Can you have car insurance in another state?

You cannot be on your parents’ car insurance if the car is in your name and you are listed as the sole owner. Your parents can’t insure your car unless they are listed as owners. So if you are thinking about buying your own car, it is a good idea to ask for quotes from several ... read full answerinsurance companies first. Your parents’ insurance company may not offer you the best rates when you’re alone on a policy.

When You Can and Cannot Be on Your Parents' Car Insurance

If you are not listed as the sole owner of the car, you might be able to get even cheaper insurance. Living in your parents’ home allows you to list them as the owners of the car you’re driving, in which case you can remain on their policy and save money.

Additionally, If you are a college student who uses your parents’ address as your permanent place of residence, and you drive a car owned by your parents, you can remain on their policy. If you do not bring that car to college with you, you might be able to qualify for additional discounts.

It takes 3 to 5 years for car insurance to go down after an at-fault accident in most cases. Three years is a common penalty period for property damage claims. Insurance companies penalize drivers longer for accidents causing serious bodily harm or resulting from reckless or intoxicated driving. Premium increases vary widely by state and insurer, but the average increase is 41% after a single claim of $2,000 or more.... read full answer

Rates increase after an at-fault accident both to pay for the fees associated with filing a claim and to compensate the insurer for taking a higher risk. Drivers who have caused one accident are statistically more likely to be involved in another one.

Of course, if you pay for a policy with “accident forgiveness,” your rates won’t be raised for your first at-fault accident. Even without accident forgiveness, some insurance companies may give you a pass if it’s your first auto accident on a spotless driving record. Also, minor fender benders with less than $2,000 in damage may not trigger rate hikes.

However, no matter how minor your accidents are, if you have more than one within 6 years, or you have a combination of tickets and claims within 2-3 years, you are likely to face higher rates. Sometimes, it’s cheaper to pay for minor accident damage out of your pocket than to file a claim and trigger a rate increase.

Unfortunately, even if the accident you’re involved in isn’t your fault, you may find your insurance premium going up if you make a claim. This practice is prohibited by some states, but a study by the Consumer Federation of America found that most drivers who have made claims for not-at-fault accidents experienced rate increases of 8%-12%. For the insurance company, how much you’ve cost them is the most important consideration.

If age or inexperience, rather than accidents or violations, are the cause of your high premiums, you should see some decrease each year. If you’re a young driver, the biggest drop will come when you turn 25. If you are an older new driver, the largest decrease will come when you have five years of safe driving behind you.

I wish I could give you a definitive answer, but it would be irresponsible to do so in light of the sheer number of different types of auto insurance policies and providers that exist. In other words, I wouldn’t want to make a sweeping statement that leaves you vulnerable due to the specific language and nature of your policy. ... read full answer

In most cases, however, the types of coverage, liability limits and deductibles associated with your policy will extend to rental cars. That means if, for example, you only have liability coverage as part of your current auto insurance plan, you won’t have any collision coverage for physical damage that may occur to a rental car. Likewise, if you have relatively low collision coverage and you end up totaling a rental car, you’ll likely have to cover the difference between your coverage limit and the cash value of the rental.

The best thing to do is call your insurance provider and ask what you’re covered for and what kind of additional rental coverage you’ll need. It’s really worth doing so because they supplemental coverage rental car companies try to sell you can get quite expensive.

With that said, your auto insurance isn’t the only source of potential rental car coverage you likely already have. Most credit card networks (i.e. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover) and credit card issuers (e.g. BofA, Capital One, etc.) automatically provide some form of rental car insurance.

For example, all Visa cards provide a rental car Collision Damage Waiver as long as you pay for the entire rental transaction with your Visa card and decline any coverage options offered by the rental company itself. This protects you for physical damage and/or theft of your rental up to the actual cash value of the vehicle, reasonable towing charges, and loss-of-use charges assessed by the rental company.

MasterCard, American Express and Discover all seem to have similar policies and at the very least provide some sort of rental car coverage. Again, the best thing to do is call your card’s issuer and ask what kind of coverage your particular card gets you, what types of cars it covers (Amex’s standard coverage only applies to standard rentals), and what, if anything, you need to do to benefit.

Finally, for some people it might make sense to simply purchase an add-on to their auto insurance policy that covers them for all non-owned cars. This is called Unlimited Non-Owned Car Coverage (UNOC) and depending on the company, you may be able to get it, cancel it whenever you so choose, and only have to pay a prorated charge.