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Insurance for a Car You Don't Own (July 2023)

The Better Way to Shop for Car Insurance You Don't Own

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Borrowing or using someone else's car doesn't require you to purchase a car insurance policy, that much is certain. However, driving a vehicle that's not your own comes with its own set of inherent risks. That's why we're helping you stay ahead of the car insurance curve by breaking down all you need to know about car insurance when driving someone else's car.

Permissions and Consent

Auto insurance plans protect cars, and each policy lists a set of approved drivers to operate the vehicle. One of the first questions that need answering when it comes to an accident or a claim request is whether the driver in question had permission from the owner to operate the vehicle. So, if you're driving someone else's car, make sure there's no doubt that you have the owner's permission. Also, ensure that the owner has insurance in place and that the vehicle has a legitimate insurance card.

Liability

Owner's insurance protects you if you drive their vehicle and get into an accident. It will pay for the damage along with any personal injuries caused to any other car or driver. If a settlement cannot be reached between the other parties and the owner's insurance firm, a lawsuit can rightly name you as a defendant. The insurance firm will employ an attorney to represent you and take care of any expenses or losses incurred under the agreement's limits.

Collision Coverage

Collision coverage is voluntary insurance that is not mandated by state law. Any event or accident involving damage to the car is deemed the responsibility of the vehicle's driver. If you don't have coverage for accidents, be extra careful when driving, and comprehend the risk you are taking.

Policy Limits and Regulations

The probability of harm beyond the insurance policy's coverage limits is the most significant risk when depending on someone else's insurance. You may be responsible for the excess damage and subject to charges when this occurs. A workaround to this situation is to have your auto insurance policy (with sufficient limits) in place that will act as a security blanket in the case of any unfortunate events while on the road. Stay safe out there!

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Insuring a Car That You Don't Own

When you apply for a policy, auto insurance companies look to see if you have what’s known as “insurable interest” in the vehicle. If you own the car, that interest is clear. If you don’t own the car, things can get murky. Without insurable interest, insurers worry you might not make the effort to keep the car from being damaged, since it's not yours anyway.

There’s another reason why trying to insure a car you don’t own makes insurers wary: sometimes, it’s a sign of insurance fraud. Generally, you have to have some ownership of the auto to insure it. Otherwise, anyone could buy insurance on another person's car and get paid off when it gets damaged.

How am I going to insure a car I don't own?

There are several legitimate reasons why someone wants a vehicle they don't own to be insured. A typical scenario includes parents donating their child an old car, or a grandparent granting their grandchild primary use of their vehicle until they stop driving regularly. More often than not, for families, there's a fast remedy. For example, if you still live with your parents, they will generally add you to their policy as a driver. Separate addresses can make matters more difficult, but nonetheless, there are ways to get it done. Here's a description of several methods for insuring a vehicle you don't own.

Get the co-entitled car

To get your car insured, you don't even need to own it. Your name will simply be applied to the title. If a funding scheme is in place on the car, co-titling can be complicated, but if it has already been paid off, it is a way to give yourself an insurable interest in a vehicle.

Demonstrate Necessity

Outside of co-titling, if it's your only mode of transportation and you expect to drive it frequently, you will sometimes persuade the insurer to cover the vehicle. Say you need a car to go to work, you can't afford one of your own, and there's no local public transit. When you have daily custody of it, carriers will insure the vehicle for you. This also comes with college students driving the cars of their parents when they live at school.

Check the rules of each carrier

Some insurance providers, even though you live with the owner of the car, deny compensation, while others do not. If you do not have possession of the car or live with the primary title holder or have any insurable interest in the car, an insurance provider will give you insurance. In other words, shopping around and asking a lot of questions helps. Each insurer is different and underwriting can vary, even among the same insurance provider, from state to state.

Transparency and being honest with your insurers

You don't need to dish out a sad story to an insurance provider, but it does help to be honest about your case. Give them all the information they need about your driving background, your financial records, and where, where, and how much you expect to drive your vehicle. If necessary, remind them that when you're saving up to buy it you need an insurance policy to run the vehicle. Conversely, hiding details could turn off an insurance provider that would have given you a chance otherwise.

Explore other options for insurance

Prior to purchasing the car from its owner, add your name to the title or locate a carrier that can cover the vehicle, non-ownership status notwithstanding, you will still carry out a non-car owner's insurance policy. Insurance for non-owners is minimal. It can only give you mitigation of liabilities (no comprehensive, accident, etc.) since it is supposed to insure you while renting or running a vehicle infrequently. Still, for the time being, it gives you some protection and keys to the vehicle. Car insurance premiums, for the most part, protect cars that are purchased by the individual who holds the policy. However, there are exceptions in which someone can get a policy on a vehicle that they do not own. Find out about the process of insuring a car that isn't your own and why you might want to do so.

The first thing insurers search for as you qualify for a policy is insurable interest. In the first place, which is actually the motive you have for wanting insurance. Owning the car in most situations counts as an insurable interest, but you would have to demonstrate your interest in another way if it fails. There is no simple reason, without insurable interest, for you to keep the vehicle in good shape. Note, insurance firms just tend to cover drivers that don't face as much risk, but they often won't bother making a scheme on you if you don't have a strong interest in keeping the car in good shape. A typical technique used for insurance evasion is not getting insurable interest, but needing coverage anyway, because it is used by insurance providers as a red flag.

State Preventative Legislation

There are certain cases under which it is difficult to get insurance on a car that you simply do not own. The ones identified by state laws are among the most common. In New York, for instance, since the name on the insurance card would be an exact match to the name on the registration, you cannot insure a vehicle you do not own. This must be the duty of the real owner of the car to have protection that would preferably cover accidents suffered by other passengers as well. If losses surpass the insurance coverage of the owner, though, you will be liable for the balance out of your pocket.

How to Insure a Car that You Don't Own

If you want to insure a vehicle that you don't own, it's a pretty simple process. Here are some of the easiest options to get cover on a vehicle you don't have:

State an added interest

You can add the car owner as an additional interest to your own insurance policy. This is the simplest and most popular way for a car that is not yours to get protection. Bear in mind that this won't increase insurance costs; on the part of another party, it only notes extra insurable interest.

Use the policies of the owner

You can add yourself to the insurance policy of the owner. This is most often achieved when you remain in the same house as the driver of the vehicle and the policy. Only bear in mind that the citizenship ZIP code and the ZIP code of where the vehicle spends much of its time have a big effect on insurance premiums.

Buying a non-owner policy

In certain areas, special insurance plans are available from organizations addressing this peculiar situation. Just note that it can't take the place of the insurance policies required by the purchaser. Instead it acts as a supplement to the main strategy of the car.

Attach your name on the title

Placing your name on the label is a perfect way for insurance providers to show insurable interest. If the title is already secured by a lender, this may be difficult, but if the car is paid off, all that's needed is a bit of paperwork. Loans, though, appear to get longer, so this approach may be difficult.

Convince your insurer

Need is illustrated by the more complicated approach of proving insurable interest. Although not as easy as having your name on the cover, if you're going to drive the car regularly, you can always make an argument to an insurance provider. Typically, if you require the vehicle to commute to work, you can't afford your own car, and there are no realistic choices for public transportation, need can be seen.

Coverage with Non-Owner Insurance

Non-owner insurance offers a different set of choices and coverage than regular insurance. It depends, for the most part, on insurance compensation for accident and loss to property. Under certain cases, medical payment compensation and uninsured motorist coverage can also be available, although it's not very common. The owner's coverage will take place first whether you are involved in an injury, and your non-owner insurance coverage will cover the balance, assuming it does not surpass the exposure cap.

Since this type of policy does not include a proprietary car, a robust and crash coverage is not available. Roadside aid compensation for costs such as towing is also inaccessible. While this policy can apply to leased cars, by implication, that's not an inference you should make.

When you need insurance from non-owners

There are many situations in which if possible, you would prefer to get non-owner insurance coverage to avoid the risk of future significant out-of-pocket costs. This is highly relevant if there are active safety measures in the vehicle in question. The situations are as follows:

Following state legislation

In some jurisdictions, in order to reinstate a driver's license, you are supposed to have insurance. Which is most widely referred to as the evidence of financial obligation rule, and if you are seeking to get your license back following a serious conviction like a DUI, that is extremely relevant.

Usage of a car-sharing plan

Non-owner plans aim to complement the liability coverage offered by the service if you use a car-sharing service. The coverage offered does not provide adequate insurance coverage on all the losses, but in the end, having your own policies will save you money.

Maintaining consistent coverage

A coverage loss makes you look vulnerable to insurers, so this risk should be minimized by having any kind of insurance under your name at all times.

Borrowing other cars

It is often better to get your own insurance cover added to yours if you borrow someone else's vehicle fairly frequently. That way, even though the damage from an injury extends the coverage limits, you're potentially safe.

With these conditions in mind, a vehicle you don't own can be covered fairly easily. It's much less expensive than a regular insurance package, but the extra coverage is still worth getting. If you do not own a vehicle but also travel regularly, an auto insurance policy for non-owners might be a smart investment. The owner's auto insurance policies should protect you when you drive someone else's vehicle, assuming you are driving the car with the approval of the owner. However, you could be on the hook for a large sum of money if you get into an accident and the costs surpass the amount defined by the insurance coverage of the owner.

When this occurs, to reclaim the remainder, the injured party may come for your personal belongings, including your savings and house. By can the size of your gross coverage, non-proprietary policies will better shield you. If you are without a vehicle for a period of time, for example, spending a year overseas, and choose to retain continuous insurance coverage to reduce higher premiums in the future, non-owner insurance may also be useful. (If the insurance coverage has lapsed recently, insurers usually charge higher rates.)

Auto insurance for non-owners: What is it and how does it work?

For drivers who don't own a vehicle, non-owner car insurance can be a risky affair. It would pay for injury and harm to someone and their belongings if you are driving a vehicle that someone else owns and causes an accident. Auto insurance for non-owners is generally a "secondary coverage," which means it is used if the insurance of the car owner falls short of covering for maintenance and hospital costs in an accident that is the responsibility. First the insurance coverage on the vehicle you are renting can be used and only if you have greater risk caps than the car owner, the non-owner policy kicks in. Note that non-owners' auto insurance will not cover damage to the car you drive or cover any injury if you are responsible for a crash. If you regularly borrow cars or drive someone else's car or want to retain constant coverage throughout the time you don't own a vehicle, non-owner car insurance is a good match for you. In comparison, high-risk drivers who are forced to obtain a liability policy to retain a driver's license use non-proprietary auto insurance.

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SR22 Non-Owner Insurance

If you do not own a vehicle, but your high-risk driver profile allows you to register with your state a proof of insurance certificate, such as an SR-22 or FR-44, a non-owner policy will meet the requirement of liability coverage you need to retain your driver's license. When you already are in possession of a car, there will also be cases of needing a non-owner policy. If you are satisfied with your new auto insurance carrier, but are in need of a state filing, such as an SR-22 or FR-44, and the current carrier does not sell them, you can only carry out an extra policy to meet the criteria of the state. Generally, these supplemental policies are cheap since they do not cover your car and can be set to the minimum specifications of your jurisdiction.

Vehicle coverage for non-owners

A non-owner insurance scheme focuses primarily on providing you with legal compensation for personal harm and collateral loss. As part of their non-owner auto insurance plans, some car insurance providers also provide medical payments and uninsured/underinsured body accident coverage for motorists. For non-owner plans, optional compensation forms, such as robust, accident, towing reimbursement, and leasing reimbursement, are not eligible as there is no car added to the policy. Usually, there are no deductibles involved with auto insurance for non-owners.

When you lease a vehicle and get into an accident, your non-owner car insurance will protect you. However not all non-owner plans provide protections to rented vehicles, so if you plan to borrow cars, check the fine print of the contract prior to purchase. The auto owner's car insurance pays out first if you steal someone's car and wreck it. Your non-owner insurance will then pay out as secondary compensation if there is not enough to cover losses, provided the risk cap on the policy is high enough. Its exposure cap needs to be higher than the liability limit of the car owner for the non-owner insurance to kick in as secondary compensation.

INSURANCE AGENT EXPERTS

Wilson Mathew Nechikat

Wilson Mathew Nechikat

Principal

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Anthony Luu

Anthony Luu

Sr. Director of Insurance Operations

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Ezra Peterson

Ezra Peterson

Sr. Director of Insurance

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Danny Herrera

Danny Herrera

Head of Commercial Insurance

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Auto Insurance Data Methodology

The auto insurance rates published in this guide are based on the results of research completed by Way.com’s data team. Using a mix of public and internal data, we analyzed millions of rate averages across U.S. ZIP codes.

Quotes are typically based on a full coverage policy average unless otherwise noted within the content.

These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only — your own quotes will differ. Given this, it’s important to go through our insurance steps form to find how much you can save with way.com

Car Insurance FAQs

Can you insure a car you don’t own?

Adding the car driver is usually the best way to insure a vehicle you do not own. Listing the owner as an extra interest does not automatically increase the cost of an automobile insurance policy. It merely states someone else has an insurable interest in the vehicle.

How to get a rental car insurance if you don’t own a car?

Insurance on a vehicle doesn't protect the car itself. For this, you can either buy insurance that will pay for related incidents or rent the car using a credit card that offers such compensation.

How to insure a car you don’t own?

Adding an out-of-state driver is the best way to cover a car you do not own. Listing an extra driver interest on an automobile insurance policy does not necessarily increase the policy's cost. It only means someone else has an insurable interest in the vehicle.

Can you be insured on a car you don't own?

Usually, insuring a vehicle you don't own is not possible. Generally, the person who has title to a vehicle has to have car insurance on it. Car insurance firms want to make sure the car under coverage is the one that the primary policyholder owns.

Why should I compare auto insurance quotes?

Shopping around and taking the time to compare car insurance quotes will make sure your wallet stays healthy while getting more than adequate car insurance coverage for your vehicle. What's more, you're never shot of options either! From the biggest auto insurance companies like Allstate Insurance to more affordable policies from Erie and Country Financial, you'll get quotes that are tailor-made for your budget. We recommend revisiting your policy options once a year - remember to check online for any updates or add-ons to your existing policy as well.

Can I get cheap insurance on rideshares?

A number of auto insurance companies will let you add-on rideshare insurance to your existing policy. This generally costs around $15 more per month, and is a good idea if you're someone that uses your vehicle in rideshare scenarios. If your auto insurer doesn't provide this add-on, we recommend you look in to other insurance options that get you a more comprehensive deal. Note that if your state does not allow for rideshare insurance, you may be required to purchase a commercial insurance policy.

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