Uninsured driver driving insured car...is he insured?

[crayonblue]

I've tried googling but I'm confused. I always thought that the driver and the vehicle HAVE to be insured but the parties in question are insisting that the driver doesn't have to be insured, just the car. Not that they will listen to me but I would like to know what exactly is the truth!

So, here's the situation:

X who is uninsured (not on any insurance plan) is driving family member Z's car (which is insured under Z's car insurance). If X has a wreck, what happens?

[ellies mom]

Usually Z's insurance would pay for the wreck unless it was specified in the policy that X can't drive it. I don't know how much an X has to drive the car to require being added to a policy and I think under 21 (or is it 18) year old drivers are considered differently. I do know that a policy can specify that X cannot drive the car but I don't know how common that is.

So for the average, borrowing a car or someone else driving, Z's insurance would cover the accident.

[nrp]

The policy is tied to the vehicle - so in your case Z's insurer would cover the accident. Of course, I guess policies are all different, so I suppose Z's policy could be really restrictive and only cover particular drivers, but I don't think that's the norm. OTOH, if Z had a policy on his car but was driving another car that was uninsured, then I don't think his policy would likely cover anything (certainly not damage to the car he was driving, but maybe liability? I still think not - I think it's a special provision that extends coverage to rental cars).

[cckwmh]

I think it varies on state laws, because in Mass. if X has the same legal address as Z, he must be on the car insurance (of the car) to be covered. X would be as an addition driver, but not as the primary driver. But if they have different addresses, X is covered.

[ThreeofUs]

It's by state. Call your ins co to find out. (And if you've had an accident, call your ins co and tell them what's going on and they'll get a lawyer on it.)

[Toba]

Back when we were living together but unmarried (18 or 19 years ago), we tried to get a joint policy because we traded cars all the time. Our state (NJ) wouldn't allow it. Each car has to be insured under the owner's name and joint policies are only for married couples. I suppose you could add someone else to the policy as a driver, but I don't think it's done that way here. I don't remember being added to my parents' policy when I turned 17 and got my license either. This could have changed since then. Right now, both cars that we own are in DH's name, but our insurance policy lists both of us as joint policy holders. My dad tried to get a separate policy from my mother (who had a few offenses on her license that was raising their rates through the roof) a few years ago, but wasn't allowed ... it had to be a joint policy because they were/are married.

If I was driving my dad's truck for some reason and got into an accident, I'm pretty certain that it would fall back onto my and DH's policy. In NJ you have to have coverage for under insured drivers, which I think is mandatory for every policy, no matter if it's just a basic liability policy or a comp and collision policy. When I was in a bad wreck years ago, my attorney sued the other driver first and got that settlement, and then sued my own insurer under the under insured drivers part because the jerk that hit me didn't have enough insurance. So I got a settlement from both insurance policies.

[vonfirmath]

The policy is tied to the vehicle - so in your case Z's insurer would cover the accident. Of course, I guess policies are all different, so I suppose Z's policy could be really restrictive and only cover particular drivers, but I don't think that's the norm. OTOH, if Z had a policy on his car but was driving another car that was uninsured, then I don't think his policy would likely cover anything (certainly not damage to the car he was driving, but maybe liability? I still think not - I think it's a special provision that extends coverage to rental cars).

Depends on X's age too. When I was living with a friend, I could not drive her car until after I was 25 because her insurance only covered drivers over that age.

[ellies mom]

If I was driving my dad's truck for some reason and got into an accident, I'm pretty certain that it would fall back onto my and DH's policy.

Several years back, I rear-ended someone in my boyfriend's car and his insurance not mine covered the accident. It never even registered on my policy even though I was at fault.

[crayonblue]

X is 30. He has the car in his possession and it will be his car (from what I understand). So, he will be driving it daily.

[crayonblue]

I think it varies on state laws, because in Mass. if X has the same legal address as Z, he must be on the car insurance (of the car) to be covered. X would be as an addition driver, but not as the primary driver. But if they have different addresses, X is covered.

Different addresses. It's in Texas.

[BillK]

Permissive use is covered unless there is a named driver exclusion in place on the policy for X.

If it's a daily driver and he has possession he needs to get the title changed and get it insured in his own name if it's truly going to be "his" car. Most insurers arent fond of covering X for daily use if they don't know squat about him unless it's just a temporary situation.

I know I wouldn't want my name on the title of a vehicle with my assets and insurance at stake for anyone but a household member.

[fivi2]

I don't remember all the actual rules, so take this fwiw.
My mom left an old car here for her use when she visited. We (very) occasionally drove it to keep it in shape - at that point it was still on her insurance without us being named.
We had a car issue and had to start driving hers daily - we transferred title to us, registered it here, and changed insurance to ours. (we are in texas, she is not).

[crayonblue]

Permissive use is covered unless there is a named driver exclusion in place on the policy for X.

If it's a daily driver and he has possession he needs to get the title changed and get it insured in his own name if it's truly going to be "his" car. Most insurers arent fond of covering X for daily use if they don't know squat about him unless it's just a temporary situation.

I know I wouldn't want my name on the title of a vehicle with my assets and insurance at stake for anyone but a household member.

OK, makes sense! I was wrong about him needing to be insured in order to drive the car at all but I do think it would be VERY wise to switch everything to him.

[crayonblue]

I don't remember all the actual rules, so take this fwiw.
My mom left an old car here for her use when she visited. We (very) occasionally drove it to keep it in shape - at that point it was still on her insurance without us being named.
We had a car issue and had to start driving hers daily - we transferred title to us, registered it here, and changed insurance to ours. (we are in texas, she is not).

Sounds like that is the wisest thing to do. We were in a situation a few years ago where a friend left his car with us when he went to Afghanistan for 18 months. He "sold" his car to us for a minimal amount and we changed all of the info to us. When he came back we "sold" it back to him. It was actually one of the most generous things anyone has done for us. He knew we only had one car at the time and called and asked if we would like to use his car while he was gone. We said sure, having absolutely no idea how old/what shape the car was in. He dropped off a fairly new car with only a couple of thousand miles on it. :)

[kijip]

X is 30. He has the car in his possession and it will be his car (from what I understand). So, he will be driving it daily.

Most insurance companies want the address where the car is parked nightly. Since I assume he is not returning it to the owner and insured every night, and because he is using the car daily rather than short use borrowing, then he really needs to be on a policy for the vehicle. If he is trying to get out of being the insured due to credit or accident history, the company could consider the whole arrangement to invalidate the policy.

[Multimama]

X is 30. He has the car in his possession and it will be his car (from what I understand). So, he will be driving it daily.

Most policies that include drivers not listed on the policy require that they be "occasional drivers." Since it sounds like X is not an occasional driver in this case, the insurance company would almost certainly be within their rights to deny him coverage if he were in an accident. It wouldn't be too hard to prove that the car was regularly parked at his residence, etc. Insurance companies have investigators that do this work and the end result could be they won't cover a thing. For a small accident he might get lucky and they wouldn't check up on the situation, but if the claim was big, they would.

ETA: That's my understanding as someone who doesn't work in insurance. ;)

[Toba]

I know I wouldn't want my name on the title of a vehicle with my assets and insurance at stake for anyone but a household member.

Amen!!!