<p>Ok, isn’t it illegal (or at least immoral) to claim person A is the primary driver of a car when that is clearly not the case? I won’t even go into the “using a dead person as the primary” issue.</p>
<p>I don’t know where the gray areas are with car insurance as we have always played it straight up. However, my H always has had the most expensive car (yeah, a subaru with 150K on it) that I share with him. Those kids of mine with their own cars, have their own insurance. Their car, their insurance, their liability. I’ve heard of families that have three, four cars and maybe the old van that mom drives is assigned to the teenager instead of the the hot new thing he has to bring down the premium somewhat. But something is warped if your kids have better cars than you do.</p>
<p>Our insurance agent routinely puts the teenager on the oldest least expensive car. I don’t think that is illegal. In our case the least expensive car is the car she drives.</p>
<p>Also in regards to cost of car insurance. Our oldest D has her own car in her own name. She pays more having the car in her name. She is driving an older car and paying more for not as good of coverage.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s how it goes with my kids too. But what the heck, it’s their car, and that is what the actuarial tables say they owe. Why hang more liability around my neck when that is what the risks are. Makes you pause when you see those rates for kids.</p>
<p>“But something is warped if your kids have better cars than you do.”…VERY WARPED But…
I have peace of mind knowing my son is traveling far from home in a new, reliable car. </p>
<p>Just last week the lease was running out on a 2007 Pontiac G6/ 2 door/ 6 cyl ($219/month) that our 20 year old son drove. We could have purchased it for $14,000 but decided to lease a 2010 Chevy Malibu ($240/month). Our auto premium went down $260/year because the Malibu is a 4 door/ 4 cyl. </p>
<p>The bright side is, I get to drive the new Malibu until my son leaves in four weeks. I really don’t mind driving my 2002 Astro Van. I have owned 3 Astro Vans since 1988. I am just too practical. At the time I purchased the 2002 van, I still needed a vehicle to transport 10’ long window valance boards. My vanity plate reads “LAST VAN”. When the time comes to replace my van, I am 100% certain it will NOT be a van! : )</p>
<p>I agree with momof3boyz. My son will be traveling a couple of hours to/from school periodically, so we bought him a new car. It’s not a super-fancy car, but I wanted something reliable for him to get him through college and a little beyond. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, adding my S1 and his car doubled our insurance. My S2 just turned 15…sigh…</p>
<p>
Please note that this is, most likely, insurance fraud.</p>
<p>Keeping a dead person on the insurance is different than determining who is the primary driver on a particular car, when all the drivers are in fact members of the same family and are on the policy. The only reason we declare a “primary” is because our insurance requires it. Otherwise, we can all drive all the cars (at least until my husband bought a standard which I can’t drive!).</p>
<p>We gave our D an older, small car to drive at her out-of-state college and kept it on our policy. It actually was a company car as my H owns his own company and has several cars and trucks. She never had an accident or got a speeding ticket in the four years we let her do this, but we were always nervous about that. </p>
<p>One thing to consider, be sure to make your son PROMISE (I would actually have him sign a contract with you if you think you need that) that he will not let anyone borrow his car. It is very common to do that in college and I know that my D did it many times. That one is really dangerous.</p>
<p>We finally transferred the title to her this past school year now that she is in grad school, and she got her own insurance with a good rate from the same company we have been with for decades. One more step on the road to adulthood…</p>