My son just got his drivers permit today. Do I need to have him put on my car insurance or is he covered? I do

Question

My son just got his drivers permit today. Do I need to have him put on my car insurance or is he covered? I do

Answer 1

if you do not add him Yul pay if he is in a accident with your car yes add him as of yesterday

Answer 2

General Insurance Agent

No, He is not a covered driver unless he is scheduled on the policy. Many people erroneously think that a child is automatically covered but they are not.

Any changes in the risk factors that affect your policy are required to be reported to the company within 30 days, including a change of vehicles, and new household drivers. This is true in "all 50 states".

If you loan your vehicle to a relative or other visitor to your home then they are covered, they typically don't stay over thirty days and therefore are not a household member and don't need to be scheduled, they would be covered under permissive use. If a visitor has an extended stay and continued use of your vehicle beyond 30 days, you need to schedule them also.

The Company can deny a claim for an undisclosed driver, certain claims when the Insured or Parent is sued they will have to pay.

If the company does pay for an accident when the driver is not scheduled, it would only be paying because they are responsible for the Policy Holders ( parents ) negligence in not adding the child or other undisclosed driver.

That is an entirely different concept of liability from the child being a covered driver under the policy. That is why the unscheduled child can still be ticketed for "no insurance" and the childs license can be suspended, because they are in fact not a covered driver on any policy (uninsured).

I've seen this happen many times. Some will say, "Oh yeah", they're covered because they paid for my child, or my friends unlisted kid when he had an accident" They just can't seem to get their head around the fact that it was not because the child was ever a covered driver on the policy. The company was actually paying a negligence claim against the policy holder parent.

Some Insurance Agents will recommend you wait until the child has finished learning but there are still some risks in doing that, especially if the child is learning in the parents car or takes a solo ride at some point in your vehicle and has an accident.

Failing to disclose a driver of a vehicle is a very well known form of Insurance Fraud by Misrepresentation of a Risk, often used by a policy holder to avoid paying higher premiums for higher risk drivers.

Take Care

Answer 3

in my state, he's covered.  I state this from experience with my insurance policy.  

But why you're asking me instead of your own insurance agent, is beyond me.

You'd be a fool to take my word for it.

Answer 4

He is not covered, list him as a driver.

Answer 5

You must add him to your policy.

If you do not -- and he has an accident, your insurance company could deny coverage. Many insurance policies have language in them that says that if the vehicle is provided for his regular use and he has an accident they can deny coverage.

So, call your agent tomorrow and add him to the policy.

Most insurance companies also have a requirement that all licensed drivers in the house hold have to be listed on the policy.

Now that he has a job and your rates will go up.....tell him to get a job and he can pay you a small amount (say 200 every 6 months) to help defray the increase in auto insurance. If he does not have the money....then he does not drive your car. It's a great chance to start to teach him financial responsibility.