What are the laws regarding insurance coverage of vehicles with multiple drivers? What are the laws regarding coverage of a driver who is not on a vehicle’s insurance policy? Do most married couples with two cars pay double driver policies on each car, or single driver policies on each car? What happens when the uninsured spouse gets in an accident without the insured spouse being in the car? Does the scenario change if it is a friend or co-worker who borrows the car and then gets in an accident?
Mrs. WeHaveCookies and I currently only have one car, her car. We’re also, as usual, trying to cut as many expenses out of our budget as possible. We’re currently paying to insure both of us as drivers of our one car, using Safe Auto, for about twice as much as I have insured vehicles for just myself in the past with the same company. We just switched to this particular insurance company because our previous policy expired, and we may be moving out of state soon, and Safe Auto offers month-to-month coverage plans.
21st Century Insurance is running an ad campaign right now stating that one of the features of their policies is coverage for anyone who drives your car. Does this mean that we can switch to 21st Century and pay a lower, single person premium for Mrs. WHC, and still be covered if I happen to be driving during any accidents? Or do policies like this have fine print that say something akin to “anyone” referring to anyone except anyone who lives with you?
My Standard points:
Point #1: All this varies by state
Point #2: This varies by insurance company
Point #3: Married couples almost always have shared insurance so that they switch between cars at will with no problem. The policy is usually discounted because people tend to travel together sometimes.
Main Point: No one here can help you but an insurance agent can. That is whet they do for a living and they provide consultation for free. Shop around if something seems too high. Don’t skimp on liability insurance to save a few bucks. It isn’t worth it in the event of an accident that you were partially at fault (speaks from hard learned experience).
This is the Australian experience, but I’m guessing the principles are the same:
You generally don’t need to nominate second or third drivers, but you will need to if they are a higher insurance risk than you. Even if they’re not, it’s a good idea to do it anyway.
I’m currently driving a car that belongs to a twenty year-old (using it while she’s overseas). I’m 36 and have a good driving history, so I’m a lower risk. So we didn’t bother telling the insurance company, but in the reverse situation we’d have to.
Some insurance policies I’ve seen state that they will allow “occasional use” by a higher risk driver, and it’s quite strict - in the order of once a month or something. I can only imagine the hassles involved if you tried to claim on this.
Just about every insurance policy I’ve ever seen will say, in the fine print: “You do not need to tell us anything that lessens the risk. You must tell us anything that a reasonable person would construe as increasing the risk.” I always take that to mean - in the real world - just tell them everything and do it before the ignition key is ever turned. Never give an insurance company an inch.
Pretend I said in the OP that the state we were relocating to was California. Is there a handy link to read the applicable regulations?
Duly noted. I already know that Safe Auto doesn’t offer any coverage at all in CA.
Anyone heard of such options being available to domestic partners?
Duly noted as well.
I haven’t found the California fine print, but I did speak to an agent at 21st Century and asked him about “marriage coverage” options for domestic partners, and he said that we’d have to be registered as Domestic Partners with the state of California, and we’d have to be listed as co-owners on the vehicle’s title/registration, both of which can be done easily enough.
I’m originally from California, but I moved out of the state back in 1997. Living in Georgia as I have for the past 8 years, the only entity that has ever cared to make me file paperwork regarding domestic partnership status has been my employer, who offers domestic partnership benefits in spite of the lack of legal recognition of such relationships by the State of Georgia.
[begin IMHO rant]
Leaving California as a babydyke and moving back as “married” as I can be, I must say that it is %$#@!&*awesome to be moving out of Georgia and into a more socially progressive state. [/end IMHO rant]