Ex Won't Insure Daughter's Car; Agent Says I Have to Insure Her

tmcamp626

New Member
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Good day, All. I bought my daughter a car, titled, tagged and insured. Her dad wanted to "one-up" me, so he bought her a 2006 Mustang. He will not put tags on it and refuses to insure it. I no longer own the car I bought for her. She drives the Mustang every day. He has sole custody of her. She's been licensed for a year.

I tried to change insurance companies today to the company who insures my house, but they tell me that I have to show proof of her having insurance, or I have to add her to my policy at a nice little rate increase of almost $900 every six months. The other problem I have with that is she never drives my car (it's a manual transmission) and adding her does not insure the Mustang that's in her dad's name.

If she has an accident, will she be covered in the Mustang with my policy and the car itself won't be covered? Will the other driver be covered by my policy in the case of an AT FAULT accident if my daughter is insured, even though her car isn't?

Although I don't want to get her in trouble, I wish she'd get pulled over for no tags so he'll be REQUIRED to get tags and insurance on the car. That's the only way he'll get it done. Unless he makes her park the car or sells it.

Any advice? Thanks!!
 
Good day, All. I bought my daughter a car, titled, tagged and insured. Her dad wanted to "one-up" me, so he bought her a 2006 Mustang. He will not put tags on it and refuses to insure it. I no longer own the car I bought for her. She drives the Mustang every day. He has sole custody of her. She's been licensed for a year.

I tried to change insurance companies today to the company who insures my house, but they tell me that I have to show proof of her having insurance, or I have to add her to my policy at a nice little rate increase of almost $900 every six months. The other problem I have with that is she never drives my car (it's a manual transmission) and adding her does not insure the Mustang that's in her dad's name.

If she has an accident, will she be covered in the Mustang with my policy and the car itself won't be covered? Will the other driver be covered by my policy in the case of an AT FAULT accident if my daughter is insured, even though her car isn't?

Although I don't want to get her in trouble, I wish she'd get pulled over for no tags so he'll be REQUIRED to get tags and insurance on the car. That's the only way he'll get it done. Unless he makes her park the car or sells it.

Any advice? Thanks!!

If he has sole custody of her then he should insure her, especially if her residence is different than yours. A lot of insurance companies have a procedure for this type of thing for when young drivers move out or live somewhere else. You can add her if you want and change the garaging address to that location.

No one can give a solid answer without knowing your insurance company, the fathers insurance company, and the state. It does vary since all contracts and state laws are different.

You can also call the husband's insurance company and tell them there is another driver in his household and have them do an investigation. Likely since she lives there and her license might say his address on there.
 
Her dad wanted to "one-up" me...

He has sole custody of her.
Although I don't want to get her in trouble, I wish she'd get pulled over for no tags so he'll be REQUIRED to get tags and insurance on the car.
Don't have any idea what the answer is to your insurance question, but...

Behavior like this only hurts and screws up your child. Stop it before it's too late.
 
Have a talk with your daughter about not having insurance. I'm not sure about your state, but in most (maybe all?) not having a car insured or registered (I presume not inspected either) can lead to obscenely high fines and possibly the loss of the license. You can't just decide to not have insurance and register a car without consequences.

If she doesn't care I'd call the cops while the car is parked and let the officer explain to papa bear what no insurance means.
 
Just curious when you say the dad has sole custody I also assume she lives with him right? If she doesn't live with you I don't understand why your insurance needs her on the policy. You might want to try providing your company proof of residence at the dads house and sole custody and get her as an excluded driver on the policy so there is no premium increase.

If something happens while she is driving, it will be your ex's problem. Since he has sole custody, liability will fall back on him if she does anything and there is no insurance coverage
 
Although I don't want to get her in trouble, I wish she'd get pulled over for no tags so he'll be REQUIRED to get tags and insurance on the car. That's the only way he'll get it done.

Be careful what you wish for! No need to wish something like that on your daughter because if she's driving without tags, she'll get pulled over soon enough.

Can't really help you without knowing what state you're in and what companies you're dealing with.
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get her as an excluded driver on the policy so there is no premium increase.

Not all companies permit excluded drivers. I assume that is the case here (that or she has a crappy agent).

If a company tries to force you to add her as a rated driver and not allow you to add her as an excluded driver, best advice is to move on to another company that will.
 
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Not all companies permit excluded drivers. I assume that is the case here (that or she has a crappy agent).

If a company tries to force you to add her as a rated driver and not allow you to add her as an excluded driver, best advice is to move on to another company that will.

Even so if the daughter does not live in her household, she should not have to put her on the policy.
 
To be honest, the answer can get a little complicated, there are a lot of details in the original post that get glossed over that keep an agent from making a real assessment of this situation.

Let me try to give a bit of education, hopefully it will help in asking the right questions of the agent.

- Rules vary a LOT by state. Some by carrier. These matter in answering this type of question. What applies in one situation doesn't always apply everywhere. There is no single answer.
- Insuring your home and auto together is usually a good thing, but not always. Make sure it makes sense before switching.
- Carriers (and agents) tend to work on a rate or exclude mentality. Exclude means exactly that, there is NO coverage for your daughter on your vehicle by your insurance. Rate means exactly that, your daughter gets rated on your policy for your car (not hers).
- You cannot normally insure a car that doesn't belong to you. If the car is in 'Dads' name, he has to insure it (and the driver).
- In California, no insurance will not affect your license, but does affect your registration. You will end up paying a reinstatement fee on top of the registration fee on top of the late registration penalty.
- Most of the time, insurance companies extend 'permisive user' rules to infrequent drivers of a vehicle if the driver does not live in the household. With children, this tends to get abused and applied incorrectly. If your daughter is at your house every other weekend, permissive driver rules really wouldn't apply. She would need to be excluded. If she has insurance elsewhere and her own car, some carriers will accept that. This is what the agent is after.
- Worry more about your daughter than the insurance and tags. Dad bought the car, if you have the resources, help her with the registration. Let her get a job for the insurance.

Dan

P.S. I run into this situation a lot. Agents hate getting caught in the middle of this stuff.
 
In NJ, you can't drive a mile, with an expired inspection sticker, let alone no plates. Big brother is watching. They punch your plate number in a computer as you drive by. Some police cars have a scanner that scans the plate. So they can do it faster. And of course in the name of safety, they are installing red light camera's.
 
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