The lady who works for my agent tells me she can as long as I have an insurable interest in my daughter’s car and she is our dependent.
Does anyone have anything basic to add based on knowledge of the industry or personal experience?
Then it comes down to the definition of dependent… is it strictly a matter of whether or not she is on my tax return?
And if so, how does the fact that I won’t file my 2012 return until 4/15/13 affect things.
I don’t deal in auto insurance, but with regard to dependent status, it is normally viewed on a calendar year basis. It doesn’t really matter when you file your return. So if you are claiming your daughter as a dependent in 2012 but not in 2013, then she would cease being a dependent on 1/1/13.
Disclaimer: the real answer will depend on laws in your home state and what your policy says
Insurance follows the vehicle. If you give someone–relative, friend, total stranger with certain exceptions–permission to drive your car, there is coverage.
It also follows you (in most cases). If I’m driving your car and cause a wreck, my policy can kick in while yours rests on its laurels until it’s needed.
However: If your daughter has her own life, her own job and her own roof you might have roblems if the car is garaged at her residence for her regular use. In that case, you really want to cut the cord and have her get her own insurance. Most coverage cases are simple–the policy either obviously applies or it obviously doesn’t. If there is any gray area, you can’t go wrong naming all interested parties (owners & frequent drivers) on the policy.
Basically, whether or not your policy covering your car that is registered/titled in your name will work for her is based on how the circumstances are interpreted. Some companies are more liberal with their interpreteations of circumstances than others. Your tax return may/may not enter into the equation.
There’s your pig answer. Where are you, what is the situation with your daughter–does she live with you? Is she a student living outside your home? Is she living on her own but driving your car? What?
My duaghter lives with us, is not a dependent and owns a car in her own name. My insurance company has our cars and her car on the same policy, and we sometimes drive each other’s cars. As long as she lives with us, it’s fine. When she moves out, she will have to get her own policy.
Y insurance company’s MMV.
In talking with a few folks that have children of driving age, the general word that I get for both NH & MA insurance (which really can’t be more different, but in this case, the same rules apply), is that all family members who drive, must be listed on all policies to be covered.
For example, a kid can’t be listed on a '88 Ford Festiva that they use as their every day car, and expect to be covered if they borrow Dad’s 2011 Porsche. When they have a residence of their own, they magically become covered if they DO borrow that same Porsche, subject to the “follow rules” as detailed above.
And in NY, as long as the kid either lives with me, or is temporarily living away at college, he would be covered as long as the Festiva and the Porsche are covered on the same policy, just like my husband and I are covered when we drive each other’s cars. Of course, I expect my premium on the Porsche would be higher than it would be if the kid didn’t have a license. If the kid had a separate policy, that would be a different story. In that case, if he lived with me would only be covered if i specifically listed him on my policy as a driver, and again, the premiums would take that into account.
What it really comes down to is whether the insurance company know the kid exists and might be driving the Porsche. If he’s listed on the policy covering the Porsche, they know.
I forgot to mention that our daughter will be going to grad school so her independence is kind of a gray area … to me at least.
I’m surprised that no one has any experience with the issue of the definition of a “dependent” since that is clearly what my insurance person focused on. You’d think that the issue would be spelled out more clearly…I’ll have to pull out my policy.
Michigan is the state BTW. As for the car we are going to help her buy one and will be on the title too.
Your policy is exactly where it is spelled out. It’ll be in DEFINITIONS in the first few pages. Another thing you’ll find is the absence of language addressing this issue.
The reason it’s an issue at all is to prevent Responsible Bob from buying a car and insuring it for a very reasonable premium, and then letting his pal, Tipsy Tammy, drive it on a “permanent loan” basis. The real exposure is Tammy–who has a history of accidents, and not Bob–who hasn’t had so much as a tow bill in 30 years. The insurer might never have agreed to write a policy for Tammy because she’s such a horrible risk. This is gaming the system and it’s not going to fly.
Kids (notoriously irresponsible people) who live with their parents have basically unlimited access to the family’s cars and the insurance company knows this. The premium is more expensive, but there’s rarely a question about whether or not coverage will apply.
The semi-emancipated kid at school is somewhere between the two scenarios. Personally, if there’s any way I can show the kid still has reasonably strong ties to the named insured (returns for the summer, rent and bills are largely paid by the named insured, etc) then I’m not going to question coverage. And even when I can’t I usually do what I can to protect my insured and then let underwriting know they need to reevaluate the household so we’re charging appropriately for our exposures.
Nixing coverage is a shitty business, and it’s not one something to be done lightly. Not where I work, at least. On the other hand, once the emergency has been taken care of I have no problem with cancellations or rate hikes because those generally make sense to lay people.
I guess what I’d recommend is: put your daughter’s name ON THE POLICY covering the car she typically drives. No questions that way.
Wife and I have three cars in the family and our 30 year old daughter lives with us. Each of us is listed as a a primary driver on the three cars. Daughter does not own any of the cars.
Daughter is listed as co-owner of car (and loan) with estranged husband and he must carry her on his policy until they divorce.
Is that different from listing her as a legal driver and advising them when she is the main driver of a particular car now being “garaged” in a particular state?
We did the latter last summer when our two daughters had cars during summer internships. During the school year they don’t have cars.
I am trying to keep our rates low and I know when you are under 25 it is cheaper to stay on your parents insurance. So my question is, Can your daughter stay on your insurance if she is married and under 25? And can her husband be on her parents insurance as well? What if they said they “live” with the daughter’s parents?