<p>Currently I have D1 listed on my auto insurance policy. I have two cars, and she has driven one while home from college for the summer. I “turn the insurance down” while she is away at school and no one is driving the car at all. Her younger sister will probably get her license this fall, and then will be driving that older car regularly. D1 graduated from college this spring.</p>
<p>This week D1 moved to DC for a permanent job, and does not plan to own a car while she is there. She may occasionally rent a car from a rental agency, rent a ZipCar, or drive a friend’s car. I believe her friends will all have insurance on their vehicles. She will still come home for a few days here and there, and may want to drive one of my two cars while she is here.</p>
<p>Should I remove her from my auto policy altogether? Are there any pros/cons to this? I assume my cost would go down a little (but honestly I just switched insurance to AAA, and think it is pretty inexpensive already compared to my old company!). I know if I remove her that she will need to pay for insurance whenever she rents a car.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone can answer that question except you. There are lots of licensed drivers with no insurance … hence the hefty “Uninsured Driver” premium many insured drivers pay, just in case they’re struck by an uninsured driver.</p>
<p>The additional premium for our graduated D is small enough that we kept her on our policy. No regrets, but YMMV.</p>
<p>One issue with her not being insured now is how expensive it will be, later, for her to get her own insurance, with no record of being insured in the past year or two. I don’t know the specifics, only that when I did what you are suggesting for your D, it was a cost factor when I got my own car. I paid a premium for that. Years ago. Ask AAA.</p>
<p>Btw, when we switched to AAA, the cost, even adding one old car and two teen girls, totalled hundreds less than we had previously paid.</p>
<p>Not sure if it is a state by state thing, but your CAR is actually insured,no matter whom is driving it…clearly anyone using a car regularly affects the price of insurance,and those with drivers licences who live in a home,need to be included…uninsured drivers premium refers to a driver AND their car not having insurance…we had a girl who let her insurance expire,hit our car, and repairs were coverd thru our insurance and uninsured drivers …</p>
<p>We dropped our sons from our insurance when they moved away from home. Neither one owns his own car. They are covered by our insurance if they drive one of our cars when they’re home, as would be anyone we gave permission to drive one of our vehicles.</p>
<p>Regarding whether your D would be covered if she rented a car, we found out that our insurance only covers rentals for the primaries on the insurance (DH and myself), not the additional drivers (S1 and S2). You might want to check with AAA to see if your D would have coverage if she rented a car anyway.</p>
She needs to carry insurance somehow. If she drives your car and causes damage to another car , property, or person, it could be very expensive and is unethical as well unless she has enough money to pay out of pocket for any damages she can cause - and this could conceivably run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if injuries are involved or she hits a Lambo.</p>
<p>Since she’s a family member who’d be staying in your home, even if it’s a visit, it could have implications on her driving your car without being explicitly covered.</p>
<p>You should call your insurance agent and ask them the question. You’re better off having the correct answer than a bunch of guesses from people here.</p>
<p>It is fascinating how many different opinions there are on this (and how a bunch of 50-something parents with a lot of years of insurance experience have such different perspectives on this). </p>
<p>Does the insurance go with the car or the person? Some posters here imply it would be unethical for her to not carry coverage and then ever drive a car. If she has an accident in her boyfriend’s car, and he has insurance coverage, would the cost be covered even though she is not listed on his policy? If she did stay on my policy, would my insurance cover the bill (not his) even if the accident was in his car?</p>
<p>I saw another post on CC that said that if your kid moved permanently out of state and wasn’t just at school, you had to drop them from your insurance (company will not allow them to stay on if they find out). So it could be unethical to try to keep her on the policy!</p>
<p>I think it may be many years before she owns a car. It would not suprise me if she only buys one once she has kids and needs to transport the little critters more conveniently.</p>
<p>Insurance is tied to the car, not the person, even if your insurer wants to know who is a regular driver of your car (which they do). Shellfell is correct in that anyone who is given permission to drive the car by the named insured is covered by that car’s insurance, e.g., a friend or relative (not living in the same house), even if not named on the policy. Speak to your agent.</p>
<p>I think the insurance is on the car, regardless of who is driving it. I don’t think that a person who has a current driver’s license but does not own a car pays for car insurance, do they? That’s a serious question–I don’t know for sure.</p>
<p>When we had 3 cars and 4 drivers living in the house, the insurance company assigned the worst rated drivers to an individual car. At that time, I wasn’t listed on the policy. Just the two kids and my husband. But I was certainly covered if I had been involved in an accident in one of the three cars.</p>
<p>Cross-posted with alwaysamom. Agree that your agent will be able to answer your questions.</p>
That isn’t what I meant - I mean it would be unethical to drive when not covered by insurance - whether that was through her directly or because the car was truly covered while she drove it. And it’s clearly unethical (and illegal) to drive uninsured. I live in an area with a lot of illegals driving cars and almost none of them are insured and it’s a huge problem.</p>
<p>
You really need to contact the insurance company rather making any kinds of decisions based on what posters here, including me, say. Not all insurance policies are the same - they vary by company, by state, and even the same insurance company in the same state can cover things in different ways depending on what you signed up for. Check with them - you may find that the additional cost is trivial since she’ll rarely drive.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t trust any of the ‘blanket statements’ being made by some posters here because there are too many variables.</p>
<p>The vehicle is covered, and the cost of insurance is based on the user/users drivng record…We receive every year at renewal time a form to be filled out with information pertaining to residents,ages, etc…who is the primary driver of each car,approx how many miles driven each year,where vehicle will be parked most nights…having college students within a certain radius of home negates any savings of them considered to be ‘away’ at college…i could drive the OP’s car, get in an accident, and it would be covered…</p>
<p>Along the same train of thought–Is there a magic age when one must take their older, single, grad/professional school kid off one’s auto policy? Our son starts grad school in a few weeks, may take one of our cars back to school (same state) upon occasion, but probably won’t have it all school year and definitely won’t have enough money to have a car of his own for a few years. Is this based on state law or does it vary from company to company?</p>
<p>If I drive my neighbor’s car and have an accident, does my insurance pay or the insurance belonging to the car’s owner? Can’t say that I’ve ever given this any thought.</p>
<p>Yes, in some states, as part of “no fault,” whether or not the other party is insured, the damaged vehicle owner’s ins co initiates and pays for repairs. One good reason is to allow the work to be done, not cycle through delaying arguments between insurers. The victim’s co then goes after costs from the other guy’s co. Part of the reg is the owner of the damaged vehicle does not get dinged for the accident, if it’s not his fault. </p>
<p>Not all states have no fault regulations. It gets complicated from here, depending on whether there were damages to both cars- and even more complicated if there is a claim of bodily injury. Call AAA. Be wise and forget trying to save a few dollars.</p>
<p>I believe the phrase “the insurance goes with the (victim’s) car” only applies as part of no-fault. If you look through legal sites, you’ll find contrasting advice, depending on the state.</p>
<p>Yeah, OP needs to talk with own insurance agent about coverage for family members. Different states have different laws and insurance works differently. Florida has no fault but it doesn’t cover property losses, uninsured coverage doesn’t cover property damage, and liability insurance isn’t even legally required–just no fault. I remember reading once that a typical auto insurance policy is harder to understand than Einstein’s theory of relativity. Call your agent to make sure you have right auto insurance coverages and appropriate policies for everyone in family.</p>
<p>One question to ask the agent is about occasional drivers, D is flagged as such in our car insurance as she drives only when she is in town and premiums are lower for us than if she was a regular driver</p>
<p>I asked our agent in PA - if D establishes a household away from ours, she is no longer covered on our policy. So, as soon as she gets a driver’s license in her new state, she is off. He suggested she look into a ‘non-owner’ policy to cover herself for liability. She may still be covered on our cars as an occasional driver, but not on other cars.</p>
<p>"Does the insurance go with the car or the person? "</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>In CT the same level of insurance coverage applies to all covered drivers, but each car and driver are insured separately. Add a car, insurance cost goes up. Add a driver, insurance costs goes up. At one point when DW and I were a couple … i.e. no kids … we added a third car. The insurance went up and I called to ask why, because we’d at most be driving two of the three cars. The answer was “that’s just the way it is.”</p>
<p>FWIW, some insurance companies used to assign cars-to-drivers in the most disadvantageous manner … i.e. if you own a Ferrari and you have a 16-year-old male driver in the family, that’s his car (even if he never drives it). Nowadays you can find insurance companies that assign cars-to-drivers in the most advantageous way. Worth looking into.</p>
<p>Gladgraddad, I do intend to talk to my agent. But I know that the agent may give me advice that is in THEIR best interest, not mine. I have found over the years that CC is a great place to mull over an issue with others – I usually can ask much more intelligent questions after a conversation out here about subjects like this!</p>
<p>She has not gotten a new driver’s license yet… I suppose that could be a pain for her over the next few years, as she is going to live in the DC area and could easily move between DC, VA, and MD every year or two. She has to find a place to live before she takes care of that chore. :)</p>
<p>Just re-reading the posts. Ugh. CT is a “fault” state. Good insurers here mimic “no fault” coverage by allowing customers whose cars are damaged to have the damage repaired right away under their own insurance policy, LESS the deductible which is refunded when the other guy’s insurance eventually reimburses your own insurance company. This service can be REALLY helpful when there are multiple drivers involved in an accident.</p>
<p>Another complexity is “who pays?” CT is one of the “deep pockets” states. If your son is driving his girlfriend’s car and a third-party is injured, both your son (the driver) and his girlfriend (who owns the car) can be held accountable. (And now you know why many CT parents carry a million dollar umbrella policy, over and above their $500K/$1M auto liability policy.)</p>
<p>intparent - I understand and the responses can be insightful. My point was to make sure you don’t make a decision based on the posters here, especially the ones who make the blanket statements regarding something that has so many variables.</p>