Insurance article from YUCATANLIVING
Insurance for Expat Life in Yucatan...
Insurance has always been a four-letter word in our book… big checks exchanged for nothing visible. At best, it has always seemed like a necessary evil. But when you are moving to a new country, away from familiar situations, insurance becomes even more important than usual. As expats living here in the Yucatan, we’ve had to deal with three different kinds of insurance which we have felt are critical to our peace of mind. Here’s a brief overview of what we have learned about insurance and a few trusted contacts.
Car Insurance
When we first drove here from California, we insured ourselves and our car as tourists through Sanborn’s, which apparently is NOT related to the famous Sanborn’s restaurants. We had no accidents, so no occasion to use the insurance. But we did benefit from the comprehensive Travelog Guidebooks that Sanborn’s provided at a discount when you bought their insurance. These days, the maps and information on the Internet are probably more comprehensive, but back then we found the ones from Sanborn’s reassuring, if not always accurate.
Auto insurance is probably the easiest insurance to obtain. If you have a US or Canadian vehicle, you should have bought auto insurance when you entered Mexico. There must be a hundred different places advertising themselves on billboards in border towns, not to mention a million more places selling auto insurance on the internet. If you are driving into México, you can buy your car insurance for a day, a month or a year through the internet, print your insurance policy, pay by credit card and you’re ready to go.
If you have a car with US or Canadian plates, and you are getting ready to buy or renew your insurance from a local agent here in the Yucatan, you’ll be purchasing "tourist" coverage. Don’t worry, because that affords you the same three options that someone with Mexican plates has:
Amplia: Damage to the Car, Theft, Third Part Liability, Medical Expenses, Road Assistance and Legal Expenses
Limited: All of the above, minus Damage to the car
3rd Party Liability: Third part liability, Medical Expenses, Road Assistance and Legal Expenses
Unlike the United States, Mexico does not require auto insurance. However, the driver’s liability for an accident is severe (Go to Jail, Go Directly to Jail, Do Not Pass Go, etc.). Because the "jail" option is nothing to mess around with, it makes sense to contract with one of the big insurance companies (GNP, Quálitas, Peninsular) that have good service components (lots of adjusters in small, fast cars that can get to the scene of the accident quickly). Smaller insurance companies or banks are often not able to provide the highest level of service.
We have had one car accident while living here in Mexico. At the time, we were insured by ING. After pulling the cars to the side of the road, both parties called their insurance agents. Insurance representatives showed up about a half hour later, inspected the cars and the scene of the accident, talked to all parties involved, gave us forms to sign and left. No one was hurt, though the other party’s car had been damaged. Everyone was very friendly, and left amid smiles and handshakes. We had no idea what to expect, and over the next few weeks, kept waiting for a call, expecting to hear that we owed money for something. We never got that call. Apparently, the insurance companies handled the repairs for the other car between them and life went on!
Conversely, we have a friend who arrived here, driving a car from California without insurance. A few months after moving here, he rear-ended another vehicle, damaging both vehicles. He had no insurance and did not have the $8,000 pesos that the police and car owner demanded on the spot for the damage. He was sent to the local jail for eight days. His car was also impounded, and a fine had to be paid after his release in order to retrieve his car. Upon hearing that story, we decided that having car insurance in Mexico is a good idea.
Our loyal readers have certainly read about our adventures in importing our car so that it now has Yucatan license plates. After we accomplished that feat, we drove once into the United States and found ourselves having to buy temporary US insurance for our Yucatecan automobile. Apparently, most people driving into the United States plan on staying there, because we were unable to find a policy that covered us for only a few weeks or a month (which is easy to find when you are driving a US car into Mexico). We ended up contracting for a year with monthly payments, and then cancelling after a month. It was a lot of paperwork and hassle, but small price to pay compared to the hazards of getting caught in the United States without car insurance.
Read the complete article with information on health and homeowner´s insurance at:
http://www.yucatanliving.com/yucatan-survivor/insurance-for-expat-life-in-yucatan.htm