Need Advice: Auto

[daddy]

Help. We need advice and would like to get it first from someone other than our agent.

Facts: Our 20 yr. old son was in another state going to school. He had his own car and insurance there. He had drug and alcohol problems NOT involving driving. We got rid of his car and brought him back into our home and he is attending school here F/T now and is currently sober. It would be easier for everyone for him to drive. We are considering our options considering the risk of future drug/acohol problems and the chance that we may ask him to leave our home if they recur. Additionally, if all goes well for 18 mo. he will likely need a car to go away for his last 2 yrs of school in our state. So, we are deciding between letting him drive our older 3rd car vs. buying him his own car, and a separate policy for him.

1. His own policy would make it easier/quicker if we had to kick him out. right?

2. If he was on our policy, then he got a DUI or accident, and we dropped him, would our rates be affected even after he was dropped? How much? Would our ability to change insurers be affected? How long? (We have clean records and drive 2 nice cars)

3. If all is good for 18 mo. and he goes away to school with a car, can we keep him on our policy then, or will he need a separate policy then anyway?

We realize buying him a car and separate insurance would cost more now, but we can afford it, and are weighing this against the longer term possibilities above. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[djs]

I assume you are not concerned about a potential loss of a discount that could cause a 3-5% premium increase, but that the question more looms around a 'significant' increase that could occur.

The reason I mention this is some policies have 'no-claims' type of discounts that you might lose if you have a claim, even if you drop a driver later that had the claim. There are to many variables in your question to get to this level of accuracy in an answer.

That said, with the realization you need to talk to the agent that knows the specific policy you have, I will provide you some generalities, not specific advice.

Accident claims are rated to drivers, not households or policy holders. Because of this, if you remove the driver, you remove the surcharge that happens due to the driver. If your son had an accident, if he no longer lives in the household, you can remove him from the policy and not be significantly impacted (see above).

but.....

If he has a claim and stays in the household, you might have a different problem. You could exclude him from your vehicles, some carriers will rate higher with an excluded driver though. Excluding is different from removing him as a driver. It means he will not be insured if he drives your car (with or without your permission).

If he has his own insurance, some carriers get picky about how this works and whether they can drive your cars or not. The state you live in, the carrier, and some other factors would determine this, I can't provide a direct answer.

If it was me, I would either transfer the 3rd car to him or get him an older, beater style car. You want to make sure the car is in his name, not yours. Nothing to do directly with insurance, but from experience, if the car gets impounded, you want the impound fees racking up in his name, not yours. If he gets 'camera' tickets, you want them going to him, not you. Not saying this will happen, but I've paid a number of 'toll' tickets for my kids. Yes, they ultimately paid them, but I would have preferred not to be in the middle of it.

Going to school is a tricky question. It really depends on where he 'lives'. If he still technically lives at home, many carriers have coverage for a student away at school with a car. If you are in a different state, this probably won't work and he'll have to have his own coverage.

Dan

 

[Insurance Protection]

Help. We need advice and would like to get it first from someone other than our agent.

Facts: Our 20 yr. old son was in another state going to school. He had his own car and insurance there. He had drug and alcohol problems NOT involving driving. We got rid of his car and brought him back into our home and he is attending school here F/T now and is currently sober. It would be easier for everyone for him to drive. We are considering our options considering the risk of future drug/acohol problems and the chance that we may ask him to leave our home if they recur. Additionally, if all goes well for 18 mo. he will likely need a car to go away for his last 2 yrs of school in our state. So, we are deciding between letting him drive our older 3rd car vs. buying him his own car, and a separate policy for him.

1. His own policy would make it easier/quicker if we had to kick him out. right?

2. If he was on our policy, then he got a DUI or accident, and we dropped him, would our rates be affected even after he was dropped? How much? Would our ability to change insurers be affected? How long? (We have clean records and drive 2 nice cars)

3. If all is good for 18 mo. and he goes away to school with a car, can we keep him on our policy then, or will he need a separate policy then anyway?

We realize buying him a car and separate insurance would cost more now, but we can afford it, and are weighing this against the longer term possibilities above. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Answers to questions:

1) Having his own policy would make things easier for you and more expensive for him.

2) If he is own you policy and he gets into accident or receive tickets, you would see a rate increase.

Your rates would be affected if you change insurers as, he is a household driver, but if he has his own insurance, then you can exclude or list him as a household driver as having his own insurance.

3) This is a little tricky, but I know of some prefered insurers that would give you a discount for students away for more than 100 miles and are still residents of their parents home.
I would check with your insurer on that for clarification.