Auto insurance college freshman with no car

[descovy]

My daughter last year at 18 needed her independence. So she rented a room in a house 10 miles away. Signed a 6 month lease. At that time, she got her own auto insurance since she moved out (Geico). While I agreed to sign the title over, she never got around to taking it to the courthouse so the car stayed in my name (this matters in the 3rd paragraph)

FF to this August. Lease is up. Her permanent address is my house. She is going to college out of state and leaving the car at home. But didn’t want to keep paying $150/mo on car insurance.

I called my agent, assuming this meant I may have to put her back on my policy. Apparently I don’t. She can have her own non-owner policy. She doesn’t own a car and will borrow one occasionally (either zip cars on campus or one of our cars at home). It costs $40/mo.

So, if you find yourself in a situation where your student signs a lease (maybe a summer rental, or next year). You might inquire if this deal would work for you.

Notable details. We live in TX. Her 6 month lease was in TX She will school in IA in a dorm. Geico wrote her non-owner policy for $40. But my insurance (Progressive) also quoted a similar price.

 

[kymom99]

Send me good vibes please. My son’s Buick has finally reached the point where we feel its not safe for him to take it so far away anymore. Going car shopping this weekend. It makes me want to puke. All my talk about reasonable insurance will probably go up in smoke.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My daughter last year at 18 needed her independence. So she rented a room in a house 10 miles away. Signed a 6 month lease. At that time, she got her own auto insurance since she moved out (Geico). While I agreed to sign the title over, she never got around to taking it to the courthouse so the car stayed in my name (this matters in the 3rd paragraph)

FF to this August. Lease is up. Her permanent address is my house. She is going to college out of state and leaving the car at home. But didn’t want to keep paying $150/mo on car insurance.

I called my agent, assuming this meant I may have to put her back on my policy. Apparently I don’t. She can have her own non-owner policy. She doesn’t own a car and will borrow one occasionally (either zip cars on campus or one of our cars at home). It costs $40/mo.

So, if you find yourself in a situation where your student signs a lease (maybe a summer rental, or next year). You might inquire if this deal would work for you.

Notable details. We live in TX. Her 6 month lease was in TX She will school in IA in a dorm. Geico wrote her non-owner policy for $40. But my insurance (Progressive) also quoted a similar price.

I would say it depends on each company and how they were filed with their state's DOI and the state's laws.

The one I worked for you could not write a non-owner's policy for that situation:

1) the driver in question still had exposure to the household. Even worse by your own words would drive one of your vehicles when home. This situation is exactly the reason why the company I worked for had to get strict over time. Too many claims when people truly had exposure to the household but for cost reasons tried to do this or that. Many sources regarding non-owner policies state it is not intended to be used when you drive vehicles in a household even if you are not the registered owner of the vehicle. You being the registered owner simply means you have the legal right to the vehicle.

2) the company would not write a non-owner's policy for out of state. Only way to do that was to get an agent in that state you would be residing in.

The non-owner's would be good if she no longer had exposure to the household (meaning she didn't come home and had left the household permanently/permanently moved out) and she was using it for the Zip cars. Though again it would depend on the company and how they were filed with their state's DOI and the state's laws.

Also non-owner is for liability but may not cover injuries sustained in an accident and wouldn't cover,by design, damage to the vehicle.

 

[descovy]

I would say it depends on each company and how they were filed with their state's DOI and the state's laws.

The one I worked for you could not write a non-owner's policy for that situation:

1) the driver in question still had exposure to the household. Even worse by your own words would drive one of your vehicles when home. This situation is exactly the reason why the company I worked for had to get strict over time. Too many claims when people truly had exposure to the household but for cost reasons tried to do this or that. Many sources regarding non-owner policies state it is not intended to be used when you drive vehicles in a household even if you are not the registered owner of the vehicle. You being the registered owner simply means you have the legal right to the vehicle.

2) the company would not write a non-owner's policy for out of state. Only way to do that was to get an agent in that state you would be residing in.

The non-owner's would be good if she no longer had exposure to the household (meaning she didn't come home and had left the household permanently/permanently moved out) and she was using it for the Zip cars. Though again it would depend on the company and how they were filed with their state's DOI and the state's laws.

Also non-owner is for liability but may not cover injuries sustained in an accident and wouldn't cover,by design, damage to the vehicle.

Interesting...

This all started because my agent said she actually didn’t need her own insurance as long as she had permission to drive one of our cars. Problem only being that having a lapse in insurance would be more expensive than the cost of a non owner policy. So the non owner policy for $40 seemed like a no-brainer.

For all intents and purposes she is living independently of our household. Being at college so far away, we will only have her in our home a couple weeks at Christmas. And a few days in the summer (she works at a summer camp). Like 15 days a year total.

I’m wondering if I should double check with the agent this next week. But I pretty much laid out the whole situation with her in truth. Not trying to cover anything.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Interesting...

This all started because my agent said she actually didn’t need her own insurance as long as she had permission to drive one of our cars. Problem only being that having a lapse in insurance would be more expensive than the cost of a non owner policy. So the non owner policy for $40 seemed like a no-brainer.

For all intents and purposes she is living independently of our household. Being at college so far away, we will only have her in our home a couple weeks at Christmas. And a few days in the summer (she works at a summer camp). Like 15 days a year total.

I’m wondering if I should double check with the agent this next week. But I pretty much laid out the whole situation with her in truth. Not trying to cover anything.

Unfortunately agents don't always tell the correct information and sometimes purposefully (if say they think their insured may balk and leave them). Obviously different companies have different rules and sometimes different auto products that have different rules it's why I added that caveat in my previous comment. I'm more giving my experience.

I would agree that she wouldn't need her own insurance BUT that's because she would need to be still listed on your policy because she still presented an exposure. It's possible that your agent viewed the limited time she would be at home as reason to not be considered an exposure and the company allowed for that. The one I worked for would have still considered her an exposure and it wouldn't be considered permissive usage because of her exposure level. But again that's just what the company I worked for would have done. I don't think you would try to pull one over on your agent though.

 

[disneychrista]

When my daughter went to get her license at at 20 we went to get her insurance, she would drive my car until she bought her own, and AAA said until she had a car she didn't need it. She would be covered under my policy.