Young Drivers on Parents Insurance?

Thank you for that insuranceman! thats what i was thinking, and exactly what my boss told me. It seems like theres so many crooked agents around here. This agent is a family friend and he failed to mention to my parents how little coverage my brothers will have under their policy. It's a joke.

Then my cousin (21) bought a newer cobalt the other week, titled in her name. Some agent let my aunt insure it under her name, even though its titled in my cousins name, and my cousin isn't even listed as a driver.

The agent insuring my mom said that if one of my brothers were to get in an accident, they would have $5,000 in medpay with our Blue Cross Blue Shield covering any excess injury expenses. How is this so?


Read the definition of medpay, learn it well
 
Read the definition of medpay, learn it well

I understand medpay, and my brothers would be covered under medpay since they are family that live at home with the named insured. I also understand that medpay is very limited. My question was whether health insurance would cover the excess medical bills. I have different agents telling me different things, and since I'm new to this, I want to learn it right :)

But like insuranceman said, its better covered elsewhere, under your autos. I get that part, but if they were in an accident tomorrow, what would be the outcome I guess is what I'm getting at. Sorry if it's a dumb question, bare with me, im a newbie.
 
The outcome is that they are members of the household not listed on the policy so they are not considered permissive users... the carrier will deny the claim.

I had a similar issue with a client whose life in gf got into a wreak driving one of his cars. The client was a middle aged business owner and the GF was a 24 year old waitress. She had state minimum limits for her 12 year old Acura but she was driving a 2010 Lincoln Navigator. She also had a 18 month old DUI. The carrier initially denied the claim because she lived with him but was not listed on the policy. We applied the "producer leverage endorsement" and got the claim paid by threatening to move his six figure commercial policy from the carrier if they didn't pay. At the end of the day the carrier opted to pay a $16,000 claim to retain a $208,000 commercial account. Without that leverage there was no way they would have paid it... and they only paid it after the commercial policy renewed with them.
 
Ask the agent you work with to explain how a medpay claim works when there is health insurance as well. Don't think for a second that medpay covers your auto or your liability though, totally different thing.

Truthfully, medpay is a convenience feature of your insurance.

Medpay will usually pay primary (meaning it will pay first) for an injury to the insured, passenger in the car, or pedestrian (gets complicated once they are out of the car), for the injuries they sustain in a covered accident. Problem is, it is very limited. For instance, the $5000 you have won't cover a decent ER bill. After a persons medpay is exhausted, the persons health insurance will step in. Health insurance can subrogate back to the liable party of the accident.

Have someone who has had medpay claims walk you through how they have worked out. Lots of good, some bad, lots of learning exactly how this works.

I explain medpay (home or auto) as coverage for first aid, xray, a few stitches, at an urgent care, not an ER, not much more. Basically, if you sit in the back of an ambulance, you just blew your medpay limit, and they haven't even put a bandaid on you yet.

Dan
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The outcome is that they are members of the household not listed on the policy so they are not considered permissive users... the carrier will deny the claim.

I had a similar issue with a client whose life in gf got into a wreak driving one of his cars. The client was a middle aged business owner and the GF was a 24 year old waitress. She had state minimum limits for her 12 year old Acura but she was driving a 2010 Lincoln Navigator. She also had a 18 month old DUI. The carrier initially denied the claim because she lived with him but was not listed on the policy. We applied the "producer leverage endorsement" and got the claim paid by threatening to move his six figure commercial policy from the carrier if they didn't pay. At the end of the day the carrier opted to pay a $16,000 claim to retain a $208,000 commercial account. Without that leverage there was no way they would have paid it... and they only paid it after the commercial policy renewed with them.

The commercial policy helped. The fact that she actually had coverage on her own car, put her over the top. Since she had her own coverage, my guess is the carrier figured they would lose this in court anyway.

Of course, gone are the days where you can state other coverage as a reason to not rate a household driver..... Doesn't mean it doesn't come up though.

Dan
 
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Usually, drivers in the household that are not listed are excluded from coverage. They are not covered under permissive use. Also, usually its the newer drivers that have the claim.



Dan

What is the consensus on a seventeen year old from a divorced household, whose driver's license carries his mother's address, driving at his father's house on visitation weekends? Permissive use in your opinion?
 
Then my cousin (21) bought a newer cobalt the other week, titled in her name. Some agent let my aunt insure it under her name, even though its titled in my cousins name, and my cousin isn't even listed as a driver.

If the car is titled only in your cousins name, who is over 18, and the insurance policy is only in your aunts name, they could run in to problems. If the vehicle is involved in an accident, their insurance company could argue that they don't need to pay anything for damages to the vehicle because your aunt has no insurable interest in the vehicle, since she doesn't have any ownership interest in it. If your aunt has no insurable interest in the vehicle, and your cousin is not listed on the policy, there is technically no one that the insurance company has to pay money to (unless there is a lienholder listed). This can, however, depend on how the contract is written and varies from company to company. However I'm sure they didn't bother to check this, and the agent probably doesn't even know how this would work for the carrier they're signed up with. It's a situation best avoided.

Besides, it's dishonest.
 
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What is the consensus on a seventeen year old from a divorced household, whose driver's license carries his mother's address, driving at his father's house on visitation weekends? Permissive use in your opinion?

If it is routine use, it is NOT permissive use. Now, the 'out' that might exist is if the 17 year old is insured with the same carrier at mom's. You can check with the carrier and see if they will accept that (never had a problem with this).
 
What is the consensus on a seventeen year old from a divorced household, whose driver's license carries his mother's address, driving at his father's house on visitation weekends? Permissive use in your opinion?


Well, it more or less comes down to where does the child reside hte majority of the time......
 
Hey all, im newly licensed and have a question. I work at an independent agency and I started to go over my moms policies and switch them over to me and I noticed that my two younger brothers (17,19) aren't listed on her policy and shes the main driver on all 3 cars. They have health insurance but my boss said they most likely will not be covered if something happened. Is it typical for agents to not include younger drivers in order to keep peoples premiums down?

Yes...for those agents that don't care about E&O issues. :)
 
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