I met with a new client this week. Her brother was driving a friend’s car when he was involved in a motor vehicle collision. I asked about the brother’s insurance and was told he does not have any. (Fortunately, the friend is insured and I do not have to worry about Prop. 213!) The sister has a policy and the brother sometimes drives her car, but he is not on the policy. I told her to add him immediately. Why?
The insurance company charges premium based on the car and the driver. So, if you have a 16 year old male driving a 2006 Mustang and a 46 year old married female driving a 2006 Mustang, they will have different rates of insurance. But, in order to figure out what to charge, the insurance company wants to know who has regular access to your vehicle. If you do not tell them, there is no coverage for the regular user.
So, in this case, the brother has regular access to the sister’s car and he drives it several times per week. If he were to drive it and get into a collision, the insurance company would deny the claim. Both the brother and the sister could be sued by the other party – and they would also have to pay for repairs to the sisters car!
Moral of the story: if someone else regularly uses your car, let your insurance company know about it ASAP!