My current insurance company, Hartford, requires the auto policy to include the kids even if they’re in college out of state and don’t drive at all, as long as the address on their driver’s licenses remains the same. How do you handle this situation, and if you don’t have your kids on your policy, which insurance company do you use and recommend? Thanks!
I was surprised a couple of years ago when I finally checked out Geico after being sucked in by those cute ads. The online quote was less than half of what I was paying another company. I didn’t believe it, so I called Geico and went over the policy, comparing line for line. Not only have I saved a bundle, but their customer service and responsiveness have been impressive. And they let me take my kid off the policy when she’s not here. That cute green reptile ( or amphibian?) is a winner as far as I’m concerned!
Usually, insurance companies give a discount if the kid’s college is over a certain mileage away from the home. I know you said your child is out of state, but how many miles away are they?
Insurance is a state issue and a national insurer might have one rate in NJ but another in Kansas, but try Liberty Mutual. It gave me a (BIG) discount when kids were away at school.
When my daughter went to buy a car, they first ran it with just her on the loan and it was something like 5.5%, but if I was on the title as a co-buyer and co-borrower, the rate went to 2.99%. The big savings was in insurance. She was quoted something like $260/mo with less coverage if she owned the car, and it was only $110/mo for a second car added to my policy with her as the primary driver and located in another state (so the policy is actually written in Florida, while my policy is in colorado) The coverage is a lot better too with mine having what I usually carry of $100/300k rather than the state minimums on the other policy ($10k/50k?)
I left it up to her whether she wanted to own it outright or if she minded if I was on the car. She was cool with it, and with saving several hundred $$ a month.
On the other coast…as far away as possible…
We ended up with Mercury Insurance for S and USAA for D, both in LA. It worked out ok for us. We are in HI and our local I surer and Liberty Mutual wouldn’t write a CA policy.
State Farm was incredibly difficult. They did offer a small discount for student across the country not driving. It got to the point that we were going to drop her insurance- she was out of the country and not going to drive for a year. They said to drop her we would have to provide her cut up driver’s license and show proof on our tax return that we didn’t claim her as a dependent. (I was told that this was state mandated.)
We changed insurance companies. Got a small discount for good student & far away but primarily saved by keeping a “junker” car to declare as their primary vehicle. Car is rarely driven because one kid is in DC and the other in Amsterdam.
You can remove them from your policy, period. You do not have to provide any further information to the insurance company, They moved out on there own, they went to college, etc. none of this is required. However the insurance company will not let them come back on your policy and I wouldn’t have them driving your cars at all, even though it gets to be a grey area if they borrow the car and get into an accident.
^In NJ, you can’t take them off the policy if they live in the house, even though they’re away a school. That’s my understanding, anyway. If they have a license, they have to be on the insurance.
We never were able to get around that. Even if you fudged it, you’d be in a lot of trouble if they drove while home on break.
Progressive provides a big discount for college student away. They were also about 30% cheaper than State Farm for our family policy.
One thing to think about if you contemplate removing them as a driver. While they may be away at school, even out of the country, without a car that doesn’t mean they won’t drive. Kids borrow friends or roommates cars all the time at school and you want them to have liability coverage when driving. Yes the owner of the car’s insurance is primary you have no idea how much coverage they have or even if they have insurance at all. A state minimum limit of 24/40/10 is hardly enough if there is an accident and your child will become responsible for any losses over that amount and without your policy to fall back as secondary coverage is scary.
We all know that $20,000 goes awfully quick, even in a seemingly small accident. Would your child have another $20,000+ to pay out in the event of an accident? Keep in mind the judgement/responsibility would fall to them now that they are 18 and future wages can and will be garnished.
The more important thing to think about is uninsured motorist coverage. This covers you in any accident involving a car. On a college campus this comes in most often when a pedestrian is struck by a car. If your child has been removed from your policy and is hit while crossing the street (or riding a bike) they would have no UM coverage. Granted medical insurance will pay but that does not cover lost tuition (if have to withdraw), lost wages, etc. that the UM coverage will pick up.
The reason companies (and states) make deleting a driver so difficult is in the insurance contract and their definition of an insured. Most policies include as an insured any family member that lives with you or similar. While we all see a student away at school as not living with us the reality is their permanent address is home, DL address is home, claimed as a tax deduction, etc. speaks otherwise and that auto policy will be called upon to respond, even is the student is not listed as a driver. Damn lawyers.
Spoke to a Hartford supervisor today. Apparently, their policy on this matter is based on Hartford’s own underwriting guideline, not state regulation. I’m not sure what other insurance companies have the same policy, but it’s at least not universal.
I removed my kid from my policy when we lived in Florida. She still had a license but was heading to college and didn’t drive my car. Originally they’d told me it wouldn’t change my premium when she got a license, but it did, by a LOT, so they gave me a break for a few months and the I took her off. She did NOT drive my car.
My other child got her license about a month before going to college but can’t drive a manual so never drove my car and I never added her to the insurance. I moved and did add them to the Liberty Mutual policy when I changed insurers, and it didn’t cost much as they got the good student/away at college discounts.
We have State Farm. Never took them off because they would drive our cars when they were home on break and over the summers. But we did change the amount of mileage we would put on our cars and that saved us a bit. It wasn’t a big deal to us because State Farm was giving us very reasonable rates to begin with. We have all our insurance through them. Very happy with them.
My kid was in the Peace Corps in Africa, where she was actually not permitted to drive a car…at all. She was gone for 27 months.
It took an action fo god to get her off of our car insurance because she was a licensed driver in the state. We sent in tons of documentation and they finally understood, and agreed to take her off. But really…she was absolutely not going to be using a car or driving at all for 27 months.
Our insurance did an “away at school”discount that was for kids over 100 miles from home at college. IIRC, it saved us about $300 a year…per kid. Big deal.
My son had a car, and was under my insurance Geico while in HS. In September/October 2014, he went away to college (400 miles away) we sold his car and I kept him on my policy as a student away from home without a car. Geico would send a letter asking about his graduation date and status. He barely came home and when he did, he drove my car. He is graduating this summer, but he is also working so he leased a new SUV on his own, no co-signer, with VW Credit. Geico said he could not remain on my policy with the car not being garaged at my home and the car being in my son’s name. Geico gave him a great rate. $598 for full coverage for six months for 100/300/100 $500 deductible - so $100 a month for insurance which I think is pretty good for a 22 year old male in Northern California for a new $26K SUV. If I would have dropped him, from my insurance instead of keeping him on as an away student, I think he would have had higher rates just as he was starting to “adult.”