My friend Michelle is living as roommates with a father and daughter, Andy and Becky.
Michelle has a license in good standing, but doesn’t have a car. Andy has a car, but not a license in good standing (he had parking tickets he couldn’t pay, so his license was suspended.) Becky is 17 and still only has a learner’s permit.
Andy takes the risk of continuing to drive the car, because he works all the way across town and taking the bus would add 3 hours each way to his commute - it’s a choice between driving illegally and not being able to be a parent. Yes, Los Angeles public transit really is that sucky. Michelle mostly works from home and just takes the bus when she needs to get somewhere.
Andy just re-upped the insurance on the car, and Michelle found out that she had been put onto the policy as an occasional driver. Andy explained that this was in case Michelle needed to borrow the car in an emergency.
Michelle is worried about this because she thinks that this makes her partially liable for the vehicle - that if Andy gets pulled over, the “points” from his traffic ticket will be put on her license since she is the only actual licensed driver assigned to the car*. This would be true even if she wasn’t in the vehicle at the time.
I don’t think this is the case - it seems weird to give the points to someone who just happens to sometimes drive the car, rather than adding them to Andy’s license and making it even harder for him to drive legally - but she’s adamant and worried.
Does anyone know the truth of the situation? And if I’m right and the points can’t go on her license, how can I prove it to her?
*the car would also be towed and Andy would probably be taken to jail for the night, too, but that’s irrelevant for Michelle’s purposes.
Pay a licensed California attorney specializing in traffic cases to make a statement. That’s the only proof that you can rely on.
Or, you could google and check the statutes yourself. Last I checked, the driver the cops catch is always the one responsible, no matter what, but who knows. Traffic laws are not quite treated the same by the courts as other laws.
Listing someone as a driver on an insurance policy is strictly internal to the insurance company. The state government has no way of knowing that she’s listed on the policy, so there’s definitely no way that could cause her any problems in that regard.
If I were in her shoes, though, I’d definitely want to talk to the insurance agent. If Andy’s license is suspended, she may not be listed as an additional driver but as the primary driver. That means that if there were some kind of accident, she wouldn’t have to worry about points on her license but it could create a major black mark on her records in the various systems the insurance companies use to determine insurability and rates.
In general, points get added to the drivers license of the person who is driving at the time- that’s why camera violations don’t incur points. Is it posssible that Michelle is somehow confusing points for moving violations with tickets for camera offenses ( like speeding at red lights ) or parking violations? Those can’t be attributed to a driver, so the registrant/owner of the car is often held responsible for payment of the fine - but it’s the registrant/owner of the car that is responsible (not someone simply listed as a driver on the insurance policy) , there aren’t any points, and any enforcement is against the registration of the car, not anyone’s drivers license.
IME, it would be unusual for whatever entity is assessing points to even know who is listed on the insurance as a driver. Typically, the policyholders name is on the proof of insurance and any additional drivers are only listed on the actual policy documents.
The only way to prove it to her will be to email or call the department of motor vehicles. I suspect the reason Andy put her on the policy becasue his insurance company wouldn’t renew the policy without at least one currently licensed driver - but that’s a completely separate issue from his points going onto her license.