Out the Door and Off Your Policy: Why Grown Children Need Their Own Personal Vehicle Policy

Published in Personal Insurance News & Insights on Monday, September 21, 2015

If you're like most parents, the day your children start driving is an anxious one. Will my daughter cause an accident? Will my son get hurt – or hurt someone else – in an accident? Having appropriate vehicle coverage for your dependent children can help lower that anxiety. (Notice I didn't say eliminate. You're a parent, after all!)

Fast-forward a few years to when your children permanently leave the nest. Under most personal auto policies, the term “insured” refers to family members – those related to you by blood, marriage or adoption – who live in the same household. Now that they're on their own, your children no longer meet family member status and they and their vehicles are no longer covered under your policy. There's one exception, however. Let's say your child stops by for a visit and then drives your car to run a few errands. Your son or daughter is considered a permissive user and is still covered under your vehicle policy. Those car-borrowing instances are probably few and far between, so having your children purchase their vehicle coverage is the prudent thing to do.

Here are a couple scenarios that drive this message home:

• Your daughter borrows her boyfriend's car and runs a stop sign, injuring the other driver. Without auto insurance, she has no liability coverage for the driver's bodily injury or for the damage done to the other vehicle. The out-of-pocket expenses drain her bank account, and possibly yours.
• Your son is jogging down the street and gets hit by an uninsured motorist. Without a personal vehicle policy, there's no medical payment or uninsured motorist coverage to pay for his injuries. Instead, he has to pay for these potentially high-dollar expenses himself. Can he, or will you have to chip in? 

Being a responsible parent means helping your children become responsible adults. PDCM can help protect your adult children, and yourself, with a specifically designed personal vehicle policy. Contact us today!