As with any trip it is important that you are covered by suitable travel insurance.  Blue Light Home Swap recommends that you take out a policy that covers you and your family.

Home insurance providers tend to prefer that your home is occupied whilst you are on holiday so that it is less likely to become the target of crime.  You are likely to find that you don’t have to make any changes to your policy, however, Blue Light Home Swap recommends that you contact your insurance provider to inform them of your intentions.

Exchanging your vehicles will save you hundreds in rental charges, however, under the law you must be insured to drive an exchange vehicle.  The most cost effective way to do this is to add a ‘named driver’ to your policy.  Some insurance companies will allow this as a free service and others will make a small charge for the policy change.  To arrange the cover you should:

Contact your insurer for the information they require to add a ‘named driver’. Swap the relevant information with your exchange partner. Arrange for your policy to be amended for the dates of the exchange. Leave a copy of the amended certificate for your exchange partner. Act upon any further advice offered by your insurance company.

£32.55 (58.88USD / 73.56CAD) to maintain ‘fully comprehensive’ cover with no claims protection based on a period of two weeks for an American driver holding a full licence with no convictions.  The excess following an accident increased from £150 (271USD / 338CAD) to £400 (723USD / 903CAD) but could be reduced by increasing the premium.