by kmat215 » Tue Dec 01, 2009 08:18 pm
My daughter is 17 and a lic. driver and drives our cars occasionally. I was recently told that I do not have to list her on my insurance and she is automatically covered on my plan because she is a FT student and lives at home. Is this true?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:29 pm Post Subject:
Very bad info. If you filled out an application for insurance it asks you to list everyone living in the home over a certain age. Granted, if your policy has renewed you might not have been asked to fill out another application but your still taking a BIG chance. Your daughter being a student has nothing to do with it. At the worst a claim may be denied. Some states allow carriers to lower the liability limits to the minimum allowed by state for unlisted drivers. Most carriers these days run addresses and get a list of all licensed drivers for that household. So chances are good that your carrier will find out about your daughter anyway. Better to have her listed then to take a chance.
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:25 am Post Subject:
I absolutely agree with tcope...REALLY bad idea to leave her off of the coverage. I wonder who told you the information that you got? If it was your agent, I would find another agent.
What this person was referring to is known as the "Omnibus Clause" within an auto policy. Commonly referred to as the "permissive use doctrine," this refers to the idea that just about all car insurance policies allow anyone with a valid driver's license and the permission of the insured to drive the insured vehicle and be covered as the insured on the policy is covered.
This coverage only applies to those persons NOT residing in your household and ONLY for those drivers that do NOT have regular use of the car. Your policy (almost guaranteed) requires that ALL resident drivers in the household be named on the policy as well as those dependent children away at school but still living at home.
The insurer is entitled to the proper premium for the risk undertaken. This means that you have to pay for your daughter to be on the policy. The problems that will occur if she gets into a wreck or gets a ticket without the coverage are manifold, the least of which is that her activity will affect your insurance premiums.
InsTeacher 8)
Add your comment