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Info regarding auto insurance in Maryland

W

WhiteKnight

Platinum Member
I'm currently a graduate student in Maryland and although I pay it myself, I am still on my parent's auto insurance in NJ. I am planning on being in Maryland for several years, as I am also getting married here, and because of the upcoming presidential election I was looking into changing my official residence to Maryland, which I realized my impact insurance issues. I talked with my father who talked with the insurance agent in NJ and it turns out that (contrary to what I originally believed) a licensed driver that does not own a car, such as myself, does not need insurance in NJ. Such a driver would be covered under the policy of the owner of whatever car they were driving. Now, this makes it easy for me to get off my parent's plan and save some money, as well as change my residency. However, I am looking for info about the laws in Maryland to see if they are similar. I searched google and while I found a bunch of sites saying "Every driver need to be insured," I found the same for NJ, which is apparently not true. So, any MD residents out there know what the deal is?

Cliff Notes
-It turns out that NJ laws don't require every licensed driver to be insured, just car owners. Non-owners are covered under the insurance of the owner of the car they are driving.
-I want to know if the same applies in MD.
 
Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're saying about NJ is entirely accurate. You don't have to carry insurance if you don't regularly drive a car in NJ, but if you regularly drive your parents' cars you have to be included in their policy. I can't answer your question about Maryland, but what exactly are you planning on doing? Getting married, but continuing to drive a car registered in your parents name?

Short answer - it's not worth the trouble because you're not going to affect the election either way.
 
I don't regularly drive any car. The car I drive most frequently is my fiancee's, but even then it's only once a month or so. What I'd like to do is drop my parent's insurance, change my residency to MD (something that has to happen eventually anyway, regardless of the election), and then get my own insurance when I get a car or when I become a regular driver of my fiancee's car.
 
You should be covered under her insurance, but call them just to make sure. I actually just switched to MD insurance (Geico) from NJ, but still have my NJ license and tags. Haven't had a chance to get to the MVA or DMV or whatever the hell it's called yet.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're saying about NJ is entirely accurate. You don't have to carry insurance if you don't regularly drive a car in NJ, but if you regularly drive your parents' cars you have to be included in their policy. I can't answer your question about Maryland, but what exactly are you planning on doing? Getting married, but continuing to drive a car registered in your parents name?

Short answer - it's not worth the trouble because you're not going to affect the election either way.
Click to expand...
That's not exactly true. I remember in High School, I was driving my friend's car that was under my friend's parents' policy. I didn't have insurance, and if I got into an accident, as long as the VEHICLE is insured it doesn't matter who drives it. Also, my brother didn't have insurance and he drove my dad's car alot, my dad said his insurance would cover any damages so it was a non issue. 😉

 
Most insurance companies will NOT cover an accident, if the driver is not on the policy for that car. They may repair the damage to the car for the owner, but they will not pay damages to the other parties involved in the accident, which would have to be paid out-of-pocket by the driver and the owner may find their rates much higher.
 
Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Originally posted by: mugs
Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're saying about NJ is entirely accurate. You don't have to carry insurance if you don't regularly drive a car in NJ, but if you regularly drive your parents' cars you have to be included in their policy. I can't answer your question about Maryland, but what exactly are you planning on doing? Getting married, but continuing to drive a car registered in your parents name?

Short answer - it's not worth the trouble because you're not going to affect the election either way.
Click to expand...
That's not exactly true. I remember in High School, I was driving my friend's car that was under my friend's parents' policy. I didn't have insurance, and if I got into an accident, as long as the VEHICLE is insured it doesn't matter who drives it. Also, my brother didn't have insurance and he drove my dad's car alot, my dad said his insurance would cover any damages so it was a non issue. 😉
Click to expand...

In the case of you driving your friend's car - insurance policies cover other drivers if you lend them your car. In the case of your brother driving your dad's car, you can't very well claim he was "borrowing" it if he drives it on a regular basis. If someone is the primary or secondary driver of a vehicle and you lie to your insurance company about it, that would probably be insurance fraud. Do you think everyone else adds their children to their policy because they feel like paying more money?
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Originally posted by: mugs
Hmmm... I'm not sure what you're saying about NJ is entirely accurate. You don't have to carry insurance if you don't regularly drive a car in NJ, but if you regularly drive your parents' cars you have to be included in their policy. I can't answer your question about Maryland, but what exactly are you planning on doing? Getting married, but continuing to drive a car registered in your parents name?

Short answer - it's not worth the trouble because you're not going to affect the election either way.
Click to expand...
That's not exactly true. I remember in High School, I was driving my friend's car that was under my friend's parents' policy. I didn't have insurance, and if I got into an accident, as long as the VEHICLE is insured it doesn't matter who drives it. Also, my brother didn't have insurance and he drove my dad's car alot, my dad said his insurance would cover any damages so it was a non issue. 😉
Click to expand...

In the case of you driving your friend's car - insurance policies cover other drivers if you lend them your car. In the case of your brother driving your dad's car, you can't very well claim he was "borrowing" it if he drives it on a regular basis. If someone is the primary or secondary driver of a vehicle and you lie to your insurance company about it, that would probably be insurance fraud. Do you think everyone else adds their children to their policy because they feel like paying more money?
Click to expand...
People will add kids to their policy b/c usually the kids have their own vehicles. Like the OP said, in the event that the kid doesn't have a car, then the parent doesn't NEED to add the kid to their policy. The ins companies specifically ask who is in your household, and if you will be the only one driving the vehicle when setting the rate.
 
Originally posted by: SP33Demon

People will add kids to their policy b/c usually the kids have their own vehicles. Like the OP said, in the event that the kid doesn't have a car, then the parent doesn't NEED to add the kid to their policy. The ins companies specifically ask who is in your household, and if you will be the only one driving the vehicle when setting the rate.
Click to expand...

So when they ask if you're the only one driving the car, do you say yes? If so, you lied. If not, they'll raise your rates.

Text
Text
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: SP33Demon

People will add kids to their policy b/c usually the kids have their own vehicles. Like the OP said, in the event that the kid doesn't have a car, then the parent doesn't NEED to add the kid to their policy. The ins companies specifically ask who is in your household, and if you will be the only one driving the vehicle when setting the rate.
Click to expand...

So when they ask if you're the only one driving the car, do you say yes? If so, you lied. If not, they'll raise your rates.

Text
Text
Click to expand...
Well, originally my dad had said Yes, he was the only one. But a month later a guy totaled my brother's car, so he could only borrow Pop's car or catch a ride from my dad until he saved enough. If he had gotten hit while in my dad's car, they probably wouldn't cover damages to the other party if it was his fault, they would only cover damages to Pop's vehicle. This would be because dad didn't tell the company to notify them that someone else would be driving the car.

I guess the main question is, if you say someone else may occasionally be driving your car, are you technically adding them to your policy even if they don't have their own car in NJ?

Also, what do they mean in the first link when they say: "...or buying an umbrella liability policy for additional protection."?



 
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