My daughter (age 18) is in need of a car. If we add a third car to our insurance, can all drivers be considered equal on use of the car vs. a primary driver? And, should her name appear on the registration?
Ask your insurance provider.
This. I was asked several very specific questions about the percentage of use by certain family members. It was apparent that I would pay more if I said that “every family member” uses all cars equally.
I should reword the question: BEFORE I talk to my insurance guy… Would insurance be less expensive if my daughter’s name did not appear on the registration? Does it make any difference at all? Note: She will be the primary driver of this third car.
We did this at the beginning of the year. We found the cheapest option was for our son to own the car and carry his own insurance. Our State Farm guy ran all the numbers for us. Our son ended up finding insurance through Progressive.
Insure the car, not the driver.
Depends on which state you’re in and which insurance you have. Talk to one or more insurance companies first, before you register the car.
Hint: everyone is wise to the scam of trying to hide the fact a young driver is driving the car from the insurance company in hopes of paying less. Tell the truth, and find the carrier that offers the best deal on the truth of your particular situation.
Anecdote: many years ago in Las Vegas I was involved in a collision where some teens ran a red light and crashed into my car. Turned out their car was registered to the kid’s grandma who lived across town. But the teen was the only person who ever drove it and it was bought by the parents specifically for the kid’s sole use.
At the time my wife was a fairly senior attorney for the biggest prestige law firm in town. Their insurance company paid us after some “persuasion” then turned around and sued the parents for all of it. After cancelling their insurance for fraud.
The good news was the only injuries were in the kids’ car and they weren’t severe. Their older car was totaled and my older car was moderately damaged. They could have been looking at several crippled teens in their car and two injured or dead high earners in our car. That would’ve bankrupted them for sure.
Don’t go there.
Pays to check with the insurance company, my son wasn’t insured if he drove my Mustang.
Conversely, adding our son’s car cost another $100 and change whereas insuring him separately would have been more like $200/mth. He benefits from being on a multiple car plan plus having our homeowners insurance through the same company.
Was this because YOU wanted it that way, or at least were willing to accept this condition in return for a lower premium? I’ve been with three different insurance companies since my kids started driving, and none ever even mentioned that it was an option to limit car use by driver.
This situation is one where you really need to work with a good agent. There are probably different ways to handle it, with different companies. With the companies I’ve had, I don’t think registration made any difference. But each driver was considered to be the primary driver of a particular vehicle. And it generally made sense to have the youngest driver primary for the oldest/least valuable/slowest vehicle. I ended up switching insurance companies when my second son got his license because the rate went up so much. Apparently, different insurance companies “dislike” young drivers more than other companies.
This was in the early 90’s and I was told that they wouldn’t insure my son if he drove the Mustang GT, he was 16 and had just got his license. Honestly, I really didn’t want him driving it anyway. He got coverage to drive it a couple of years later.
It depends on the Insurance company and likely the state.
In GA, we had Liberty Mutual. When we added our 16 yr old, she had a car that she would drive, but we were not planning on letting her drive except for a rare need.
LM required that she be primary on one of the cars since we had 3 cars and 3 drivers. Since I had to put her as primary on one, I choose the one she would be driving and then she was insured to drive all (could not exclude her from any).
We later moved to Progressive. With them in GA, you insure the cars and the drivers. You can say if the car is used for commuting or just occasionally, but you do not insure the driver for a particular car. You do put a primary driver on a car, but it says they must be on the registration and that is only my wife and me.
I would definitely check with different insurers and see what they require.
I bought a third card and My State Farm agent told me that I could be listed as primary driver on two cars. My 17-year-old daughter was listed as a driver but making me primary kept the rates lower.
I don’t know what benefit there would be of registering the car in her name. I don’t know if you can add the car to your policy if the car is not registered to you.
Your insurance agent can give you much better answers than anyone here can.
OP’s kid is 18. In most US states you can’t sue parents for the actions of an 18 yr old but can in case of a 17 yr old.
Therefore it might make a difference in case of an 18 yr old if the car was also in their name, to prevent any other avenue for suing the parents.
AINAL. But when I was in that situation (kid over 18, I could give them our older car or just let them drive it) I went with giving the car. I didn’t figure some difference in car insurance rate was going to outweigh giving somebody an additional avenue to sue me, especially since the basic reality was going to be that the kid mainly drove that car. If the kid was only occasionally going to drive that might be different; how much in the way of assets vulnerable to lawsuits one has might be also. And obviously professional advice is needed for a sure answer.
This is one of the things our agent mentioned when we were trying to figure all this out. He owns the car and carries the insurance. We’re not a factor if there is an accident. He doesn’t have any assets to sue for.
Also since our son’s car is a 2002 Dodge Neon we only paid $2k for, he’s carrying liability only.
I get the impression you think just presenting the question to the insurance agent will end up costing you more. I don’t think that’s the case. Instead, I believe they will be able to advise you objectively and without raising your premiums.
You should note that the insurer may be within its rights to cancel your policy if you fraudulently list a primary driver as an occasional driver to get a premium reduction.
In some US states (Florida in particular) you can sue anyone who drives your car with your permission under the dangerous instrumentality doctrine. In many states, parental liability for the actions of a child is dependent on dependency (so to speak), rather than age.
Whether it is the car or the driver that is insured depends on state law. About half the states require that insurance “travel” with the driver.
If it’s an independent agent, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t try to get the kid insured with a minimal premium increase (some sort of premium increase in inevitable when insuring a young driver and an additional vehicle).
Even if it’s a company agent, there’s no reason the agent wouldn’t tell you the cheapest way to sign up the kid on your policy. It’s their job to help you navigate this.
Do get some kind of insurance. If an uninsured driver lives with you and uses your car with your permission, you are liable. And if the driver is your child and doesn’t own their own (insured) car, the courts will typically assume the driver had your permission to drive the car.
And if you didn’t inform your insurance company of this driver in advance, yes, they can charge you with fraud should anything happen.
In 2, that’s what I meant. You may be on the hook for an accident your ‘adult’ kid has driving a car registered to you, almost surely less so if the car is registered to them. For a 17yr old it’s less likely to matter since you may still be held responsible for their action in their car. So there’s more reason to register a 18 yr old’s car in their name not yours. Assuming the threshold is 18, I believe in a few US states it’s higher/lower.
- I agree, even setting aside ethics, if it’s effectively the kid’s car, it doesn’t make sense IMO to pretend otherwise to save a bit on premiums but give the insurance company an ‘out’ on paying a liability claim.
Yeah, I’ve always found insurance agents to be helpful in figuring out how to structure everything in the best way. They want your business, and will assist you, short of doing something unethical or deceitful. As I said, I switched insurance companies and agents several times as my life situation changed and other companies became better fits. You have to shop around and tell the truth to the agents and let them help you. Each insurance company does things a little differently.