Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
Will you be driving your wife's car? If so she should be able to add you to the policy without much problem unless you have a bad driving record.
A rental car? If you have a valid driver's license you can probably get minimum coverage of liability and collision coverage from the rental car agency. If you use the right credit cards, the collision coverage will be already covered.
Someone else's car? Their car insurance should/might cover you, if you have a valid DL up to whatever limits there are on the owner's coverage.
Note: Your reference to yourself as "living car-free-ish" points out again that are numerous definitions of living car-free on this Forum.
North Carolina laws about auto insurance are pretty wacky, as we've discussed here before. Every state is different. Here in Michigan we hav no-fault. It goes with the car instead of the driver, and eliminates a lot of the law suits filed in states where the driver who is responsible for a collision is liable for damages to both parties.