My primary vehicle is in the process of being re-motored and it looks like it is going to be down for two weeks total. I took another vehicle out of mothballs to use until it is repaired.
In the past, my insurance company would upon notification, change the liability over to the temporary vehicle. Now they tell me that I have to purchase a completely different policy.
My question is: My state mandated liability policy covers me for any vehicle I happen to be driving, even if it is a neighbors rig.
Why do I have to insure two vehicles separately and what would the result be if I were to be involved in an accident with the second vehicle if it is not named on my proof of insurance? Is this a common insurance scam?
I am aware of the availability of named driver policies but cannot get that coverage because I use the rig for business purposes.
You’ve left a bit of information out of your question. Do you drive OTR trucks for a living? Auto policies fall into two general catagories, personal and commerical. Commerical auto policies are much more flexable. If you drive for business and you own the business this may be a good move for you.
However it sounds like you are insured under a personal auto policy. In general personal auto policies are very clear they primarly insure you and others driving the vehicles listed on your policy. If you are using another vehicle as a temporary replacement your liabilty coverage usually extends to cover you for the temporary use of that vehcile. Exclusions in the policy exist to preclude coverage for use of any vehilce you own but is not listed on the policy.
This is because the premium you are charges is based in large part upon the number and type of vehicles you own and drive regularly. The insurance company wants to know in advance what kind of risk they are getting into. There’s a big differnce in the driving styles of car owners For example sports cars verses 4 door sedans. Little sporty cars go faster, quicker and are as a group involved in more accidents than sedans. Thus they cost more to insure.
Can you tell I work in insurance.
I’m confused as to why you’d have to get a seperate policy for your spare car. Why type of vehicle is your primary vehicle and what do you drive it for?
Thanks for your reply Jimson, I use a Chevy astro van for business. It is the only vehicle I use. I have an older astro van that I have kept around for parts which is the vehicle I am now driving for another week or so, when it will return to the bone yard.
It is a personal policy and I drive the vehicle 100% for business which the insurer is aware of.
Come on folks, I know there are more insurance people out there! I really need to know if I need to have a separate policy. I probably can’t directly name my insurance company but I think their mascot is a gecko.
Talk about simulpost Jimson, I waited all night and most of today for a response and you answered while I was re-pleading.
The point is, I don’t want to add another vehicle to my insurance permanantly, I only want the insurance to transfer for the short time I need it while the original is in the shop. Adding a second vehicle to my policy is EXPENSIVE.
I talked to my insurance agent & he said that any NEW car I get is automatically insured for 30 days, no extra charge. He doesn’t use anything like a Gekko…More like a big agricultural name.
What I don’t get is why do I need to insure for two cars, when I can only drive one at a time?
Maybe the insurance company wants a new policy to add the mothballed car so that they can assess its value in the event there is a collision claim. I think most policies state the value or cost of each.
Suggestion: call other insurance companies & see what they say. You might want to change if you get a better deal. Or it might give you leverage to tell your current company that you are considering taking your business elsewhere because company Z gives you what you want.
Howdy Violet, I only carry Liability insurance. No colisioion, no comprehensive, only state mandated liability.
I don’t think I am being understood here. I am asking if liability insurance covers the vehicle or the driver.
Like Handy said, I can only drive one vehicle at a time, why do I have to insure both with liability?
As I indicated above, the insurance company used to just change the liability over when something like this occured in the past. Now they want each to be covered seperately. I don’t want to pay six months liability on a second vehicle that I only intend to use for two weeks.
I don’t know if this is true everywhere, but my insurance mainly covers the car. It might cover me if I drive the neighbor’s uninsured car, but it definitely covers the neighbor driving my car.The only way I could do what you want to do (switch the coverage temporarily to a vehicle being taken out of mothballs) would be to also transfer the license plates from one car to another, but between the transferring the plates and insurance and having the cars inspected when the plates are transferred, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble for two weeks.Assuming that you don’t have to go through the whole plates and inspection thing, what exactly did the insurance company refuse to do? Did you say you wanted to remove your primary vehicle from the policy and replace it with the temporary one, or did you want to leave the primary vehicle on the policy and also have the temporary one covered? While it’s true that you can only drive one vehicle at a time, that doesn’t mean that only one vehicle can be driven at a time.
If you add your second car to the policy and then delete it two weeks later you should only pay for two weeks of coverage, not six months. If your insurer wants you to pay for the whole six you should tell them to cram it and find a new insurer.