<p>S will be taking a vehicle to Ole Miss as they allow it and he will need the vehicle to travel to/from hockey practice (rink is an hour north of the campus). I am wondering if it makes any sense to transfer the title to S’s name? Does that offer us (parents) any protection from liability if, god forbid, something happened and he (we) was sued? I was sued several years back for a car accident and it was not a pleasant experience. I don’t mean to imply that we would not help our son but I know that folks can be quick to sue and we have more assets that S does as this point. Of course we are imploring our son to drive safely no matter whose name is on the title. I would appreciate some factual feedback from any insurance folks/liability lawyers out there. We live in VA in case that matters. Many thanks!!</p>
<p>[JUST</a> BECAUSE YOUR KIDS ARE 18 DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE FREE AND CLEAR - August 1, 1989](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1989/08/01/85262/index.htm]JUST”>JUST BECAUSE YOUR KIDS ARE 18 DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE FREE AND CLEAR - August 1, 1989)</p>
<p>i have the same question- and do you transfer over with the title or do you have to ‘sell’ it to them?</p>
<p>Regardless of whether or not it removes liability issues from you, you also need to examine the cost of removing liability issues.</p>
<p>Not knowing the value of the car his driving record, etc., how much greater will the cost of insurance be greater on his own policy (if it is in his name this will be a requirement) than under your current current policy? </p>
<p>Look at that difference and get a quote on an umbrella liability policy (bought in $1 million increments) if you currently have broad coverage (required for umbrella policies). If, heaven forbid, he gets in an accident where there is serious personal injury or death, many insurance companies will roll over on their $300,000 (typical auto liability amount) payout, saving them lawyer fees and leave you rather exposed (your fear). They aren’t as likely to roll over on $1.3 million and will fight it more aggressively.</p>
<p>Also look at what assets and income you have to protect and what the bankruptcy rules in your state are with regards to protecting home assets (retirement assets are always protected IIRC). Most ambulance chasers (the ones out for the big money) won’t spend a lot of resources on a dry well, as they only get paid a percentage of what is actually collected.</p>
<p>Lots of things to consider.</p>
<p>In my situation, I have the umbrella policy, although when my children move on, my non-primary residence assets and income (as well as the tort laws of my home state) probably won’t justify the umbrella policy.</p>
<p>BTW, the umbrella liability policies extend both your auto and homeowner’s insurance for pretty much any activity taken by any member of the household, so if he does something stupid on the ice, you are covered there as well.</p>
<p>Thanks Goaliedad (you were so helpful previously when we were considering prep school:). We DO have an umbrella policy through USAA so that may be the way to go for now. I imagine that it would be more expensive for him to insure himself but I will check on the cost difference. Thanks again…and hey, Ole Miss now has ACHA hockey:) All those years we assumed that he would end up in New England and we’re now shaking our head’s saying whoda thunk?</p>
<p>I’m sure the rules vary by state, so it would definately be best to check with someone in the legal system or a trusted insurance agent.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In CA at least, you (the parent) can be sued if your name is on the title of the car.</p></li>
<li><p>If you transfer the title to your son, figure out what is the best way to do it so that there are no tax repercussions later.</p></li>
<li><p>Transferring the title to your son will likely make his insurance rise as he will be deemed the primary driver of the car and is, stereotypically, at a greater risk for an accident. At home, you/your husband are listed as the primary drivers and he as a secondary driver (whether or not that is the case), keeping costs lower.</p></li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li>A point on the last one, my dad passed last November and I “inherited” his truck. When we renewed our insurance, it shot way up, so our insurance agent, full well knowing my dad was dead, kept him on. Even today, my insurance card for his truck lists my dead father as the primary driver and me as the secondary driver even though I spend well over 2 hours behind the wheel every day to get to work.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks. It is sounding like we need to keep him on ours until he can afford to purchase the vehicle from us (wholesale of course!) and insure himself. I will pass along these lessons to him.</p>
<p>momrules,</p>
<p>Glad you remembered me. Happy to hear that your son has found a way to pursue his sport while going to a great school. ACHA club hockey is a great experience for those who want to play and represent their school, but don’t have the hours to dedicate to playing NCAA sports. We have that option at our local school as well and goaliegirl has had the opportunity to fill in with the ones who play on a team during this summer - she really enjoyed it. </p>
<p>However, in the fall, she’s off to her D3 school on a ROTC scholarship to play women’s hockey, so we continue our long-distance parenting. Her rink in about 2/3 mile from campus (1 mile from her dorm), so a car is not a necessity up front (campus and town very bike friendly), but I imagine in 2 years when she probably won’t be in the dorms (limited space), she may be in the same situation your son is in (needing a car). Not in a hurry for this, of course, but she’ll have to learn how to drive in snow eventually.</p>
<p>Thanks mom for this timely post because a similar situation may arise with DD who’ll return to Evanston in fall where she’ll be in an apartment this year. I thought there were no gift tax issues involved in payments for college fees and dorm and meal plans - is it different if we give her a car for transportation?</p>
<p>Also, since she’ll be in a different state, I can’t see how she can be listed as a secondary driver on that car to get a discount, and besides DW & I have cars listed where we are the primary. She’ll be 21 in January, so I thought it would be safe to have everything in her name sans the double comma umbrella policy we have for DW & I which requires a $300K auto policy which I wasn’t planning on getting her. The one other thing I’d like to know is how to get a car in PA for her internship for a couple of months and then drive it over to Chicago and not pay the sales tax in both states.</p>
<p>If you are PA residents you can have the car registered in PA, and keep PA plates while in Chicago.</p>
<p>
It depends on your state but in California there’s a way to transfer it to a relative without actually ‘selling’ it and potentially incurring the sales tax for a sale and having to do an extra smog test.</p>
<p>In Massachusetts, our family insurance decreased by virtue of transferring an older, less expensive car to my son and then designating that as his primary vehicle.</p>
<p>We were advised that we could title the car to our son for a $1.00 (legal) yet still keep him on our insurance also legal in our state). He does not need to get a new driver’s license or plates in his college state as his permanent legal residence is still our home.</p>
<p>We have a 1M liability policy. We bought it when H had his own business and kept it when he sold the business. If nothing else it brings piece of mind knowing it anything happens and we get sued we are covered up to a million. Cost is minimal.</p>
<p>We were told by USAA that having the title in their name does not free you from liability if you claim them as a dependent on your taxes, you might check into that.</p>
<p>When our kids switched from being on our plan to their own the cars went from about $250/6 months to about $350/6 months.</p>
<p>We were told the same thing by USAA - and my company said if we stopped declaring him as a dependent then he couldn’t be on our medical insurance.</p>
<p>Thanks to all! Good information…umbrella policy for now and fingers crossed that he (and all of us) are safe.</p>
<p>
Apologize for hijacking - but does IL law permit a car with an out of state registration for an extended period? I have to check with my insurance agent to see if the same is true because my current policy probably can’t be used if the address the car is parked at is out of state. And also find a way to do the annual inspection…</p>
<p>Anyway thanks for your suggestion - it’s something I hadn’t thought about.</p>
<p>Since our son attends college 900+ miles from home, we chose to send him to school with a newer leased vehicle. We have all our vehicles insured with Liberty Mutual. They have no problem with the vehicle being out of state. We identify my son as the primary driver of the leased vehicle. Technically, our son is our dependent and his address of record is still our home address. (Ohio resident attends school in AL.) </p>
<p>The same insurance coverage applies. If he were involved in an accident OOS, the local laws apply when determining fault/liability/etc. If you pay for replacement rental car coverage, be sure they (rental car company) will allow a driver under the age of 21 to use this coverage especially if you are OOS. </p>
<p>FYI, your homeowners policy should also cover your students personal belongings if they reside in a college dormitory for any claim (theft/fire/loss). If your student RENTS a room/apartment/house from someone other than the college/university, GET RENTERS INSURANCE!!!</p>
<p>It can give you some measure of protection. When my son had a car accident, we were sued for the full million of our umbrella coverage, because they were certain we had it and that they might be able to get it from the insurance company. It was no accident that they sued us for about the amount of insurance we carried. Getting money out folks rather than companies is much more difficult and the lawyers who handle these things know that. </p>
<p>When my MIL was sued for more than her coverage, the attorney at court, immediately dropped the amount to the insurance amount thereby negating the involvement of her own counsel. They absolutely did not want to deal with a personal attorney.</p>
<p>So if your son has an accident, it would be his own insurance on the hook, primarily, but if you get a whopper of a claim, all bets are off. Usually lawyers are not interested in going after someone with few assets, no job and his own insurance, as going after the parents who may in some states, under some circumstance have the kid under some automatic coverage will be a pain in the neck and take a lot of time. The ins company is very liable to dig in its heels and stall things. But again, in a huge catastrophe, they’ll go after everything.</p>
<p>The main advantage of having your kid own his own car and thereby have his own insurance is that your rates are not dependent on his transgressions. We have enough problems with our insurance that our kids HAVE to have their own insurance if they want a car, Can’t afford any more problems. My one son has been in so much trouble that we would be paying college tuition amounts had he been listed on our policy. In that way,it can save you a lot of trouble. Even in the same house hold you don;t have to report a driver with his own car and insurance, at least in our state. In NY< otherwise, they are automatically covered by state law so the insurance company will take their records into account in charging you their rates.</p>