Auto Insurance Question

Parent Cafe
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<p>Auto insurance goes with the car and the person. All cars must be listed on a policy, and all members of the household must be listed on the policy for full, effective coverage.</p>

<p>This is to avoid the situation in which parents don’t name a teenager on the policy because it’s so expensive, and then just say, “Oh, he/she only drives it sometimes.” In this situation, the teenager won’t be covered in an accident he/she causes even if the car is named.</p>

<p>Or people don’t name a particular vehicle they own on a policy because they only drive it occasionally, or it’s a high-risk vehicle like a sports car. In that case, an accident in the car, caused by the driver, won’t be covered even if the driver is named on the policy.</p>

<p>In the OP’s daughter’s case, the issue is whether she will remain a member of the OP’s household for insurance purposes. If she has her own apartment, with renter’s insurance in her own name, signs her own lease, registers to vote in her new jurisdiction, and gets a driver’s license in her new state, she won’t be a member of the household and can drive the OP’s car(s) without being named on the policy as an occasional driver. The fact that she’s the OP’s daughter becomes irrelevant.</p>

<p>However, if she doesn’t do these things, she may be considered a member of the household.</p>

<p>She can drive other people’s cars without issue as long as they are not made available to her on a regular basis. She’d be covered under their insurance.</p>

<p>I’m in the same situation - my d lives in another state and has been working there for a year now. We didn’t co-sign the lease, don’t pay for her renter’s insurance, and she’s registered to vote there. (No car so no auto insurance.) The only problem is that she hasn’t changed her driver’s license, so I am still letting my insurer know when she comes to visit for a few days. Better safe than sorry!</p>

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<p>Chedva, she will be doing all those things you listed (own lease, voting in her new location, getting her own renter’s insurance, etc.). I will talk to my agent, but am thinking that once she has her license and an apartment lease in her new jurisdiction, we will probably end up removing her from the policy unless the agent has a good reason not to.</p>

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<p>As a judge of elections in PA, the voting thing stands out. We have a voter ID law now, and I am wondering if someone who presents a license with an address in another state (and is not a college student) will be questioned as a legitimate voter. I’d better find out before November!</p>

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<p>Check all of the fine print on your policy to figure out what is or is not covered if she visits and uses your car.</p>

<p>For her otherwise, there may be non-owner’s car insurance to cover rental car use in cases where the rental car does not include insurance or all of the desired types of coverage.</p>

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<p>It would be best to check how much your insurance follows you and your cars, in case the car you borrow or someone who borrows your car has much less insurance on it than you are comfortable with.</p>

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<p>I took my son off our car insurance because it is hideously expensive in Michigan. He has a car also so I had him get plates in the state he is in (cheaper) and change his driver’s license and a year’s worth of insurance in the state he is in is 20% of what it cost in Michigan. The issue for the OP is that yes, the insurance is tied to the car so you can’t “insure” a kid on their own in a different state or even in your own state without a car attached to the insurance. At the very least the OP should contact the insurance agent and tell him/her that the D is in a different location and doesn’t have a car. it will lower the overall premium for the insurance holder on most policies. For our S2 it lowers our annual premium about $200 to have him in another state/city with no car.</p>

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<p>We live in PA, and #1 daughter has lived in WI for three years, driver’s license is WI. But as she has no permanent job, and since my husband never did get his butt over to transfer the title, she’s been driving a car registered to and insured by us. A car which she intended to donate to a school for troubled teens when she moves to Alaska next month.</p>

<p>Two weeks ago her fiancee totalled it and another car. Our insurance company has picked up all of the costs of the accident. He has no car, so no insurance.</p>

<p>Good thing HE was driving because the insurance company has ruled that we will not get an accident surcharge. If our daughter, who is listed as the official driver of the car, had been behind the wheel, we would have gotten the surcharge.</p>

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<p>This is interesting.
This says if you loan the car to your girlfriend she is covered.
But if she lives with and isn’t named on your policy, she probably wouldn’t be covered.
Wonder if my D knows this?
[Who</a> is Covered on Your Auto Insurance Policy? | Auto Insurance Tips](<a href=“http://www.autoinsurancetips.com/covered-your-auto-insurance-policy]Who”>http://www.autoinsurancetips.com/covered-your-auto-insurance-policy)</p>

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<p>

That is exactly correct.</p>

<p>Occasional users (loaning to the girlfriend who doesn’t live with you) are covered under your insurance if the car is listed on the policy as insured.</p>

<p>Members of your household (the girlfriend/daughter/son/whoever) who DOES live with you are not insured under your policy for an insured vehicle, unless that member is specifically listed on the policy.</p>

<p>That allows the insurer to determine an appropriate premium based on everyone’s driving records.</p>

<p>That is also why my D can borrow her friends’ cars on occasion without us needing to carry her on our insurance, but why I have to put her back on our policy when she’s home.</p>

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<p>My son has his car covered in MA, also with Amica. I have him as a 1 per cent driver on my car. Even if he drives my car 2days a year, I feel at peace. Whatever you do, check with your insurance agent.</p>

<p>I was hit by a driver with minimal insurance. I used up whatever her policy would pay within a week. Thankfully, I have uninsured coverage that will pay for my doctors, P.T., and possible surgery.</p>

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<p>Wow, so much to think about. We just had our agent get us auto insurance. She got us a policy just naming H & me as drivers for our 3 vehicles, even though she knows & has been informed that our kids DO drive when they are home visiting us for vacations and breaks. Our premiums are very low.</p>

<p>We are trying to figure out what to do about D’s insurance. We’re probably going to ship the car to her & transfer title to her, since our policy would be totally ineffective in CA, where she attends school & plans to live for a few years. Have heard that they are cracking down on out-of-state vehicles, issuing tickets and fines if you don’t re-register in their state (possibly to help with the state deficit). In any case, the statute says that you are a resident if you “rent or own a residence.” D will definitely be renting an apartment, so don’t want her hassled or fined by police & told her she has to register.</p>

<p>We’re planning on getting the maximum liability policy, especially uninsured & underinsured coverage, since they are so many of both everywhere, especially LA!</p>

<p>AAA in LA does have a DMV where you can register & get smog-checking, which is great since it’s right next to her apartment!</p>

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<p>For what it’s worth, it seems quite a few states have sample premiums listed on a government site, where it lists the major auto insurance companies & sample quotes for you to be able to compare and get some idea of the range of prices. I have found tables with sample premiums for HI, CA & VA. It’s good for a baseline to figure out which companies we might want to start with. Some states also list complaints resolved regarding these auto insurance carriers. It looks like USAA is faring pretty well for those 3 states, so we may decide to go with them for D & that will allow S to get covered under them as well.</p>

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<p>What a timely thread for me! D is moving to Chicago this week and will be giving us back our car. She will car-less, and I wondered how the insurance thing works when she comes home once in a blue moon and drives our car. </p>

<p>The next step for her is to ask her employer about car rentals … she needs to let them know that she will no longer have her own insurance.</p>

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<p>Have just gotten conflicting info from different sources about insurance and whether college kid can have it when they move away with vehicle to college. The insurance claims person said yes while the agent who got our quotes said no, that insurer has DENIED claims made under those circumstances.</p>

<p>I’m erring on the side of caution and will buy D her own insurance with an insurer licensed in CA.</p>

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<p>HImom,</p>

<p>When our kids went to school with a car, our insurance agent said they would be covered, but the cars had to be registered and licensed in our state. It does run afoul of many states’ requirements since many require that you register them in their state after a certain length of time (some states do have school exceptions, which cops don’t always know about). Another problem we ran into, was one son was given a warning because his name wasn’t on the insurance card (I think it was bogus). Future problems were solved by having our agent create a insurance card with their name on it with each renewal. The kids haven’t had any accidents, so I don’t know if any claims would be denied.</p>

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<p>It seems to be more peace of mind if you KNOW claims will be paid if there are any. CA seems to require that you get your car registered in their state within about 20 days or can face significant fines & penalties. Would prefer to do that and not have our kid hassled, ticketed or “warned.” Our insurance agent is the one that is called when people make claims & have problems with insurer. I figure we’re best off following her advice so we don’t have “surprises” and lack of coverage when it’s needed.</p>

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<p>Being from Alaska, we have to be careful doing anything that might affect residency. Washington is similar with the length requirement (30 days I believe), but we found there was an exception for students. Doesn’t mean they didn’t get hassled about it. It’s probably best for you to go that route, as California is different.</p>

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<p>CA also has a penalty if you don’t register your vehicle in CA within a short 2 weeks after it arrives in CA. It seems safest & best to not have kiddo hassled to just comply with the 2 week requirement.</p>

<p>For us, unfortunately it APPEARS we will have to re-register the vehicle here before we ship it to D in CA & have her re-register it there. We want to put new tires on her car before we ship it, so that will delay when it gets shipped.</p>

<p>We are probably going to get D her own insurance now & then ship the car, transferring ownership to her in CA & having her the driver there. At this point, looks like we’ll use USAA for the carrier, which is one of the few carriers who can sell policies nationwide. As a side benefit, once we get insurance, S & D will be able to buy their own policies.</p>

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<p>

Generally, you cannot get insurance without a car to insure! And the person who is the “named insured” must have an ownership or financial interest in the car; I’m not certain she can buy insurance on a car that she doesn’t own or lease.</p>

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<p>USAA said she can be insured–we will co-insure her & me on that car & then have it shipped & transferred to her name only, with insurance on her only. That seems to be the cleanest way to move forward. Really don’t want a hassle if a claim is made in CA and have the insurer suddenly decide their coverage DOESN’T EXTEND to her there.</p>

<p>It will cost more to do all of these things correctly so that it works out, but not that big of a hassle. S will be happy because after we purchase USAA with D then he will also be eligible to purchase USAA with them.</p>