DapperDirewolf

Hi everyone! I have a simple enough question (I hope!) about car insurance for those of us on a Working Holiday Visa who have gone and purchased a vehicle for the purposes of travelling the country ... In all my research so far I've found it very difficult to come across any concise information about car insurance options for backpackers. I'm a 27 year old male from the UK and have just bought myself a van to drive around the country with, and have even found some rather appealing car insurance quotes from companies such as Woolworths. The only problem is, having looked at the terms and conditions and policies etc., that there doesn't appear to be anything specific about the validity of people like myself on temporary visas purchasing or claiming on insurance. What I'm concerned with here, of course, is that I end up in some kind of accident (touch wood!), call to make a claim, and have someone say "Hang on, you're on a working holiday visa and only have a UK driver's licence? Sorry, but that is not at all valid. No claim for you!" I fully intend to call up some of these providers on Monday morning and ask them directly if they offer insurance to WHV drivers, but I just hoped that in asking about this here I might: a) Get some answers or ideas a little quicker b) Help out anybody else in my position who only wants to do things the right way As a final note, the only company I've found so far who offers insurance specifically to backpackers and unfortunately - unless I'm mistaken - they only offer third party insurance which, whilst it is something, still doesn't suit me. I want my own property protected, too, if possible! (Oh, and Travellers Car Insurance appears to be shutting down on March 1st, too!) I appreciate any advice given and I apologise if this topic has been covered already - I wasn't able to find anything regarding my specific issue. Thanks!

Loving the encouragement and so happy to know other people have been in very similar situations! Our flights are actually booked now! Not all the way to Australia, yet... but we have booked one-way flights to Vietnam, where we are staying for 2 weeks, followed by a flight to Singapore - 3 days - and then Bali for 2-3 weeks (we haven't decided yet!). From there, we will fly to whichever Australian city we want to go to first! Scary stuff. I love it! Any chance you could find out and let me know what that Facebook group is? That would be absolutely great to look into. Thanks!

Thanks for the replies! Some great suggestions, we will certainly be making an effort to see as much as we can out there!

Hi everyone! This is my first post I wanted to say hello and give a brief story of the plan my girlfriend and I have with moving temporarily (for now!) to Australia, and if anybody has any advice for us in any shape or form, it would be immensely appreciated! I'm a multimedia developer (video, 3D, web, animation, games) with 5 years experience working at a marketing agency, and my girlfriend is a primary school teacher with 2 years since qualifying. We're both leaving behind great, well paid, stable jobs to spend at least a year in Oz on a working holiday visa. Everything is being left behind, and we're selling and storing many of our things. We want to explore Oz in all it's glory, work almost anywhere that will have us - be it pulling pints at a pub or doing farm work with the WWOOFing registry. Ideally, either before, after, or in between seeing the sights, we would love to find work doing what we do right now, and luckily for me I can do a lot of my work online. We have a budget and savings plan in place preparing for September when we plan to leave, and it's all looking good. Of course, having any form of income while out there is going to help us out a lot; I'd prefer not to spend every penny of our savings! Frankly, the whole thing is terrifying. Exciting, yes, but also completely and utterly stomach-flipping scary as hell. Any advice for two people who are leaving it all behind for a year or two of excitement and adventure? That is, unless we stay indefinitely! Thanks guys