Search Results for: expat auto trivia

I so infrequently write on expat-related topics lately that a chance visitor to my blog may be turned off by the preponderance of family news and assorted filler stuff. To rectify that just a bit, let me spend a few minutes on something that I did not get into much detail in the past: Specifics of an auto lease in England. Actually, when I used the word "lease" to describe the financial arrangement I was seeking, every single dealer I spoke to disabused me of the notion that such an option existed. What we do here in England is called PHP, they said, "Purchase-Hire Plan". When I inquired about specifics, the deal looked an amalgamation of plain financing and lease rolled into one. You have a contract that stipulates X number of monthly payments, at the end of which the car has a residual value expressed in the form of…

UK driving license? Piece o'cake! After a lengthy process, which took much longer in terms of waiting than in terms of preparing or doing, and which left my wallet about £200 lighter, I am now a properly-licensed British driver as well. Well, ok, I did take a couple of hours of additional instruction this morning, immediately preceding the test. It was not a waste of time by any means, as the instructor did manage to make me constantly aware of where I kept my hands, how thoroughly I was checking all blind spots, and how closely I was approaching the speed limit (see this post for a discourse on why those things are important). He also drilled me on the four "special" maneuvers that may figure in a given test, of which I ended up being tested on three. But in the end, it was more or less along the…

It is my turn to practice English driving skills with an instructor. Far be it for me to doubt my ability to pass any exam, but I have to admit: It's not easy to do things the way one should be doing them in order to pass the English practical driving test. Oh, there is no doubt that I can drive! The instructor, an amiable fellow in his 50-ies, largely commended me on my skills while continuously going through his routine of reminding me to do this and do that. (I choose to be naïve in believing that he was genuinely impressed with how I handled the driving :) ). But even though this was not the actual test, I felt tense throughout the lesson. There are simply too many useless things to keep track of that I don't bother to when I drive in my regular fashion. First of…

Well, well, well, look who is now a fully licensed British driver. Natasha has passed her road test! She swears that taking three lessons with an instructor has helped her, so I guess I'll do likewise. As I said before, the point was to practice the right tricks that ensure passing the test, and the lessons were useful, especially in the part where you need to open the bonnet - that's local for popping the hood, for all of you Americans, - and explain where the washer fluid and the engine oil go (yes, you have to demonstrate that knowledge on the test here!). Anyway, the test lasted about 45 minutes. It started with the vision check which consisted of reading a license plate at a certain distance. Following that, Natasha had to explain how to check the level of oil in the car, and afterwards, it was largely just…

Continuing with the driving license thread, Natasha finally has scheduled her practical test for sometime in November, and in the meantime, decided to take a lesson or two. The rationale is obviously not to practice driving, but to practice passing the test. At the first lesson, as soon as she pulled out, the instructor remarked that she made five mistakes in the process. Are you kidding me?! The guy is probably looking to scaring her into signing up for additional lessons. Yet, there is little doubt that an examiner during the test will be pedantic in looking for very specific behavior and actions and unreceptive to the notion of prior driving experience, so it makes sense to learn the right formula. The silver lining in all this saga is that the UK driving license is valid for 30 years. So, when we retire to Tuscany in the future, we will…

NEWSFLASH: Natasha has passed the theory test for UK driving license with flying colors. I guess I might as well take an opportunity and describe what the test entails. It consists of two parts. The first is your basic multiple-choice how-well-you-know-the-rules-of-the-road affair. The questions range from very specific "What does this sign mean?" to vacuous "What should you do if you see [enter your favorite potential disruption to traffic here]?" (the correct answer for that is always "Slow down and be prepared to stop"). Out of 35 questions, you have to correctly answer 30 to pass, and Natasha got 33 right. I hear that starting September, the number of questions will increase to 50 and the passing grade to 43... But there is another part, which is a lot less straight-forward. It is called Hazard Perception test, and it aims to evaluate skills such as scanning, knowing a safe separation…

After promising it on several occasions, I am carrying on with my expatriate experience series of articles. The first entry dealt with relocation package specifics. This post is about UK driver licensing. A foreign resident in England who holds a valid driver license from abroad can use it without getting an English license for 12 months from the moment of arrival. The allowance is, in fact, more generous than any US state would give to a transplanted foreigner. So far so good. It should be noted that, unlike in the US, where we all use a license as our everyday identification document, you hardly ever need your license in England. "Can I see some form of id?" is unheard of at a checkout in a store. The wide use of PIN-and-chip credit cards ensures that a card is used by a rightful owner (or, at least, someone close enough to…