Car Insurance Sort Blog

Until reading this Fox Business article by Barbara Marquand, I had never before thought about how being a caregiver could effect car insurance rates.  In the “Caregiver’s Guide to Car Insurance,” some interesting points are raised that you should consider if you are helping to care for someone and drive them around.  In most cases, your car insurance policy will cover you as the driver, along with anyone living in your household and listed as a driver.  Many policies also cover anyone that you allow to drive your car once in awhile.  Although you may assume that your car is covered with anyone you let drive it, that is not always the case.

There are four different cases given in the article that may be exceptions to the normal car insurance rules.  Say, for instance, that an elderly family member needs you to drive them to doctor’s appointments.  They may have given up driving themselves, but keep a car and maintain the car insurance policy for when they need rides from others.  Some insurance companies will allow drivers, especially those in good standing who have a history with the car insurance company, to keep a policy in their name when they are not a named driver for the policy.  The insurer will need your information to determine pricing for the policy in your elderly relative’s name.

If you move in with a friend or family member who is sick or injured to help drive them around, whether the car insurance policy needs to be changed depends upon the length of time you are there.  For a short time of less than a couple weeks, the person’s basic policy should cover you as an allowable driver.  But if you are there longer than a month, your friend or family member should let their car insurer know so that they can add you to their policy.  Temporary addition to an insurance policy is important to protect everyone involved in the case of a car accident.

There are a few other less common scenarios where you should think about car insurance coverage.  Some kind neighbors take their elderly neighbors on errands around the neighborhood.  Whether or not you are paid for this is important because if you are, you might have to tell your car insurance company that you are using your vehicle for business purposes.  Sometimes insurance quotes from a company like State Farm will be higher with business use of a vehicle.  If you have a weekly or monthly commitment to drive someone to a poker game, or something like that, you will probably be covered under their policy.  But with less expensive policies, it’s possible that only listed drivers will be covered.  Other insurers don’t allow permissible drivers younger than 25 to be covered, while some policies lower coverage amounts in the case of a permissible driver getting in an accident.  If anyone else drives your vehicle, or if you drive theirs, make sure that you are covered in the case of an accident or injury.