Persistence Pays Off
So, after the first epic fail to get our drivers licenses converted, we dusted ourselves off, girded our proverbial loins (well Martin might have girded his actual loins, it is hard to say with all the normal daily rearranging that goes on) and prepared to get back into the fray. The first thing we did was swap our Canadian SIM out of our phones and replace them with our NZ SIM, then call the New Zealand Transport Agency to make a request for the much coveted and all-important Certificate of Particulars. With our $11 fee paid, all we could do was wait for the certificate to arrive by email.
Feeling confident we decided to contact some insurance companies to get the ball rolling with vehicle insurance, friends had already warned us that insurance in Canada was expensive so we anticipated we might need to spend more than we were used to, but it was still a shock to find out just how much and the hoops needed to get it. We were going to discover why the sniggering car salesperson wished us luck getting insurance!
Having lived in the UK and NZ we were accustomed to having choice with regards to who we insured our vehicle with, confidence that the insurance would cover us no matter where in the country we travelled and competitive premium prices. We had a whole new appreciation of living in smaller countries where everything was easily accessible and affordable because in bigger countries with states or provinces it was a different kettle of fish.
Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you. – Denis Waitley
Of course, we hit a couple of roadblocks! We would not be the Carroll’s Clueless in Canada if we did not. The first was the fact that in Canada each province works completely independently, and insurance companies are different in each province e.g., insurance obtained from an insurer in Ontario will become void if you move outside of the province.
This left us in a bit of a pickle. We were currently residing in Ontario but intended to move to the province of Nova Scotia, so when we spoke to the first insurance company and told them that we were buying a vehicle and would be moving to NS they refused to insure us because they do not operate outside of Ontario. For fluffs sake this was not a good start! No insurance, no vehicle, equals the end of our plans to move to NS.
You call them curse words; I call them sentence enhancers.
After spending some time to vociferate every expletive we know (we are both ex-cops and could teach a docker a few new ones!) and drinking a cuppa we felt marginally better and moved on to the next insurance company on the list, this time we decided to leave out our plans to move to NS otherwise getting insurance would have been impossible.
As far as we were concerned, we were currently residing in Ontario and had accommodation booked and paid for in Nepean for the next 5-6 weeks, in fact at that point our decision to move province was very much in its infancy and we had no clue where we wanted to reside in NS let alone any concrete travel plans so felt justified in our actions, we still needed to get around in Ontario and would need a vehicle to do that.
Thankfully, the next insurer we called said they could help and when we enquired about what we needed to do if we moved province, they told us we just needed to find a new insurer once we moved and then cancel our Ontario insurance, finally we were making progress.
Roadblock number two is that when you immigrate to Canada you may as well take any previous driving experience you have and flush it down the toilet, because you get treated like a new driver fresh from driving lessons and ink barely dry on the license, and this people is why the insurance premiums are so expensive.
Take Martin for example, he has been driving for 34 years and Police response driving including high speed pursuits for 21 years and it all counts for diddly squat. We could not get our heads around that one no matter how we tried, but we had no say in it! We needed to get the insurance so pay the extortionate premiums we must.
Within a few days our one-page Certificate of Particulars finally arrived so with printed copies and (fingers crossed) all the relevant documentation in hand it was time to head back to the dreaded Drive Test only this time we opted for the pop-up Drive Test in Kanata. Whilst it was in the opposite direction to the first one we visited it was just as far away, but we were hopeful it would have less queues than central Ottawa City.
We were both understandably apprehensive about it and with our history we were right to be, because although we had had our fair share of unnecessary complications and red tape the universe thought we could manage some more. Nothing is ever simple or straight forward on planet Carroll.
Of course, when we got to the pop-up drive test which was also an ice hockey arena the queue was ridiculously and disappointingly long, everyone had the same idea apparently and had gone to the pop-up with hope in their hearts. What made it even worse is that there were only two staff members working (due to it being a pop-up) and half of the people in the queue were waiting to take their driving theory test which was time consuming.
Despite the waiting in the cold and the hours ticking by the queue was getting smaller, we were going to do this, we were going to get our licenses converted. By 3pm we were four people away from the front of the queue when a Drive Test staff member came out gave numbers to the four people in front of us who would be the last to be admitted and then told us that they were sorry but they not taking anyone else today as they had to clear up and be finished by 4pm… You what now? Shoot us both now and put us out our misery!
We should have been chilled to the bone by this point, but our burning rage had warmed us up nicely, and made us slightly deranged because we decided right there and then that we were not going back to that apartment until we had our temporary Ontario drivers’ licenses in our hands.
Would that mean that we would have to go back to the original Drive Test in Ottawa City, which was now even further away, yes. Would we have to queue again for hours in the cold, highly likely. Could we get turned away right at the last knockings for arriving so late and so close to closing time, there is a strong possibility. Were we going to spend an extortionate amount of money on an Uber to get there this time, sweet baby jeebus yes!
Those of you who can remember the last blog post where it took us three hours to walk to the original Drive Test will be thinking jeepers that is one expensive Uber ride! Which it was but we were prepared to take the hit, we had temporary insanity blurring all our common sense and if we were not already half mad by this point, we would have been ropable by the end of the journey because the Uber driver played the same Dua Lipa song for the entire duration of the journey. Do not get me wrong we love Dua Lipa, but we stopped counting after the driver played it the fortieth time and started mumbling please mummy make it stop.
Surprisingly when we arrived at Drive Test there was no queue …what the fluff! We walked in, got our tickets, and joined the other ten or so people waiting to be assisted, again what the fluff. After thirty minutes they called our number, we both looked at each other feeling highly suspicious that this was some hideous trick. We walked up to the counter expecting them to say we had forgotten to bring some other imaginary certificate that nobody told us about but after presenting all our documents, (Certificate of Particulars included) completing our application form, having our photographs taken and paying the $90 fee each that was it, we had finally converted our drivers’ licenses.
Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible. – Javier Pascual Salcedo
There was one small cause of disagreement (and one that went down like a cup of cold sick with Martin) which was that they would not convert Martins Class 6 category to ride a motorcycle and Class 2 to drive a truck from the NZ license to the Ontario license. If he wanted to drive a truck, he would need to take a course and then pass the theory and practical all over again.
It was the same for the motorcycle license although the staff member must have taken pity on Martin because she signed him off for the motorcycle theory which would mean he would only need to take the practical test, jeeze do not do us any favours lady!
True to our word we got back to the apartment with our temporary Ontario drivers licenses in hand, and whilst the victory felt bittersweet, we had achieved what we set out to do despite everything thrown our way, Canadian red tape was next level and it had taken a toll, but we got through with only a few marbles missing by the end of it.
We are not extravagant people, everything we buy we have saved long and hard for, we spent nine years in NZ forgoing holidays and treats for ourselves, all our furniture and appliances were second hand. Instead, we ploughed all our savings and wages into renovating the house, it was now time for us to start enjoying the fruits of our labour.
With the insurance already primed and our temporary Ontario drivers’ licenses in our wallets it was finally time for the exciting part, we were going to buy a car and we were going to go on a road trip!
