How A Car Co-Owner Affects Car Insurance Coverage
Sometimes a partnership is necessary for a purchase to make sense. While an airplane may cost too much for one person, a partnership might make the cost more realistic. The same theory applies to car ownership. If you need a vehicle but cannot afford it, a co-owner may be the only way to get it. Having a co-owner will affect your car insurance quotes, but it’s not hard to set up the insurance properly.
If you need a truck for work and your friend needs a truck for weekend fishing trips, you’re probably going to both enjoy co-ownership. Since you’ll each be driving, you’ll each be listed as an operator. The details of your driving arrangement will be noted, and each driver will have a premium to pay for driving the insured vehicle.
If both drivers are on equal footing regarding their driving records and insurance status, the cost of insurance will likely be proportionate to the time each spends driving the truck. However, if one driver has a bad record, there could be extra expenses for you when you insure the vehicle.
To determine the cost difference between policies for you and your partner, get three online car insurance quotes. Get one for each of you separately and then get one for both of you together. If it gets too confusing, ask an agent, either by live online help or phone call.
If you’re the only driver, for example, your co-owner’s driving record will affect your insurance in one of two ways. It will either have very little effect or a great effect. For example, if parents buy a car for their college student daughter, their driving records won’t matter too much because the student will already be high risk. This is especially true if the car will be on campus in another city. Then, the parking accommodations are more likely to have an effect on the price than on the driving record of the co-owner.
If your co-owner has a bad driving record, you are going to pay higher premiums as long as their name is on the title. If you have a good record, you’ll be shocked by the difference in price by adding a co-owner with a bad driving record. The only way around this is to get an exclusion on your policy that guarantees you will be the only driver and your co-owner will not drive the car. If the co-owner breaks the rules and drives the car into a wall, you will not be covered.
When it comes to a co-owner, you’re judged by the company you keep. Car ownership may or may not be made more expensive by the co-owner.
