I apologise in advance if this is in the wrong forum, or if it's against rules to ask at all. A mod can feel free to move/delete this thread if he/she sees fit.

 

I'm a Canadian citizen and will be moving to Cleveland to study at Case Western this summer. During my time there I'll be interested in purchasing a car for my four-year stay. I was wondering if anyone knew if I was able to purchase, plate, insure and register a car in Ohio with a Canadian driver's license? I will be in Ohio on an F1 (student) visa and will have an address, obviously, and I noticed on a few insurance company's websites that they give policies to both U.S. and Canadian license holders. But I was a little unclear on the logistics of the situation, and calling the BMV didn't help very much (they seemed to know very little about it, beyond suggesting I just get an Ohio license).

 

I do have a friend who is in Cleveland currently and what she did was she simply purchased a car in Ontario, insured it for both Canada and the U.S. and drove it over. However, I know this is going to be much, much more expensive than purchasing and insuring the car locally.

 

Can anyone provide any insight, or do I need to start the arduous process of calling insurance companies?

 

Thanks!

^Any reason you wouldn't just get an Ohio license to make the process easier?  Then again, I just visited the Ohio DMV site to see what might be required to convert an out of state license, and it was completely incomprehensible. But it's likely you'd be able to convert your license upon an eye exam and an [easy] written test.

AFAIK, the foreign license shouldn't be an issue with purchasing, plating and registering a vehicle.

 

http://bmv.ohio.gov/vehicle_registration_facts.stm

 

Insurance might be an issue though.

^Any reason you wouldn't just get an Ohio license to make the process easier?  Then again, I just visited the Ohio DMV site to see what might be required to convert an out of state license, and it was completely incomprehensible. But it's likely you'd be able to convert your license upon an eye exam and an [easy] written test.

 

Actually, I'd have to go through the entire process same as an Ohio teen would. Eye test, written exam, road and maneuverability test. Not sure where I'd even get a car to do the test with, haha.

 

Maybe I just talked to the wrong people at the BMV. I'll try calling again and I'll make some inquiries at insurance companies.

 

Any other advice/insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

My grandmother owned and registered cars for years with no driver's license at all. She had gotten old enough that it was no longer safe for her to drive. This was in the '90s, though I imagine the law hasn't changed.