Car Insurance Question

[Police101]

I had two (2) cars that listed my name on the title as the owner. However, the cars were registered & insured by a family member. Is this against the law? Will this be a problem in a BI?

[mcsap]

I assume that the agent KNOWS that the cars are owned by you ?

In my state, the titled owner is the registered owner. We cannot have an owner on the title and a lone different person on the registration.

If you are not sure, you had better call them as if they think they were not told the truth, they might deny a claim.

Why would you do this ? Do you know that if your relative is out and is in a crash, you could be sued as well because YOU are the titled owner and permitted him to drive the car.

[Jynkxxie]

We do it for insurance purposes. C-O-S-T! I refuse to pay outrageous rates when I am noticing that the ****ty drivers are not the ones from my era.

[Scruit]

I don't see why it would be illegal, unless the family member registered them because you are legally barred from doing so, for the purposes of circumventing the process.

And as for being a problem with the BI... Depends on WHY they registered it. Again, if you have been barred from registering a vehicle (or are trying to hide assets from a bankruptcy or civil action) then it WILL be a problem. Otherwise not.

My daily driver is actually owned and registered in my wife's name - because at the time we purchased it her credit score was better than mine and we got a better interest rate that way. When we bought her daily driver just recently it turned ot that my credit report was better and we got a better rate by having me on the title and registration. There is nothing dishonest or immoral about that - it's just the way it worked out. Although it does prevent me from buying a new car wihtout her permission! ;)

[Police101]

Yes, it was done for insurance purposes and I live in NYC. Here, I know of many people that travel to other states & register their cars for lower rates and come back.

[mcsap]

My policy asks where the car will be principally stored/garaged and of course it is at my house. And, it also asks if not at my house then where ? I understand why you did it and suspect that the relative isn't your wife as all property is jointly owned regardless.

So your nice realtive is allowing you to do this and now he is the one putting himself at risk ?! In the crash scenario, he is the registered owner and if a lawsuit occurrs, they will go after the both of you. Not the kind of liability that I would expose myself to, not even for a relative but I understand that car insurance in the big city can be $$$$$$$.

As long as the insurance company is fully aware of what you are doing, you will be fine. If not and they find out, they COULD deny a claim. READ your policy or call an agent ( not yours/his) from another town and ask them a hypothetical question.

[Jynkxxie]

See the way I work it is just that my parents are the primary, I am the secondary, though the car is registered to me and titled to me. But yeah money is a big issue. If I actually insured it to myself, with my clean record, I am looking at about $4,000.00 a year...as opposed to the $1,400.00 I pay now.

[mcsap]

OUCH !!!

I pay $1,200 per year for full coverage on 3 cars and a travel trailer. Switched to my company ( Erie) in 1985 when their insured hit and totaled my car and they took GOOD care of me. I even bought the wrecked car back from them for $100 and sold it for $350.

Aging has some benefits but I am not anywhere near old enough to join AARP so I wish they would quit sending me applications !!!

[Jynkxxie]

No trust me I hear your point...My parents would really like me to get off of their insurance...I am gonna try to push it out till I turned 25 and hopefully then I will be in a less "Steal My Car Area" and the rates will go down. I mean I just can't justify that. We do have a high coverage though in case of accidents.

[GMan26]

I pay $1750 a year and I work for a large insurance company - this is w/the discount. If I had kept the garaged address where my parents live (suburb - near 50 cent, hahaha) it would be about $1200. BIG DIFFERENCE. I should have just said it was kept at their house, haha, but working in an SIU area that wouldn't be good. I guess my new area I moved to has a high accident rate and high robbery rate. Where I live I don't think that's true but what can I do...