Specific car insurance question

[kema1212]

My coworker just told me that if my husband and I don’t have car insurance from the same company, we’re not allowed to drive each other’s cars. To me this sounds ludicrous, since the insurance follows the vehicle and not the person.

My BIL recently crashed his girlfriend’s car and he had no car insurance at all because he doesn’t own a car. The vehicle was claimed on her insurance.

So, do I need to have the same insurance company that my husband has, if we were to have two cars?

 

[godzillla]

@kema1212 Insurance follows the car. Not the driver. Unless a spouse is specifically excluded through a signed document then spouse borrows car and the insurance comes with it. Your coworker is wrong

 

[catracy]

@godzillla In Quebec when you lend your car, you lend your insurance. Depending on the company if we analyze and realize you've been sharing your car fairly often, we can request to add that driver as an occasional. If you refuse, the insurer is allowed to refuse the coverage for future usage of the car by that driver, since you've shown clearly you had the intention to lie or hide some facts to the insurer to save on premium. It usually is a way better idea to name that driver if he uses the car more than 2-4 times a year. It avoids those problems following a claim. It also avoids bad surprises because with the driver license number we get access to the history of the driver and you know exactly which risk you are taking by lending your car.

 

[kema1212]

@godzillla Yeah, it’s really not as black and white as she made it out to be. I think ray2kay was correct that there is a scenario where I wouldn’t be allowed to drive my husbands car if I wasn’t listed as an occasional driver, unless I had a car with a policy from the same company.

 

[resjudicata]

@kema1212 This for my province, so double check.

As long as you are a principal driver on any insurance policy, you can drive anyone’s cars same policy or not. In the event of a claim, the insurance of the car you are driving will pay unless there is an insufficiency then yours will pay.

For occasional driver, they need to be mentioned on every car UNLESS the cars are with the same company.

This is very general info for QC, I can’t confirm for your province. The point in general is to have a driver rated somewhere on a policy.

In the event of a driver taking a car once every few months, there is no need to mention it because in the end the insurer for the vehicle being driven will still pay.

 

[kema1212]

@resjudicata Thank you, I’m in QC as well. I guess the specific situation she’s describing is the occasional driver scenario.

 

[resjudicata]

@kema1212 I am a broker so this is the standard in QC with my insurers

 

[pinetowntree]

@kema1212 I'm in ON so not sure if this is helpful for you. But you both need to be listed as drivers on each others policies to be covered. If you are not listed as a driver and you are driving your husbands vehicle the claim will be on HIM not YOU. Also, if it comes out in the claims process that you are driving his vehicle most often and not listed it COULD (big could here. but technically speaking)result in the claim could be denied. To save the hassle of questions, just call your insurance company and make sure you're both listed as drivers on each vehicle.

 

[kema1212]

@pinetowntree Yeah exactly, if I’m not insured then it would fall on his insurance. I think the scenario my coworker is talking about is one mentioned by ray2kay

 

[kleodug]

@kema1212 Your question aside, you can generally expect a discount insuring two cars with the same carrier.

 

[kema1212]

@kleodug Yeah for sure. We’ve had two cars before but don’t now. My coworker was actually talking about her own situation, but the whole thing was just easier to explain with a hypothetical about my own situation. We dont have any current need for two cars.

 

[kleodug]

@kema1212 If you can avoid that extra expense, good for you.