Car Insurance VENT

[disneynutt1225]

DFi and I are moving in with my parents next week to help us save money to buy a house. Ok, great! Well, I've been shopping around for car insurance (we're going to be sharing one car) and I got a pretty good rate from State Farm. Neither one of us have had ANY violations or accidents in over 5 years, we've both had our own policies for 2 and 4 years respectively, so I thought we were doing pretty good.

Well, since we're moving in with my parents, the insurance company has to pull my parents driving record as well. To say it isn't stellar would be a severe understatement. In the last year my father has been involved in 4 accidents (not all his fault, we tell him his car is cursed). So, that's going to hurt my great rate. *sigh* I understand the thinking behind it, it's just frustrating.

 

[barkley]

unless the car will be available to the parent (authorized driver) it does'nt seem that their history should come into play.

it can make a difference between being engaged and being married (companies look at engaged the same as friends wanting to share a policy and some won't issue at all).

i would check with the insurance commission in your state-an adult who is self supporting and happens to reside in their parent's home does'nt nesc. have to include them in their policy (heck-once i turned 18 and my parents no longer claimed me as a tax write off i opted to get my own insurance cuz my parents had an overpriced company).

now if one or both of your parents have any type of legal entanglement with the car (lien holder, co-signer on loan...) it could be a whole different matter.

 

[disneynutt1225]

My parents driving record is in the equation because "hypothetically" since we're living in the same house they have access to my car - that's why they're affecting the cost of the policy. I think state law requires they be listed as authorized users because we live in the same household - I ran into the same problem in NJ when I had a roommate.

They're not on my lease - it's myself and DFi as co-signer.

The fact that DFi and I are engaged and not married hasn't been brought up as an issue at all.

Of course, I will be double checking with the state to see what the laws are. I just think it's stinky for lack of a better word.

 

[mrsstats]

I work in insurance on Long Island and yes, they will look at all operators in the household. Try calling an Independent Insurance agent as they have access to more than 1 company.

 

[DVC-Don]

When the company runs a check with DMV on you, the report will show all drivers at that address. Some violations will then trigger a cancellation even if the person with the bad record is insured with another company. Some companies are not as strict, but they generally charge more.

 

[WDWAurora]

Our insurance would not let us on the same policy until we could fax them copies of our marriage license. I would definitely check on that because we were told no by 2 different companies. We weren't even doing it that far in advance, we just the car to be on "our" insurance instead of my parents' policy when we went on our honeymoon. (So we were trying in July, getting married in August)

 

[aprilgail2]

unless the car will be available to the parent (authorized driver) it does'nt seem that their history should come into play.

.

You would think so wouldn't you?? When my brother lived here my car insurance went up because HE had tickets...now never in his life had he driven my car...in fact he couldn't drive a stick shift so he COULDN'T drive it but it didn't matter..they say if he has ACCESS to it then I get penalized...I was so glad when he moved out and changed his address!

 

[helenk]

I am not familiar with NY but in some states you can make other family members excluded drivers. I know PA and MD have this allowance. You certify that they will not drive your car, each party is listed separately as an excluded driver....if for some reason one of the excluded drivers does drive you car and has an accident, there would be no coverage.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

On my car insurance it specifically states the people living in my house who are not covered, so I do not pay for them. Now that my ds is old enough to get a drivers license I'm going to have to add him, but the insurance will still have my dd's name down as not being covered.

 

[disneynutt1225]

From what I understand, they're not covered by my policy at all - their driving records are just jacking up the cost of my policy because we all live in the same house. The agent was going to see what he could do for me and get back to me over the next couple of days. I have until Feb. 5 technically to really worry about it, so I'll call an independent agent in the meantime and see what they can do for me. Here's to hoping!

 

[goodeats]

What if you rented a room from a stranger? Would your insurance be dependent on their driving record?

 

[disneynutt1225]

What if you rented a room from a stranger? Would your insurance be dependent on their driving record?

If they were your landlord and not living there? No, it wouldn't depend on them.

I spoke to the agent, and it's only a few hundred dollars more because of my parents' bad record so we're going to go with them. It's basically the same amount we were paying in NJ for the two of us to be insured, so it's not like it's going to hurt us financially. Oh, and to the poster who said they might not insure us together because we aren't married: it's not a problem

Thanks everyone for your input, and for letting me vent.

 

[mickeyboat]

Oh, and to the poster who said they might not insure us together because we aren't married: it's not a problem

When we got married our rate dropped significantly. I think the rule was it dropped at marriage or at age 25, whichever came first. Might be something to check in to one you are married.

Denae

 

[caitycaity]

When we got married our rate dropped significantly. I think the rule was it dropped at marriage or at age 25, whichever came first. Might be something to check in to one you are married.

Denae

yep - we were on each other's insurance prior to marriage and our rates dropped afterwards.

 

[disneynutt1225]

That would be great if they dropped after we get married! I'm 25 and he's 27, so I think we're past the "at risk" ages. Hopefully in August it'll drop!