Auto insurance question... Letting someone else borrow my car

nomaddmh said: Do I have to add her to my auto insurance as a registered driver if I am still the actual owner?
No. With your permission, she is allowed to drive the car without her name being on the insurance. If you did add her to your insurance, you would list her as the primary driver or a secondary driver. I think your name has to appear on the title or registration to be listed as the primary driver. YMMV by state.

nomaddmh said: And if I did add her, and she was in an accident, would it affect my insurance, or just hers?
If the insurance on the car lists you as the primary driver and she or anyone else gets into an accident, it will show up on your insurance as if YOU had the accident. On some insurances, even if she is listed as a secondary driver, the accident still appears in the name of the primary driver.

Personally, I learned this the hard way: College roommate rear ended someone while driving my car; $8k damage to my car alone; my insurance listed the accident in my name, NOT his, and then dropped me. I'll never let anyone borrow my car again.

Good luck.

Thanks barefool... I think I'll probably add her to my policy as the primary driver of that car, since we'll have a multi-car, multi-driver policy... I'll be confirming all this with the insurance co, just wanted to get some ideas before going in blind.

Main thing is I don't want to sell her the car and have it die or require a huge amount of maintenance (just hit 100k miles)... Then have the bad feelings associated with her paying me a large amount for a car that already has to be fixed.

I'd rather take the monthly "payment" from her, covering depreciation, insurance, and maybe a little extra to cover maintenance. Then if the car has any MAJOR problems, I can just decide to sell it as-is if neither of us wants to fix it.

Each insurance company is different. For example, if you let someone borrow your car and they get involved in an accident, some insurance company will automatically reduce your liability coverage to the state minimum. Some will eve deny your claim if they can prove that the driver uses your vehicle regularly and you did not report this person as an extra driver. I have been doing insurance claims in California for over 10 years so your best bet is to add her onto your policy as an extra driver.

SUCKISSTAPLES said: nomaddmh said:
I'd rather take the monthly "payment" from her, .Id say you should demand it weekly, if not more often

Anyway, its better for you to sell it to her and let her insure it herself. Why should you ruin your insurance record if she gets into trouble?

Don't forget the risk that if she is in a horrible wreck, you can be held liable for her driving because it was your car.

anything formally written that says you are leasing it to her would likely invalidate your insurance, most companies have a provision stipulating it cannot be used for rent/for hire.

nomaddmh said: Thanks barefool... I think I'll probably add her to my policy as the primary driver of that car, since we'll have a multi-car, multi-driver policy... I'll be confirming all this with the insurance co, just wanted to get some ideas before going in blind.

Main thing is I don't want to sell her the car and have it die or require a huge amount of maintenance (just hit 100k miles)... Then have the bad feelings associated with her paying me a large amount for a car that already has to be fixed.

I'd rather take the monthly "payment" from her, covering depreciation, insurance, and maybe a little extra to cover maintenance. Then if the car has any MAJOR problems, I can just decide to sell it as-is if neither of us wants to fix it.
I still don't understand the problem. If the car goes bad after you sell it to her, you are still free to pay for repairs, refund her money, or buy it back if that's what you want to do. And she can sell it as-is if neither one of you want to fix it and you can even offer to handle the transaction on her behalf.

I thought you insure a car, not a person. When my sister cracked up my car, my insurance paid it no problem

nomaddmh said: Main thing is I don't want to sell her the car and have it die or require a huge amount of maintenance (just hit 100k miles)... Then have the bad feelings associated with her paying me a large amount for a car that already has to be fixed.

You don't think she's going to develop any bad feelings from the monthly car payment she has to give to you?

Never mix business with family or loved ones unless you are married to that person. Even then I would recommend having separate assets.

I think part of the issue is if she lives with you she is a member of your household. I have seen something on my policies stating that any driving-age members of my household have to be listed on my policy or they cannot drive my cars. If you and your girlfriend live together then she might be considered a member of your household and need to be listed on the policy. Think about it is this way: Your insurance company quotes you a lower rate for one person driving two cars (as opposed to two drivers on two cars) because they assume you cannot be operating both cars simultaneously. However, assigning the car to another member of the household for daily use violates this agreement. Another example is when I went to college (without a car) my father was able to drop my name from the policy because I was living 500 miles away (even though I might come home occasionally and use his cars). When my sister went to college 80 miles away my father was not able to drop her name unless he agreed in writing she would not *ever* drive any of his cars (the insurance company assumed she would be using the cars more frequently).

It would be foolish for your girlfriend to get her own insurance since as the owner of the car you are still liable. If you trust her (as a person and and as driver) just add her to your policy and ensure you have enough liability coverage for your needs.

Regarding the name on the title and insurance, I am in GA but have had no trouble insuring my wife's car that was 1) originally in her father's name and 2) now exclusively listed in her name. My insurance cards only have my name on them, although on my policy my wife is listed as an authorized driver. We have never had an issue from the insurance company (I am not sure they even can access car title information). FWIW, we have also not had any issues with name mismatch on our car registration and the electronic reporting of liability insurance (in our state liability insurance is reported electronically to the state DMV). Maybe things are different if you are trying to maintain insurance to satisfy the bank loan (our cars are paid in full).

PICS!!!

or no answers from us!

*everyone picked up most of the salient points:
Paperwork creates a RENTAL agreement = no=no in insurance terms.
live-in GF vs Drop-in GF.
no matter what happens (if something happens), YOU are on the hook!

EIther give her the car, or sell her the car. Get "payment" (LOL and hehehehe, and small child giggles) and make assurances that you will repair (or help pay for repairs) if the car goes tits-up! (repeat of LOL and hehehehe, and small child giggles (I said T-U!!).

If the "small amount" you were going to charge her is truly "small" (LOL and hehehehe, and small child giggles YET ONCE more!), then don't do paperwork on the car.... do it as a HOUSING rental...

Lastly, if you decide to ingore the responses...(and jokingly), if she decides to run off WITH YOUR car.... just say she didn't have permission! Then she goes to JAIL for grand theft (PICS!!!), and you are NOT on the hook for any damages!

marketingmike said: mrPete said: incorrect information

Thank you for your extremely worthwhile and informative post.