| Author | Message | ||
     Billp |
I've got a problem with insurance and I'm hoping somebody here has some ideas on how to deal with it. My 20yo son, lives at home, got a dui and totalled a car. Now our insurance company has ceeded us to some kind of funny high risk pool. My wife and are both good drivers so no problems with us. This 'high risk' think has very low limits, no collision, no comprehensive, just the minimums which is a problem because one of our cars has a loan and I'm suspecting the bank will call the loan in if we don't carry fully coverage on that vehicle. Plus its still worth a bit of $ so we should probably carry collision and comprehensive. (Volvo c30) So I'm trying to find new insurance. I would like to just leave my son off the policy completely. He can get a scooter or something and pay for his own insurance when the time comes. BUT, the problem is that everyone I've talked with is saying that we MUST include him on our policy because he lives in our house, even if we don't want him on it. WTF ! From what I can see his problem will drag down our entire household. Does anybody know of a way to deal with this sort of problem ? Theoretically he could buy a cheap car now, get an insurance policy with the absolute minimums, then after his court date hits it will only effect his policy and not ours, but it seems really crazy to go buy a car now if he'll probably loose his license for a year. btw, this is NC. | ||
| Thumper74 |
DUI? Does he have a license? In Ohio, you'll generally loose your license for at least 6 months, if not longer. I would think that the only way to get him off the insurance would be for him to move out or to not have a license. | ||
| Sam_07 |
Kick your son out of the house - problem solved...... I mean, have your loving child establish his residency else where. Insurance companies view him as a liability by having access to your vehicles. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Thats wild that his affects yours just because he lives with you. I dont know man, just doesnt seem right. Good luck | ||
| Iamike |
Not to say that your son would do this but I don't blame the insurance companies. In our town of 9,000 the weekly paper lists around 5 driving without license, barred, etc. They are just looking out for themselves. I get real tired of these deadbeats that just continue to go out and be irresponsible while I have to pay for them. | ||
| Slaughter |
Why are you talking to US? Call competing insurance agencies or attorneys. Sux but you gotta ask people who CAN work with you. Don't EVER feel you should be "loyal" to your insurance company - call around. | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
Yep. If your son has a driver's license... he's going to be included as a risk on your policy as long as he lives with you. Even while he loses the license, it's suspended, not counted as unlicensed, it'll affect you for 5 or 7 years, or until he moves out... | ||
| Xdigitalx |
In jersey,...if your kid is a passenger in someone else's car and they get into an accident... even if it's not their fault, guess who is paying?? Your insurance!! Because he is a registered driver in your household. I forget the exact legal mumbojumbo. This happened to my Brother and his son. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Yep, washington state, all licensed drivers living at the residence must be covered under the policies and lines of liability, collision equal to the originator policy. Get him out of the house. You could also go to an umbrella coverage that will allow you to increase coverage over the limits of the policies you have in force, and cover exemptions that the underlying policy has. This is probably the cheapest way to do it. A million dollar liability umbrella is significantly cheap. Talk to your agent, think outside of just the auto policy box. This is what I do with my policies, and medical riders (which are worthless on auto policies). check into the umbrella. Remember each state is different, but most national companies offer a similar batch of products. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I get real tired of these deadbeats that just continue to go out and be irresponsible while I have to pay for them. what "you" pay for is insurance fraud. There is NO correlation between a DUI offender being a substantially higher overall risk as a driver (after the DUI conviction **edit**) --certainly not the 300% or so your insurance rates will jump after a DUI. Just another reason for insurance company to screw people. The same can be said for speeding tickets and/or traffic violations. I have multiple speeding tickets on my record right now but no accidents since high school--yet I am perceived as a "high risk" driver. Aren't accidents the only times insurance companies "pay out?" And shouldn't this be the real criterion for higher insurance rate? The insurance fraud is what really kills 'em and they just recover via higher premiums for these supposed "high risk" drivers. •••• the insurance companies. Bloodsuckers. (Message edited by fresnobuell on March 22, 2011) | ||
| Blake |
>>> There is NO correlation between a DUI offender being a substantially higher overall risk as a driver In what world? | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
It's the same in California, if you kid has a license you have to insure him. I would buy him a bus pass and cancel the drivers license until he moved out. But I don't know your situation sometimes that might not work.. | ||
| Billp |
Thanks for the ideas everyone. I've gotten conflicting information from different agents but I'm going to try to get him a cheap car with a bare minimums policy in his name. That way when the shit hits the fan in court they ding his policy and not mine. I just need to make sure that if he has his own policy it still does not require him to be on mine. I'm also working on the details for cancelling his drivers license and buying him a bus pass. Then if he ever wants to drive again he has to do it on his own. Cityxslicker - I have a million $ umbrella on my current policy but I will probably loose it if my household goes into the high risk pool. That really pisses me off. I have no idea what will really happen until our day in court but thanks for all the ideas. To be honest I'm fed up with his crap, hopefully he'll smarten up if he ever wants to drive again. | ||
| Swordsman |
There is NO correlation between a DUI offender being a substantially higher overall risk as a driver  'Cuz drunk driving never killed anybody! ....oh, wait...... ~SM | ||
| Fresnobuell |
In what world? Subsequent to the DUI...sorry if I was not clear. | ||
| Macbuell |
If your son has a driver's license... he's going to be included as a risk on your policy as long as he lives with you. Even while he loses the license, it's suspended, not counted as unlicensed, it'll affect you for 5 or 7 years, or until he moves out... Sounds like your son needs to find a new address. | ||
| Americanmadexb |
Progressive DAMHIK! | ||
| Iamike |
Ask him if he wants to go to jail and be some guy's bitch for the next 15 years. A coworker's nephew did, and he said that it wasn't very nice. | ||
| Satori |
I am with the "he needs a new address pool" He is an adult, time for him to act like one. It would probably be much cheaper for you to help him get out on his own, than to keep him under your roof. I'd say its time for him to sack up and take his lumps, while the lumps are small. Good luck to you Both. | ||
| Billp |
hey Iamike. FWIW, I did NOT bail him out of jail for this one. I was hoping that he would stay there for at least a week but they released him after 2 days. Satori - You're right, he needs to grow a pair and join the adult world. Basically the way I see this shaking out is that I will get stuck holding the bag on the uber-expensive insurance policy but all our car keys are in the safe or my pocket and I'm going to put him on a payment plan for his portion of the insurance premium. I'll just take the monthly difference between the old and new premiums and thats what he owes. I don't care if he works the midnight shift at the local kwickie-mark. | ||
| Pwnzor |
In Georgia and California, you can have the policy written to specifically exclude certain household members. Not sure about other states. DUI at age 20? Good God, I was kicked out of the house at 15 for secretly owning a motorcycle. Time for some tough love. | ||
| Ratyson |
what "you" pay for is insurance fraud. There is NO correlation between a DUI offender being a substantially higher overall risk as a driver (after the DUI conviction **edit**) --certainly not the 300% or so your insurance rates will jump after a DUI. Just another reason for insurance company to screw people. The same can be said for speeding tickets and/or traffic violations. I have multiple speeding tickets on my record right now but no accidents since high school--yet I am perceived as a "high risk" driver. Aren't accidents the only times insurance companies "pay out?" And shouldn't this be the real criterion for higher insurance rate? The insurance fraud is what really kills 'em and they just recover via higher premiums for these supposed "high risk" drivers. Do the crime, pay the price. It is all a choice. If you have a DUI conviction, multiple speeding tickets, etc. The fact of the matter is, you ARE a higher risk to the insurance company. Flat out fact. And for those infractions, you will justifiably pay a higher premium for your high risk coverage. DUI, and/or multiple speeding tickets show a track record of irresponsibility. DUI more so than others, but that is beside the point. A track record of irresponsibility is going to cost you. Insurance companies carry a lot of monetary risk, so charging higher premiums to those with higher risk just plain makes business sense. Everything is a choice. And there are consequences to those choices.} | ||
| Court |
>>>>Flat out fact. And for those infractions, you will justifiably pay a higher premium for your high risk coverage. And . . . if the kid has not yet been convicted . . . he needs a GOOD attorney. Co-worker was just denied a permit to own a (can't type the word here at work) in NYC as a result of a sealed (they aren't really sealed) 1971 DUI conviction. If this is his first offense a good attorney will plead it to parking in front of a hydrant or anything. It'll impact college entrance, professional licensing and more things than you can possibly imagine. | ||
| Iamike |
Bill, Glad to see that you are making him suffer the consequences of his actions. In my coworker's case mom & dad kept getting him out of trouble until he killed an innocent father of 3 young kids. Was drunk & high. The prosecutor wanted to make an example since he had gotten so many free passes. Sentenced to 15 in the state pen. I would hear stories after family visits that would make any parent cringe. Each person is hard to figure how to walk that fine line of dicipline and over doing it. When my son got into trouble as a teen I drug him down to the local cop shop in the middle of the night for a scared-straight moment. It seemed to work since he has done well since then. Good luck. | ||
| Prowler |
Kinda had the same problem myself, just wanted to have full coverage insurance on my cars with the driving kid in the household.... BOING!...... insuance went up by thousands, whether or not he drove our cars. If he's got a license, they're going to HIT YOU. The only way we got around this was buying him an OLD dodge Neon and had it minimally insured in his name, with liability only. This removed him from our insurance, since he had a "dedicated car" to drive. Problem solved. He also pays his own insurance now..... | ||
| Saxon59 |
My daughter had a "81 Rustang when she started driving,I made her buy her own ins. from day one,she had a different ins. co.than me,got in a minor fenderbender(her fault)and MY INS.CO.cancelled ME.I don't even know how they found out about the accident!Ironicly,her ins.co. paid the other driver's repair bill and she didn't get cancelled,go figure.... |
