As Geico recently raised my rate a ridiculous amount for my my upcoming renewal I was going over my options and was hoping for some input. My wife and I have 2 vehicles (1 each) and my 23 year old daughter also has one (currently in my name). My daughter moved out last year and into an apartment about 400 miles away while attending grad school, with no intentions of moving back home. Up until now my policy has covered all three of us and all three vehicles. While doing online quotes of all of us I decided to try it with getting her her own policy. It will cost a little more (about $40-$50) per month but it will protect me of future rate increases if she gets into another crash. She had an at fault crash 4 years ago in which she totaled a car and a recent small crash that was reported but had no payout for any damage. The only other thing I would do is title her car in her name. Should I keep things as is or should I get her a separate policy?

It comes down to a couple of things.

1. Does "Dear Daughter" learn, take accountability and grow from her actions/behaviors mitigating the cost to your premiums?

2. Do you find yourself paying for her poor behaviors/actions in higher premiums?

3. Which help her become a better and more conscientious adult, vs, your "carrying" her through the things in life that help her learn to adapt and overcome?

Maybe I am missing the whole of the question (as I often am able to do).

In the end, if any and all of my actions prevent my children from learning how to be responsible and self sufficient adults, then I believe I have failed at my responsibility as a parent.

(and I may have misunderstood the entirety of the post, and if so, graciously, ignore anything I have said... Says someone that has two adult daughters and three grandchildren, yet still second guesses all one has done which can be done, to help them all moving forward.)

My question is based more on the financial aspect rather than my daughter's behavior. She is good kid, getting straight A's while working on her master's. Her first crash was as a new driver and has been very responsible in life since then. This newest crash was her fault, but she didn't cause any damage to the car she tapped. It only got reported because the other driver was a paranoid freak and started screaming and demanded a police report. I'm a LEO and if had been taking the crash I would not have done a crash report on it, but unfortunately like I said she lives 400 miles away and didn't have any input on the action taken. I really don't expect her to get into another crash but I do know that if she did, not having her on my policy would keep the rate down on my vehicles. Unfortunately due to her being in school and having an unpaid internship as part of it along with losing her job as a substitute teacher due to Covid I am paying most of her bills at least until next summer.
And as I read your response it does help me make the decision to get the separate policy, as I have told her that if she were to get into another crash I would remove her from our policy and she would have to pay for her own at that point as I would not take the financial hit again for her actions.

In my POV, I would rather help my daughter(s) with her (their) own policy, than "carry" her (them) on mine. In my opinion, "helping" a person learn to be self reliant and self sufficient gives them better platform to learn to do for themselves, than to continue to treat them as "children under my care". (in the end, there is not always a "right or wrong" at being dad, Only the love and commitment to trying to do the right thing).

I pretty much was on my own for 16 years old, and have had to make my way. In my 60's, as much as I would have to have had "anyone", help me, I am grateful to have learned to be self sufficient.

And I have stood back (hard to do over the years) and let my girls struggle to make their own way, I believe it has made them stronger in the long run. (if my girls were boys, I would have named them both "Sue"...)

But, you bet your bottom dollar, I would have loved to have never seen them struggle in life.

I can only hope that I did the right things by them. And you can only hope to have done the right things by your's.

In the end, you posting shows you are concerned, caring, and that is a great deal more than some folks who never give thought if how their children will deal with the world, and all it throws at them.

I think you are a damned good dad, even across all the internet miles...

Thank you for your response and your insight. I will get her her own policy. I will obviously help her financially until she is able to pay for it herself unless she does something to warrant a change in that.
As you can see by my post count I have not been very active in posting although I am on here frequently to read what others have to say. Based on that I have learned that there are some very wise people here (sigmonkey) and being able to "think" out loud and get some good advice is invaluable. Thank you...

My overall cost was less with my college age daughter on a separate policy. It allows you to take her off the other vehicles.

When you say your daughter has a vehicle "in your name" does that mean you still have a financial interest in it? If it were uninsured and got wrecked, would you be the one responsible for the cost of replacing it? If she lives somewhere else with no intention of returning, have you reported the address where the vehicle is now being garaged to your insurer?

If the car is paid off and she owns it, or the loan is in her name, or she is otherwise the actual owner of the car, and if she has move out of the household with no intention of returning, then she should have her own policy. It may cost her a bit more, but if she has another loss, it will save you from the resulting premium increase. It allows the insurer to rate the policy properly. And will save you from potentially being seen a "rate evader" which could result in loss of your policy.

The monkey is wise. He answered as a parent first.

All I have to add is, if the car is still in your name, an accident may still count against you, regardless of who is driving or even in the car. I believe I heard this on the Clark Howard radio show a month or so ago.

Once he was over 18, I had my son on his own car title and insurance, so in case he was in a serious accident the liability would not be transferable to me.

Some insurance companies still give you a multi policy rate for doing this.

Sometimes it was cheaper to get him a policy with a different company.

Sometimes it was cheaper to go with one company.

I would go out and check rates yearly at renewal time.

In Fl it was cheaper to change companies every two years.

One would raise rates and the other would give me a new customer rate.

Two years later the new company would raise rates and I would go to another company at a lower rate for the same coverage.

I would go with the separate policies. I would still help with the premiums while she was in school but getting things separate is a wise risk mitigation move. Besides she is near a point where she will have to go on her own and building a history with an insurer could be ben in the long run.

My vote is to transfer the title to her, she gets her own policy and you can help financially if you wish. In addition to protecting you from rate increases it also protects your assets if she got into a big liability issue. (checking your liability limits is a whole other issue because many times state minimums aren't close to enough, say you cause a school bus full of kids to wreck)

Curious, if one transfers the title and insurance into their child's name, but that child still shares the same household, does that absolve the parent(s) of any liability? (

My insurance company only allows adult children on the policy if they live in the same household (or are in school with my home being the home of record).

If/when my kid moves out, the car title/registration/insurance go with them. Not even an option to keep them on my insurance at that point.

Put her on her own policy. She probably shouldnt be on your policy per your company's guidelines.

Any 23 year old should have vehicles titled in their name and figure out insurance on their own. Cost doesn't matter.

I hope the insurance company knows the car is kept, and driven, 400 miles from the insured's residence. If they don't, there's every chance they might deny a claim. Rates are based on usage and location as part of the cost and if they are unaware, they may consider the vehicle 'under-quoted'.

Put the car in her name. Then adjust the liability amount and deductibles for her risk, not yours.
I'd also do as sigmonkey recommends and let her do the legwork shopping around for the policy and using it to help prepare her for the day when she's the one paying. A child's education shouldn't be limited to academics but include real life experiences.
Also please include the wisdom of the sigmonkey disclaimer. If any of this is out of place and none of my business, feel free to ignore as you didn't ask for parenting advice from me. The two just seemed tangled together.

My concern with the car in your name, what if she is involved in a serious at fault collision. What would your liability be? The old "deep pockets" thing, if she has no assets to get would they come after you?

For that reason once my daughters became legally able to have a vehicle titled in their names I did just that. And their own insurance policies.

quote:

Originally posted by Gibb:
My insurance company only allows adult children on the policy if they live in the same household (or are in school with my home being the home of record).
If/when my kid moves out, the car title/registration/insurance go with them. Not even an option to keep them on my insurance at that point.

I went through this a year ago with my daughter. She remained on my insurance policy until after graduation. Even though she was out-of-state she was considered part of my household while she was in college.
She graduated, got a job, and her own insurance policy. I signed the car title over to her at that point.

I'm dealing with something similar with my daughter. We forced my daughter to get her own insurance to remove her driving record from our rates. I thought we were fine until Saturday.

My 21 year old daughter lives with us and works full time. I gave her a car that we transferred into her name and she got her own insurance. She had two small at fault accidents, one in 2017 and one last month.

On Saturday I received notification that Geico would not renew my personal umbrella policy due to my daughters driving history. I called them and asked why since my wife and I have no tickets or accidents and we don't even want my daughter insured on our policy. They said umbrella policies cover everyone in the household and there was nothing they could do.

I spent all Saturday working on this and it seems no one wants to insure me if my daughter is living in my house.

So to answer your question. I'd do everything I could to remove her from your insurance policies. You also need to get her car out of your name. Her risk should belong to her and not to you and your wife.