Need Advice- Auto Insurance/Borrowing a car

[Toots]

Our adult son (27yrs) will be in Europe for a year, and his 03 Toyota will be parked in our driveway. He plans to maintain tags, licenses and insurance on the car while he is away. He owns the car, and the auto insurance (liability only) is in his name. His address is the same as ours for billing purposes and auto location.

We have a different auto insurance carrier and added our 16yr old son to our policy in June. He is listed as a casual user of our two autos. Since he is an inexperienced driver our premium increased $1600 per year.

The 16yr.old would like to drive his brother's Toyota to school on a regular basis. I'm seeking advice on how to handle the insurance. Do we need to try and add him to his brother's policy? Should we notify our insurance carrier?

We'd really like to do nothing but want to be safe rather than sorry.

 

[Darcy03231]

I would call your son's insurance carrier and ask them that question. My guess is that since he will be driving the car on a regular basis the company will want to add him to the policy as the primary driver since your other son will be out of the country and not driving the car.

 

[Toots]

I would call your son's insurance carrier and ask them that question. My guess is that since he will be driving the car on a regular basis the company will want to add him to the policy as the primary driver since your other son will be out of the country and not driving the car.

Sure sounds expensive so far.

 

[msmayor]

I could be wrong, but if your son is 27, owns that car and has his own insurance policy only HE can make that change...not you. I doubt the insurance company will even talk to you about it since you are not the policyholder.

A change like this affects his policy and ultimately his rating...and should something happen to raise his rates, it could affect his credit score.

I also don't think you'd see much of a difference in the premium, whether he's on your policy or your older son's. The fact of the matter is he's a new, young male driver...and they face the highest rates out there.

 

[SandrA9810]

I think you should let your youngest drive one of the two cars he's allowed to. And drive your oldest son's car. To be on the extreme safe side.

I don't think anything would change on the policy. Because the oldest has insurance to protect the car and damages. And your youngest has coverage to protect himself. It'd definatly be a lengthy process if anything was to happen.
Cause you can get insurance just for the car or insurance just for the vehicle.

I would let him use the car, as long as you feel he's responsible enough. And doesn't have that thought of "it's not my mom's car..." so he can go do whatever he wants.

 

[sherry7]

Some insurance policies automatically exclude any driver under the age of 25, unless they are specifically added.

It's really best to have your older son call his insurance company and ask.

 

[kellydizfan]

If your younger son has an accident with your son's vehicle - say they were in ny, the accident will follow your younger son but it could put your older son's policy in jeopardy have a young inexperienced operator driving his vehicle. I wouldn't allow your younger son to drive that car knowing something could happen to your other sons vehicle. If anything, I would turn in the plates and keep comp/collision on that vehicle while it sits for the year. If he only has liability, I would add comprehensive to the policy and delete all other coverage unless there is a loan on it then you may not be able to. There are many factors you must consider.

 

[Toots]

If your younger son has an accident with your son's vehicle - say they were in ny, the accident will follow your younger son but it could put your older son's policy in jeopardy have a young inexperienced operator driving his vehicle. I wouldn't allow your younger son to drive that car knowing something could happen to your other sons vehicle. If anything, I would turn in the plates and keep comp/collision on that vehicle while it sits for the year. If he only has liability, I would add comprehensive to the policy and delete all other coverage unless there is a loan on it then you may not be able to. There are many factors you must consider.

Thank you to all who have replied. As you say Kelly there are many factors to consider. I don't want to jeopardize the older son's policy. It really might be best to buy the car from him and then insure it under our policy. He could then buy it back when he returns from Europe. We'd pay a transfer tax twice, but it might be the best overall solution.

 

[stitchlovestink]

something else to consider to would be that if your younger son was in an accident w/ the car and it was his fault, any/all other parties related to that accident could sue not only the driver of the car (younger son) but the owner of the car (older son) too. And if it's a bad enough accident or a lawyer gets involved they try to sue as many parties as possible unfortunately.
And in your original post you state that there is only liability on the car. Not asking for you to answer, but just thinking... if younger son were to total the car, would you be able to replace it for older son? Like I said you don't need to answer, just something to think about privately.
Best of Luck getting it all figured out.

 

[hickchick]

Thank you to all who have replied. As you say Kelly there are many factors to consider. I don't want to jeopardize the older son's policy. It really might be best to buy the car from him and then insure it under our policy. He could then buy it back when he returns from Europe. We'd pay a transfer tax twice, but it might be the best overall solution.

You should be able to verify with your Department of Transportation whether a sales tax would be due for transferring title from your son to you and back again. You may just have to pay for a new title and registration. I live in Wisconsin, and used vehicle purchases between immediate family members are not taxed as a purchase.

 

[Toots]

You should be able to verify with your Department of Transportation whether a sales tax would be due for transferring title from your son to you and back again. You may just have to pay for a new title and registration. I live in Wisconsin, and used vehicle purchases between immediate family members are not taxed as a purchase.

We contacted the North Carolina DMV today and the same is true here. We would just need to submit a form. That's the good news.

Unfortunately our insurance company quoted an increase in premium of $1,530 to add the car with our son as the primary driver. I plan to shop for new insurance tomorrow. If we were to make this change our premium would have increased by a total of $3,130/yr. just to add a 16 year old driver and a 6 year old car. I expected an increase when we added him to our policy, but not almost the same increase again just to add the car.

For now the car's just parked until we can work through all the details.

 

[sherry7]

We contacted the North Carolina DMV today and the same is true here. We would just need to submit a form. That's the good news.

Unfortunately our insurance company quoted an increase in premium of $1,530 to add the car with our son as the primary driver. I plan to shop for new insurance tomorrow. If we were to make this change our premium would have increased by a total of $3,130/yr. just to add a 16 year old driver and a 6 year old car. I expected an increase when we added him to our policy, but not almost the same increase again just to add the car.

For now the car's just parked until we can work through all the details.

Regarding insurance for a teen....make sure you're getting all of the discounts you're entitled to. In our case, DS gets a discount for having at least a B average, a discount for driver's ed training, and a Steer Clear discount (which is a State Farm thing). It adds up quite a bit. DS drives a 2007 Hyundai Elantra (new when we bought it), and adding him on his own car added roughly $1600 per year to our insurance bill (for full coverage with a full tort option).

 

[a1tinkfans]

Our adult son (27yrs) will be in Europe for a year, and his 03 Toyota will be parked in our driveway. He plans to maintain tags, licenses and insurance on the car while he is away. He owns the car, and the auto insurance (liability only) is in his name. His address is the same as ours for billing purposes and auto location.

We have a different auto insurance carrier and added our 16yr old son to our policy in June. He is listed as a casual user of our two autos. Since he is an inexperienced driver our premium increased $1600 per year.

The 16yr.old would like to drive his brother's Toyota to school on a regular basis. I'm seeking advice on how to handle the insurance. Do we need to try and add him to his brother's policy? Should we notify our insurance carrier?

We'd really like to do nothing but want to be safe rather than sorry.

All drivers in the household are supposed to be included on a policy. However, you need to know your states laws. In our state, anyone can drive our car and coverage follows the car, therefore the person driving it is covered if they are involved in an accident. Is your state a No Fault State for medical and or/accidents?
As far as the inexperienced surcharge, that is not unusual as young drivers have more accidents that are generally more serious.
So, as far as your older son leaving the car behind for a year, if it is covered with insurance for liability only and it is used and involved in an accident, his carrier will first confirm that driver had permission to operate it. Then determine facts of accident, if no collision, you have to hope other person involved (unless a one person accident) has coverage, to hopefully get vehicle back to prior condition thru their carrier, otherwise you are out of luck with no collision (1st party coverage). The coverage on that old car may be quite cheap and with an inexperienced driver may be worth having, something to think about...
Honestly, if your 16 year old wants to drive the older sons car, they should just add him to THAT policy and take him off yours indicating he has a car of his own to use. Then be sure that the other car has correct coverages, whatever you choose, it will cost some $$, so investigate it first and best of luck...driving a car is serious business.......and carriers can disclaim for purposely holding back info regarding coverage issues....so be aware.....

 

[a1tinkfans]

not sure why the dbl post, SORRY! did not know how to delete!

 

[trip]

Does your older son want his younger brother to drive the car? If he does, he should be prepared for his car to get some kind of damage. I have 3 DDs and all three had some kind of fender bender between the ages of 16 and 18. They were great students and usually careful (but inexperienced) drivers. Not all were their fault, none were major and greatfully no one was hurt.

Just make sure there is enough coverage!!

 

[Toots]

Does your older son want his younger brother to drive the car? If he does, he should be prepared for his car to get some kind of damage. I have 3 DDs and all three had some kind of fender bender between the ages of 16 and 18. They were great students and usually careful (but inexperienced) drivers. Not all were their fault, none were major and greatfully no one was hurt.

Just make sure there is enough coverage!!

Yes he does want his brother to drive the car, but I don't think he really has given much thought to what could happen. He left for Europe in a big hurry, and it probably wasn't first on his list of concerns.

I appreciate what you're saying about the possible accidents and remember my own auto accident at age 16. No bodily injury but still a big deal.

I'm glad to read your 3 DDs made it through without injury. That truly is the prime concern.

 

[kellyg403]

I am in NC also and the insurance is sky high for those 3 years of inexperienced driving!

My son, when he was 18, was lent a car by my bf, now dh, for prom night. The next day he went to clean the car to return it and ended up having an accident with it. After bf insurance paid to fix the car and the lightpole ds ended up knocking over, they turned around and sued MY insurance company...aka ds's policy...not only did it follow him for 5 years but dinged my insurance rate for about 3 years. So, while he has permission to drive the car, the policy follows the car not the driver etc there is a good chance the insurance company, should there be a problem, will sue your company for the money back.

You may be right in thinking to purchase the car for him, add it to your insurance and change things once your other ds comes home. It seems to be the easiest and simplest solutions. A neighbor of ours had her children each get their own policy..something I didn't even know could be done...that wasn't on her policy since they had their own cars.


Kelly