Alberta registration, insurance from elsewhere, is it possible?

[googe]

A friend of mine from AB is going to be out of the country for several months this winter. He's letting me borrow his truck, but I have to insure it myself. No problem there.

He still owns it, and he lives in Alberta, so it has to be registered there. I was told that in order to register, you need to show proof of Alberta insurance. This is where the problem comes in.

I explained the arrangement to my insurance company in detail, they are fine with it, said they'll cover a car that someone else owns and is registered elsewhere while I'm borrowing it. They said this is not uncommon because college students often borrow parents vehicles while they are out of state at school. They did make me list the registered owner on my policy, but said they won't increase my rate if that person doesn't live where the car will be, has their own insurance on another vehicle, and won't be driving it. All good there.

I can't just register it here even if I wanted to because I don't own it, no bill of sale, and even a dummy one (sell it to me, I sell it back) would result in me owing a ton of sales tax on a truck that isn't even mine, so that's a non-starter.

I also can't get an AB insurance policy because I don't live there (and the truck won't even be there during this time).

If I have this right, the only thing I can come up with is having him get some bare minimum PLPD on it to satisfy the AB registry with proof of insurance, pay him extra to cover that, then get full coverage on my own policy. If anything ever happens to it, I'd claim it on my own, so that AB policy is irrelevant anyway. And maybe have him cancel the policy after the registration, and get a partial refund back, since, again, it's legally insured (does this void the registration? I don't know if they'd know, and as far as I can tell, the requirement to be insured is still met).

Not trying to cheat anything, just can't find a way to make that work and keep everyone happy. Not sure why the AB registry cares where it's insured, but it's making things harder than they need to be.

[revelations]

There is no sales tax on private vehicle sales in AB. You can do a bill of sale all day long.

[brucebanner]

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There is no sales tax on private vehicle sales in AB. You can do a bill of sale all day long.

Googe's location says Seattle, WA. Google says all vehicle sales come with a 6.5% sales tax, personal or not.

[googe]

Yep, guess that was unclear. I'll be in WA and BC, but residence and insurance policy in WA.

[98brg2d]

Can't the owner setup automatic renewals with AMA and then just mail you the stickers when he receives them? Or have somebody else forward that specific piece of mail to you?

Last time I renewed my registration in person I didn't show proof of insurance, they just made me sign the waiver on the back stating I understood I needed insurance.

[spikerS]

OR, you could just get a PO box in Calgary at a UPS store or something of the like, and have mail auto forwarded to your US address. Use the PO box to get yourself an insurance policy for the vehicle, and then use that to register it in Alberta and Bob's your uncle.

[ExtraSlow]

Isn't that fraudulent?

[spikerS]

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Isn't that fraudulent?

not sure. I know people in Saskatchewan do it all the time with AB PO boxes to skirt higher insurance costs. Might have been the other way around too, i can't recall now. Its been forever since I talked to someone that does it.

[killramos]

Easier solution, as long as you are comfortable you are actually insured, renew with eregistry through wherever it is currently registered in your buddies name. There is only like 2 lines to fill out for “confirmation” of insurance, name of insurance company and policy number.

[dannie]

The short answer is no. You have to be insured by a company that is interprovincially accredited. Why? If you do what you're proposing, and get in an accident - your insurance Co has the right to void insurance. The vehicle must be in alberta at least 183 days a year to satisfy residency. Since your vehicle doesn't satisfy this rule, your insurance Co has the ability to say - nah bro, you needed to register it in the US. You don't qualify for the student thing (they really shouldn't have mentioned it).

All this being said - if you Google hard enough you will find a handful of insurance companies out of specific states that are interprovincially accredited. Choose one of them and you'll satisfy that portion of registries.

As far as complying with the 183 days, you're still taking a risk.

[googe]

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The short answer is no. You have to be insured by a company that is interprovincially accredited. Why? If you do what you're proposing, and get in an accident - your insurance Co has the right to void insurance. The vehicle must be in alberta at least 183 days a year to satisfy residency. Since your vehicle doesn't satisfy this rule, your insurance Co has the ability to say - nah bro, you needed to register it in the US. You don't qualify for the student thing (they really shouldn't have mentioned it).

All this being said - if you Google hard enough you will find a handful of insurance companies out of specific states that are interprovincially accredited. Choose one of them and you'll satisfy that portion of registries.

As far as complying with the 183 days, you're still taking a risk.

I think you might be misunderstanding what I'm trying to do. I have full coverage on my own WA policy for this vehicle, even though I do not own it. If I crash it in Alberta, BC, WA, or even Mexico, the WA policy is valid and will cover it. They don't care about me living anywhere for 183 days, they just want me to tell them where the car will be garaged (which I did). There is no student thing to qualify for (maybe you're thinking of an AB specific thing), it was just brought up as an example of why US insurers commonly do this.

The only hangup is registration in AB requires insurance from AB. I can't personally get an AB insurance policy as I have no residency, no Alberta DL, no abstract, etc, and won't even be visiting for more than a couple of days in the next year. So it seems like the only way to work this is to have him take out a basic minimal coverage policy and I pay him for that, while maintaining full coverage on my own policy which I will use for actual insurance, should I ever need to. That wastes a bit of money, but provides just enough insurance to keep the registration legal, and then a real insurance policy to cover any losses.

[Black Gts]

Could you come up with some kind of lease agreement, or are you still required to pay sales tax on that? If you have insurance anyway, just drive it under his current registration with a notarized permission?

[dannie]

I'm aware of what you're saying. Reread my second paragraph. There are a handful of US insurance companies that are acceptable. Use one of those and you'll satisfy the Alberta registries for renewal.

[ercchry]

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I'm aware of what you're saying. Reread my second paragraph. There are a handful of US insurance companies that are acceptable. Use one of those and you'll satisfy the Alberta registries for renewal.

So as an out of province resident, you can register a vehicle in Alberta as long as the insurance coverage from wherever you reside is recognized in Alberta?

[dannie]

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So as an out of province resident, you can register a vehicle in Alberta as long as the insurance coverage from wherever you reside is recognized in Alberta?

Yes. There's a list of acceptable out of province (or out of country) insurers if you look hard enough for it

[Masked Bandit]

I can see one other potential complication dannie, doesn't the name on the insurance and the name on the registration need to match? That would mean that the current owner would have to "sell" this vehicle to googe to have the registration in his name? Aside from that, one of the common concepts in insurance is that you can't insure something you don't own and at the moment googe was able to add this vehicle to his WA policy, but that doesn't mean the coverage will actually be valid come claim time unless he has registration (proof of ownership) in his name?

[dannie]

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I can see one other potential complication dannie, doesn't the name on the insurance and the name on the registration need to match? That would mean that the current owner would have to "sell" this vehicle to googe to have the registration in his name? Aside from that, one of the common concepts in insurance is that you can't insure something you don't own and at the moment googe was able to add this vehicle to his WA policy, but that doesn't mean the coverage will actually be valid come claim time unless he has registration (proof of ownership) in his name?

Correct

[P_D]

1. have him sell the truck to you for $1
2. get temporary insurance in AB
3. register said truck
4. cancel AB insurance
5 profit