Getting Rental and Car Insurance in Aix
Since you will be a renter in France you will be required to have rental insurance. You must show proof of this to your landlord. For the two years that I lived in France, I had my insurance with MAAF. Their office is located at:
9 Boulevard de la Republique
13100 Aix en Provence
Their phone number is: 04 42 91 33 44
Their fax number is: 04 42 91 34 73
They also have a web site at: www.agence.aix_en_provence_centre@maaf.fr
I had both my car insurance and renter’s insurance with them. They will also provide for you, free of charge, additional medical insurance for your children while they are at school or if they are at a school function off campus during school hours.
Before heading over to the office, make sure you have a copy of your rental agreement, your California driver’s license, and your passport. They will ask for all three for verification.
For The Car
If you are asking for car insurance you need to have proof of insurance from The States. In this case, I had to call the car insurance company that I had while living in America and they had to fax over my policy from as far back as possible. Luckily, they were the only insurance company that I had had for a long time. They faxed over my policy to the MAAF office along with proof that I had been driving since I was 16 years old. That seemed to be important to them, too. They automatically gave me a discount and insured me the same day. If you would like someone else on the policy, so they can drive the car, the same information is needed on the other driver. Usually the second driver cost about the same as the first with a small discount. In my case, my husband was about 130 euros less a year to insure. Please note that children less than 18 years of age are not allowed to drive in France.
The insurance is relatively cheap for both the rental and the car. For example, I paid a total of 540 euros for the year in car insurance and a total of 132 euros for the year for my renter’s insurance. On account that half of this was given back to me when I left, I think I made out pretty well for myself.
For The Home
When you pay for the renter’s insurance, MAAF will provide you will all the paper work for the policy. You must keep one copy for yourself and the other you give to your landlord. You pay on an annual calendar, therefore you will make one payment in September for the total amount that will be due from September to December and then you will make a second payment in January for the total amount that is due from January until December 31 of that present year. Don’t worry they will reimburse you for the portion you will not use due to leaving mid-way through the year. You will need to take the new paper work they will give you to your landlord for the present year.
Canceling Insurance
When canceling your insurance, go into the office about 2 weeks before you are due to leave and let them know you are returning to the United States. They will need to know the day of your departure and you will have to bring in your airline tickets as proof. They will immediately cancel your insurance as of your last day of occupying your residence and you will be reimbursed the money that you paid for the remaining months of the year.
If you bought a vehicle and it has already been sold, cancel your insurance for the vehicle on the day you sold it. If the vehicle has not been sold yet, let them know and they will reduce insurance on it for only fire and theft. If you return to The States and 
the car is sold afterwards, call MAAF and let them know and they will cancel the policy over the phone. The person who sold the car for you must bring into the office proof that the car has been sold.
I found MAAF to be extremely easy to work with. The people in the office were friendly and helped me out when I did not understand something. When I added the car onto my policy and when I wanted to raise the level of my insurance they were very helpful. They are very patient with foreigners and will walk through all your questions.
