<p>Greetings. I’m wondering if the “legal” types on the board could shed some light on an issue that has arisen for us. Attorney has strongly suggested that the cars that the kids drive (D, 21; S, 18) be put soley in their names to protect against ugly litigation/settlements in the case of an “at fault” accident. We are strongly considering doing so to protect our assets. The insurance co, however, suggested that if the kids are still in college, under our medical ins, etc, that the separate title and separate insurance coverage would not necessarily protect us. I’m not sure about the case law in this area and thought I would toss it out for other input before we make our final decision – putting the titles in their names would result in separate auto coverage that would be somewhat more expensive than the umbrella coverage we have now but we don’t want to be penny wise…</p>
<p>All thoughts/experience/legal insights are welcome.</p>
<p>I am not a lawyer but I can comment that our D, 18, has a car which is registered to us and she is on the insurance. The insurance is much less expensive this way. We have a good umbrella policy that covers any problems you mention. The umbrella is less expensive than the extra insurance for registering the car to DD.</p>
<p>Our insurance agent recommended putting the title in our S’s name. It made no difference in our insurance rates since they didn’t ask about the titles.</p>
<p>hmm … interesting advice. I am not a lawyer but I was sued once for an accident I caused. The accident was while I was in HS and the law suit was filed when I was (paying my own way though) college. When we met my lawyer I made a joke (hey, I was about 20) about I hoped I lost since my net worth was about -$20k maybe if I lost I’d get back to $0 … the lawyer didn’t exactly laugh and politely explained that the settlement could be attached to future expected earnings. That’s why I find the advice interesting … depending on your situation as parents and your child’s prospects … which makes more sense to put at risk could depend. Again, I am not a lawyer but whose car it was did not seem to be the issue but who the driver was (I would guess if the issue was not the driver but something failing with the car than who has title on the car could matter).</p>
<p>Our insurance agent said that if my S wants to drive at his U in CA (while we live in HI), he has to have the car registered in his name & get a CA insurance policy as the HI policy won’t apply to CA. He’s 21 & I believe the policy will be VERY expensive. We’re trying to discourage S from driving in CA, but don’t know how things will evolve.</p>
<p>We told S he has to find out what the ropes are & get insurance quotes & plan a budget to pay all auto-related expenses including insurance before we can consider the issue seriously. S driving in LA is not a prospect I relish as he’s done very little driving even in HI.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments. To date, the kids’ cars have been in our name and the insurance costs are lower but the issue has to do with protecting the parents’ assets. I had not heard about the issue of future assets of the insured – both will be teachers so that well won’t be deep!</p>
<p>Any other thoughts from legal eagles would be great.</p>
<p>We did title the cars to each child, for the reasons mentioned above. They were then removed from our policy, making our premiums very low. They were able to be insured separately, through our company, yet listed as residents of our household. This meant their premiums increased, but not nearly as much as if they had been totally independent. They still qualified for all of our discounts–multi car, multi policy, financial stability, long-term customer, etc.</p>
<p>There has also been a big benefit we didn’t completely foresee. Now that they have a much more vested interest, i.e.–they know <em>their</em> premiums will increase greatly for an at-fault accident, etc. they are much, much more careful, both with their driving and never letting anyone else, including often each other, drive their cars.</p>
<p>We had heard the same thing as the OP, including that if they were our dependent the insurance company would NOT insure them separately.</p>
<p>HImom, I think that may depend on the company, my parents had one of the state ones (Allstate/State Farm) and could not live in state A with a car registered in State B (they were in the middle of a move that was taking way longer than expected) whereas USAA has no issue with our family being in various states and countries and cars being registered where they consider home all on the same policy</p>
Depends on the state. Some may be longer, some shorter.</p>
<p>If you put the cars in the kids’ names, and they have their own insurance policies, make sure that they also get umbrella coverage that will cover in excess of what the car insurance does.</p>
<p>Parents should have that as well. We have the title to d’s car in our name, and insure it under our policy. Any major accident in excess of our auto coverage is then covered by our umbrella coverage that is on top of both homeowners and auto policy. Also, make sure that you follow whatever steps are necessary in your state to qualify for a homestead exception (or whatever it’s called in your state) that removes the primary residence from judgment holders.</p>
<p>The easier way to avoid the “ugly litigation/settlement” issue is not to worry about title, but to make sure that there is adequate auto & umbrella coverage for those situations. That is, after all, why you have insurance.</p>
<p>In New York, the owner and/or the operator of the vehicle is fair game for suit. Hence, if title remains in the parent’s name, he/she will get sued. The only way (at least in New York) to insulate oneself from liability like this, is to keep the title in the S or D name. They then need their own insurance policy which is quite costly for new drivers. The rates drop after about one year.</p>
<p>Our insurance company required us to have $250K/$500K limits on each of our cars before they would write the umbrella policy. That would up the cost of insurance for a kid.</p>
<p>Especially young men have very high insurance rates for their coverage, which is because so many of them do have less than mature judgment and as a class riskier behavior. It remains significantly high for several years until sometime in their 20s, I believe. If they are added as a driver to parents’ policy, I believe it isn’t nearly as high, but it may vary with insurance company.</p>
<p>We have been in trouble after S got into very bad accident in his dad’s car. D was given car ownership the day she turned 18. I am not sure if it matters before 18.</p>
<p>Bumping this back up. It looks like we’ll be sending an older 1992 BMW to LA after all. The insurance isn’t as high as we had thought because S has been driving for > 2 years and tho he had an accident, no one was hurt (only the other guy’s motorcycle). His grades are >3.5, so he gets the good student discount too. We were pleasantly surprised that insurance premiums for him were under $500/6 month policy for LA. We plan to get him an umbrella policy, “just in case.” Our mechanic says he believes the car is very sound & will be a good car for college students & young professionals (not too attractive for thieves & vandals due to age but sound and heavy so good protection in case of any accident).</p>
<p>Am still a bit confused about keeping the car in our name & leaving in as a HI vehicle vs. re-registering it in his name in CA. Any more thoughts about pros & cons? The new insurer is fine with whatever we prefer.</p>
<p>Would appreciate any thoughts about this issue as we’d like to weigh pros & cons.</p>
<p>HImom - driving in So Cal (you don’t mention where your S will be attending school) is quite frightening for experienced drivers, I can’t imagine having your S being a transplanted driver. SUV drivers flying around as if they’re in sports cars and lots of traffic all the time. Tell me again why he wants to drive here? I’d gladly give up my car if we had better public transportation.</p>
<p>Yea, I refuse to drive in LA myself and am concerned about him & D driving around their school (USC) or in CA at all, for that matter. They find it challenging to get around because public transportation isn’t great. He mainly wants to be able to get groceries & be able to get to interviews, job and camping. Wish there were more and better options.</p>
<p>Aw cmon he will get used to it. I transplanted for suburbs of CT years ago out to San Diego. Am now a crazy CA driver like the rest of them. Public transportation in LA sucks.<br>
Registering a car in CA is very pricey right now. Not sure how that compares to HI. HImom do you know how the money comes out with register in CA vs. HI? How old is the car? Will you need a smog to register in CA? Will it pass?</p>
<p>The car is a 1992 & the mechanic believes it should be fine passing any smog check. Registration in HI is probably under $200 (can’t recall). How much is CA registration these days?</p>
<p>S is somewhat directionally challenged, so I see a GPS in his future but will leave him to figure out which one he wants as he always criticizes my Magellan & I suspect he’ll end up with a Garmin. </p>
<p>His reflexes are pretty good and the only accident he’s had was when he somehow assumed he had the right of way making a left turn rather than the motorcycle coming down the hill that collided with him (fortunately no one was hurt). </p>
<p>He believes he’ll probably end up living in CA for a while to get EE experience but would ultimately prefer to resettle in HI if he can get a decent job & place to live.</p>