Does car insurance follow the person or the car?

[chuckywang]

Say you bought a used car that is not insured, but you have insurance yourself. Can you drive it?

 

[Midlander]

Depends on the state, but generally no.

 

[SampSon]

Look up your state insurance laws.
Car insurance generally covers the car and the primary driver listed on the insurance policy.

 

[Lola]

in many states, it follows the car, so as long as you allow the person to drive, your car will be covered.

EDIT: IF something should happen, the claim (and if there is a lawsuit) will be on YOU.

 

[DaWhim]

you can drive it.

 

[chuckywang]

The state is IL.

 

[cubby1223]

Insurance covers the car, not the person. If you purchase a new car, you must tell your insurance company about it. You have a day or two leniency to get it insured - just don't go driving recklessly that first day & you'll be fine.

 

[Sphexi]

Supposedly with my company (State Farm) if I buy a new car, I have a certain number of days to tell them about it and it'll be covered. I'm not certain, I've always called them that day with the info over the phone and gotten it setup, and picked up my cards and all that.

 

[DaTT]

I too am with Sate Farm and have such a policy that everything I touch is insured.

 

[Hummin]

Originally posted by: Midlander
Depends on the state, but generally no.

Actually, if you check your insurance policy, I think you'd find you are incorrect. Almost without exception, you can purchase a car and drive off if you have valid insurance on another vehicle at the time. Almost each and every insurance company will cover a newly purchased car without it being put on your policy for a finite amount of time.....ranging in time depending on policy from 14-30 days.

Now, there are some situations where the insured is not going to be able to do this............most probably those that have had to file SR-22s, or have other major problems.

But insurance follows the PERSON, not the CAR. YOU buy the policy, you delete cars from the policy, add cars to the policy. The policy is issued to the INDIVIDUAL to insure a car, no matter what car. The premium, on the other hand, will change depending upon what car it is you're insuring. Think about it.........does your policy automatically follow the car you've sold to another person.......does that person assume YOUR policy when he buys your car? The simple answer is NO........you just delete that car from your policy and add a new car to it......typically AFTER you've purchased it.

 

[Captante]

Auto insurance follows the driver, not the car ... I know for a fact that ANY vehicle I'm driving legally is fully covered by my insurance including rented cars, borrowed cars and newly purchased cars ... the only problem that could come up would be if I somhow managed to total a new car without adding it to the policy first, so I'd always make sure I did that before even driving it off the dealers lot.