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Can I Add Someone To My Car Insurance That Doesn’t Live With Me?

Most people, aside from themselves, have their other household members added to their auto insurance. Not only is this a good idea, but it’s also usually against the policy not to add those who have access to the vehicle on a regular basis. It’s easy to add people who live with you to your car insurance policy, but what about people who don’t? Can you add someone who doesn’t live with you to your car insurance?

When you fill out the information online for your policy, you probably won’t see a place to add someone to your coverage that doesn’t live with you. But there are circumstances where this seems like a reasonable option—what can you do then?

For example, maybe you want to add your significant other to your car insurance, but they don’t live with you yet. Your insurance company isn’t going to let you add them. However, if they do borrow your vehicle now and then, your insurance will cover them.

What If I Want To Add My Children To My Policy?

If your children are adults and live elsewhere, you can’t add them to your insurance. However, there are lots of minors who have divorced parents and live primarily at once address. Generally, this works just as lending a vehicle to a friend does. The parent with the majority custody adds the child to their insurance, while the parent with secondary custody doesn’t. The child can still borrow their car on occasion and be covered. 

However, it can be more complicated if the parent with secondary custody owns a car that is for all intents and purposes, the child’s to drive. In that case, the best thing to do is talk with your insurance agent to figure out whether you need to add the child and vehicle to your regular policy or take out a new policy of a different type. 

Do I Need To Add Someone Who Lives With Me To My Policy If They Have Their Own Car Insurance?

You probably already know that you should add anyone in your household to your policy, but usually, that’s because you are sharing vehicles that are in your name. What if that person has their own vehicle and their own insurance policy? Do you need to add them as well?

Generally speaking, the answer is yes—for example, if your significant other has their own car and own policy, you should both add one another as drivers on your personal policies. However, there are circumstances where you don’t have to add someone who lives at the same address to your policy.

For example, if you have roommates, typically you should add them to your policy. That’s because if there’s ever a situation where they need to drive your car, it’s unlikely any accidents would be covered if they’re not on it. 

But you can exclude someone from your policy. If you do, it’s very important that they essentially never drive your car. While your insurance will cover damages if you lend your car to someone usually, they are hesitant to do so if it’s someone who lives with you that you excluded from your policy. 

Why? Because that looks like you excluded someone who has frequent access to your car, which is insurance fraud. 

As always, if you have a particularly unusual situation, the best course of action is to consult with your insurance agent to see what sort of policy they suggest to ensure that you are covered in the event of an accident.