easily navigated on foot and where anyone who does own a car spends a not insignificant amount of time figuring out where to park it.
All that said, you may eventually decide you want a set of wheels all your own to support your new life. In that case, you’ll have an additional checklist of administration to address.
First on this list is a driver’s license.
In fact, I’d recommend that you keep a valid driver’s license no matter where you live and whether or not you decide to invest in a car of your own. You’ll need one to rent a car, and a valid driver’s license is a good alternative form of identification anywhere in the world.
Depending where you’re going and how often you’ll be driving, you could be OK using your current driver’s license, rather than going through the trouble of obtaining one from your new country of residence. Regardless of your plan, I recommend that you renew your current driver’s license as close as possible the date of your foreign move, allowing you the maximum time before expiration. This way, at least for some extended initial period, you can drive on your existing license and not have to worry about applying or qualifying for a new one.
In Ireland, you can drive on your non-Irish driver’s license for up to a year from the start of your residence in that country. You’re allowed such an extended period because, in Ireland, you can’t simply exchange your old license for an Irish one if you aren’t relocating from a left-side-drive country. If you’re coming from a country where they drive on the other (that is, the right) side of the road, you’ll have to take both the written and the physical tests like any new Irish driver—even if you’ve been driving in your home country for many years.
You have to schedule your driving test in advance, and the current backlog to get a test date is as much as a year and sometimes longer. Meantime, the Irish government allows you to drive on what they call a “provisional license” (in the States, we refer to it as a learner’s permit). You can renew your provisional license, which is good for two years, up to three times. By then, you should have been able to take (and pass) the driving test!
Most countries, however, allow you simply to exchange your current license for a local one or (simpler still) to drive on your home country license as long as it is valid. Panama, for example, wants you to have a local license if you’ve been in the country for more than three months, and they will give you a local license if you can show a valid license from somewhere else. The catch in this country is that they will grant you a local driver’s license only for the length of your residency card. If your temporary residency card is good for only three months, for example, you have to renew your Panama driver’s licenses every three months (at a cost of US$40 per).
In addition, if you invest in a car of your own in your new home overseas, you’ll have to register it. Buy through a car dealership, and they should take care of this for you. If you buy from an individual, you can ask them to help you transfer the title and registration.
Remember, though, that vehicle registration is an annual event. A friend living in Ecuador wrote recently to tell me about his experience accompanying his roommate on a trip to the Ecuador equivalent of the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew his roommate’s car registration…
“The day begins early,” my friend wrote, “as you jockey for position among a hundred other cars in an undersized lot. The hours tick by as two mechanics work their way among the vehicles, checking serial numbers, verifying that you haven’t installed a stolen motor since last year.
“But that’s just the start. Next, you stand in line to obtain verification that you have no unpaid tickets. Then you stand in line to verify that you haven’t changed your address. Then you stand in line for an administrative review. If, during any of these exchanges, some uncertainty arises, you typically have to start the process over another day.
“If, though, you get the A-OK from each of these reviews, then you’re set. You get to come back tomorrow, to pick up your new one-year registration. And to wait in line to have it laminated.
“People wondered how I got along without a car in Ecuador. I wondered why any sane person would keep one…”
In addition to registering your car, you’ll also need to insure it. Car insurance works differently in different countries. Insurance agencies in Ireland offer what they call a “no-claims bonus.” The longer you insure the car without making a claim, the bigger your no-claims discount. This exists in the United States, too, but isn’t quite as formalized. To get this discount as a new resident (and first-time car-owner) in Ireland, you need a letter from your previous insurance company in your home country.
In Panama, the car insurance industry works similarly to that in the United States, but coverage is much, much cheaper (because this isn’t as litigious a society as the United States).
If you keep a car in your new home overseas, know what you need to keep in it. In Panama, you’re required to carry an emergency road kit, including flares, in your vehicle at all times, as well as the most current edition of the national driver’s handbook (you see these for sale in pharmacies and at newsstands around the country). If you’re pulled over for any reason, the traffic officer may ask to see these things.
Kathleen Peddicord
Your New Life Overseas Coach