insurance

I found out that state farm isn't down there, still trying

Hi Leslie.

Insurance providers down here are not the same as those in the states. The phone numbers and addresses of island insurers can be found here, under "Insurance":

http://www.viphonebook.com/

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I've book marked the site. This is the most help I've gotten so far. It's odd, coming from the farming area of the midwest to see people offer huricane items prepareness supplies in the phone book...lol

do you recomend any insurances listed in the book to stay away from, or go with?

Actually, you'll find them all about the same. For car insurance they all offer the same limits and you can't buy any more or less; all you can vary is the deductible. All of the agents in the book only use a handful of insurers, like Lloyd's of London, because few insurers insure on the islands. If you search past posts you'll see some folks express a preference for a particular insurance company but their preference seems to be mostly a matter of which firm handled their query in the timeliest fashion.

Be forewarned about buying car insurance...

The companies here will want you to pay the yearly premium in full for the year. They sometimes give you the option to "finance" the premium, but at the very least you will need to pay 6 months in advance for the first check, then you can pay monthly. FYI... so you have enough cash available. This will also need to be paid in cash or personal check-- no credit cards. There is a big difference between liability only and full coverage. If you are shipping your car and it belongs to you outright then you can carry the minimum. If you buy a car on island and need to finance it at all then they will require you to have full coverage.

We just went with Marshall and Sterling and they seem just fine so far. They do finance out of Lloyd's of London.

I'm in stx and we use Guardian Insurance. We paid by credit card for the full year. They've been a good company so far and in a few months, we qualify for multi car discount.