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Car insurance - post your story Do you have any experience, strength and hope to share about car insurance? Not drama and despire. Smply stories of where you've been with this and what's worked. ------- When Married Couples Should Seek Separate Car Insurance Quotes Most married couples save money when they combine their coverage into one policy and get a single auto insurance quote. But occasionally separate car insurance for married couples makes more sense. A bad driving record, poor credit or an expensive sports car are common reasons couples choose to keep separate policies. Here’s a look at when to consider breaking up your policies. How bad driving affects car insurance quotes In certain cases a combined policy won’t pay off. Raphael Locsin, owner of Shift Insurance, an independent agency in Lakewood, California, says only a small percentage of his married clients find a better deal by purchasing separate car insurance policies. Usually this happens after one spouse is convicted of a serious violation, such as a DUI, and the insurer either refuses to cover that spouse or hikes the premiums “through the roof” at renewal time, Locsin says. The spouse with the DUI will probably find the lowest rates with a company that specializes in higher-risk drivers. Those companies typically offer only the state-minimum amounts of liability coverage for drivers with serious violations, and they don’t offer extra discounts. Rather than both spouses settling for bare-bones coverage, some couples split their car insurance policies, although this can be tricky. For example, if the husband has the DUI, he buys a policy for the car he drives. The wife then buys a policy for her car and asks the insurer to exclude the husband from coverage, barring him from driving her car. An exclusion means the insurer will not pay any claims resulting from the husband driving the wife’s car, leaving the couple on the hook for all damages. However, this works only in certain states, including California, Locsin says. Normally all licensed drivers in a household are listed for all vehicles, and some states do not permit driver exclusions. If in doubt, contact an insurance agent. If you’re splitting coverage, you’ll save money by assigning the car that’s the cheapest to insure to the spouse with the bad driving record. Why poor credit could make a difference Most states allow insurance carriers to consider credit as a factor in determining car insurance premiums. Only California, Hawaii and Massachusetts prohibit it. That means that in most states you can get a lower auto insurance rate if you have a high credit-based insurance score, meaning you pay your bills on time, apply for credit responsibly and keep your credit card balances low. If you or your spouse has poor credit, you might save money by getting separate policies, says Ryan Andrew, president of The Andrew Agency in Richmond, Virginia. In Virginia, for example, all drivers in the household must be listed on the policy, with no exclusions allowed. But your spouse’s poor credit may not count against you as much if he or she is a “listed driver” rather than the “primary driver.” If you have two cars, you might save money by making the bad-credit spouse the primary driver for the vehicle that is least expensive to insure. This is where a good insurance agent can help you find the best strategy. “You really have to play around with it,” Andrew says. “It’s constantly changing. We just have to quote it and see where the chips fall.” Sports cars might deserve a separate policy You also might save money getting separate policies if one of you owns an exotic car that is expensive to insure, but in most cases the multicar discount will still make it cheaper to combine cars on one policy, Andrew says. Locsin says he has clients who will get a separate insurance policy for a sports car and exclude the spouse if the spouse never drives it anyway. |
Hi ktf, If you are looking for stories related to combining car insurance, or not, Ican't help you. When I was married we combined it but that ended over 20 years ago. However, I do have a very good experience to report. For the past ten or so years I've had Liberty Mutual. They were always cooperative and easy to work with. I have a lot of insurance, collision and comp and way more than the minimums. I also have an umbrella policy with them. About 6 weeks ago, for the first time in my life I was in a collision with another car. It was night and the traffic lights were out. I was not hurt, thank God, but my car was damaged. The other driver, a young man, seemed a little hurt - he had pain in his ribs (and so did I, actually, but in a few days it was gone) but not bleeding, he was walking around and talking. His car was totaled. Liberty Mutual was great. They were compassionate and helpful. My car was repaired, I had a rental car while it was gone and it did not cost me a dime. Zero. The body shop picked up my $500 deductible as a courtesy and also paid the excess for the rental car, over what my policy paid. I don't know what will happen when it comes time to renew. That's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. I'm still kind of shook up from the experience and don't like driving, particularly at night. Hoping that fades as time goes by. Hope this helps. |
Btw - If I had a husband with a bad driving record or bad credit I would not put him on my policy unless I absolutely trusted him to not continue the bad habits. |
My boundary with my son when he began to drive was that I would add him to my policy and allow him to drive one of my cars but the moment he got any moving violations and especially a DUI he was removed and no longer allowed to drive my vehicles. He received a DUI and off my policy he went!!! I know many people from Al-anon who have gotten separate auto policies as well as maintained separate bank accounts. I also know a woman who divorced her husband, put all of their assets into her own name but allowed him to continue living in the home with her but she has no financial liability for his actions. |
Depends on how it works in your state. I work in the insurance field. We are unable to exclude a spouse and put them on a separate policy for any reason other than they are disabled or have never been licensed. You don't necessarily get to pick how that works. If you can find a company who does it, you would have to do a written exclusion that your spouse can NEVER drive your vehicle under any circumstance, and if they would there would be no coverage. Many states are not filed to do driver exclusions, and don't like to do them because they don't hold up well in court. I have worked in this field for many years. |
When I finally realized how bad things had gotten, I went to my agent and said I have learned of drinking problems and asked my options. I was with State Farm. The most important thing I learned from them was that I had an obligation to make them aware of an insured party that exposed them to higher unknown risk. Otherwise I could be held liable for negligence. They were VERY helpful in making sure I got her off my policy and yet did not leave he uninsured without notice. They offered her a replacement policy that was entirely her own. With rates she couldn't afford so that she would go elsewhere to insure. That solved the problem for them and for me and that was all I cared about. She had no DUIs (miracle) and no alcohol related driving events so in theory the next company would not rate her as high risk. Whatever, just get her off mine. |
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