Author Topic: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)  (Read 2237 times)

Roboturner

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Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« on: February 09, 2016, 01:43:01 PM »
I live with my SO (not legally married - due to to negative tax implications), and we will be getting rid of *my* car insurance (insured and registered in my name), to bundle the car insurance with *her* home insurance (in SO's name, hopefully for a discount). [we will now have 2 cars registered/insured to her and 0 cars registered/insured to me, rather than 1 car each]

My question is - can I get insured on *her* (used to be my) car, and do i need to be on the registration as well? does anyone have experience with what the insurance increase (as a %) might look like in this situation?

Thanks!


**As to not get derailed, we haven't shared cars in the past (as far as insurance goes) but will now**
« Last Edit: February 09, 2016, 01:45:23 PM by Roboturner »

chemistk

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Re: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2016, 02:04:43 PM »
I was in your situation a few years ago - my now wife and I were not yet married and we were both going to be using her car. We put the insurance policy in her name and listed me as a driver on the policy. So yes, you can get insured under "her" policy. This is not something you'll likely be able to do online - you'll have to speak to the insurance company/an agent if you have one. They'll know exactly how to handle things. You could use it as an opportunity to try to lower your premiums (on top of the bundling discount)

As far as the discount goes - it will depend on your age, your driving record, the cars you drive, where they are garaged, how far you drive them, etc. etc. etc. Hypothetically, if you're a good driver over the age of 26, you shouldn't see a big increase on the cost of her policy. It will definitely be cheaper than paying for two separate policies.

Roboturner

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Re: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2016, 02:07:18 PM »
I was in your situation a few years ago - my now wife and I were not yet married and we were both going to be using her car. We put the insurance policy in her name and listed me as a driver on the policy. So yes, you can get insured under "her" policy. This is not something you'll likely be able to do online - you'll have to speak to the insurance company/an agent if you have one. They'll know exactly how to handle things. You could use it as an opportunity to try to lower your premiums (on top of the bundling discount)

As far as the discount goes - it will depend on your age, your driving record, the cars you drive, where they are garaged, how far you drive them, etc. etc. etc. Hypothetically, if you're a good driver over the age of 26, you shouldn't see a big increase on the cost of her policy. It will definitely be cheaper than paying for two separate policies.

Fantastic, that's what I thought, but wasn't sure thanks for the response, does registration matter? or just the insurance? Thanks

chemistk

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Re: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2016, 02:14:11 PM »

Fantastic, that's what I thought, but wasn't sure thanks for the response, does registration matter? or just the insurance? Thanks

The person whose name is on the title of the car is the person whose name the policy has to be under. Other than that, it's pretty simple. Glad to help!

DebtFreeBy25

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Re: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2016, 04:24:14 PM »
If you register a vehicle in someone else's name, which is necessary before you can insure it in their name, that person will have legal ownership of that vehicle. Just something to think about if you haven't already.

In general bundling will save you a considerable amount of money. Also, read your policy carefully. Many policies only require listing the primary driver of the vehicle, so if you have multiple vehicles you may only need to be added to the policy for one. In my state, the vehicle insurance mandate follows the vehicle not the driver.

Why does that matter? Because our home and our vehicles are insured under my husband's name. Since I'm not the primary driver of any particular vehicle, I'm not on the policy. (The cars were originally titled to him because I had speeding tickets, while he had a spotless record. That's no longer relevant; we both currently have excellent driving records.)  How do we get away with this? I work from home and do not drive frequently, and, thus am not the primary driver of any vehicle. In the event of an accident, our policy covers any licensed driver, and our story would be that I don't drive the vehicle on a regular basis. Yes, technically, I should probably be listed on the policy, but I can't justify paying the insurance company any more than I absolutely have to. We've done this for over 5 years and plan to continue doing so indefinitely.
« Last Edit: February 09, 2016, 04:26:17 PM by DebtFreeBy25 »

Primm

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Re: Car Question (insurance/registration etc)
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2016, 06:09:06 PM »
If you register a vehicle in someone else's name, which is necessary before you can insure it in their name, that person will have legal ownership of that vehicle. Just something to think about if you haven't already.

In general bundling will save you a considerable amount of money. Also, read your policy carefully. Many policies only require listing the primary driver of the vehicle, so if you have multiple vehicles you may only need to be added to the policy for one. In my state, the vehicle insurance mandate follows the vehicle not the driver.

Why does that matter? Because our home and our vehicles are insured under my husband's name. Since I'm not the primary driver of any particular vehicle, I'm not on the policy. (The cars were originally titled to him because I had speeding tickets, while he had a spotless record. That's no longer relevant; we both currently have excellent driving records.)  How do we get away with this? I work from home and do not drive frequently, and, thus am not the primary driver of any vehicle. In the event of an accident, our policy covers any licensed driver, and our story would be that I don't drive the vehicle on a regular basis. Yes, technically, I should probably be listed on the policy, but I can't justify paying the insurance company any more than I absolutely have to. We've done this for over 5 years and plan to continue doing so indefinitely.

I did that in my previous marriage. And it worked really well. Until it didn't...

What happened? He had a mid-life crisis, met someone else and started abusing me. So I left, and due to not having insurance for 10 or so years, automatically started back at the highest premium. Thus negating any financial benefits I'd gained.

I'm not saying this will happen to you, and maybe I'm not as much of an optimist as I like to think, but I always try to consider the hit-by-a-bus scenario.