Most people are aware that it’s a legal requirement to have insurance coverage on your car in most states. Beyond that, however, the details can get confusing. When you come up against an unusual situation regarding your car insurance, it’s a good idea to check out the legality of your choice to ensure that you’ll still be properly covered.
One of those situations might be attempting to insure two vehicles—can you choose to ensure one at one company and the second at a different company? Or are you required to insure your cars all at the same company? Beyond the legality of it, will insurance companies even do it?
Legality Of Insuring Two Cars With Two Separate Policies
From a legal perspective, you’re completely in the clear if you choose to insure your two vehicles at two separate companies. Of course, you’ll have to make sure that both policies meet the state’s minimum standard for insurance. But as long as you do that, you’ll be completely fine insuring your vehicles at two separate car insurance companies. Just make sure you’re carrying the right insurance card if you get pulled over!
Will Insurance Companies Do This?
Typically, insurance companies won’t have a problem with insuring only one of your vehicles, so long as you have coverage on the other one.
However, this can put you in a bind if neither vehicle has coverage right now, because insurance companies may refuse to insure only one household vehicle if the other does not have any insurance at all. This isn’t a legal issue; it might just be their company’s rules.
If this situation is presenting a problem for you, the easiest fix is to shop around—different insurance companies have different criteria for offering coverage, and you may find two that aren’t concerned with the other vehicle at all. If you’re having trouble finding two, though, you can still fix the problem by insuring both vehicles on one policy, and then switching one of them off to another policy.
Why Would You Want To Do This?
Since insurance companies usually give you a discount on insuring multiple vehicles, you might be wondering why anyone would be curious about this to start with.
There are two main reasons that people want to insure two vehicles with two separate policies:
- They are receiving some sort of discount or promotion from both companies that they would not receive if they insured both
- They have one (or more) specialty vehicles as well as a daily driver
In the first case, for example, some insurance companies offer more than just car insurance. You might be getting a steep discount on your homeowners insurance by having a policy with one company, but insuring your other car at another company will still save you money on that car’s insurance. Or, perhaps you get a discount that only applies to one vehicle—some discounts for seniors and veterans work this way.
As for specialty vehicles, there are plenty of hobbyists and professionals who have a vehicle that is far outside of the daily driver norm. These might include owning your own 18 wheeler for work. Or, perhaps you have a racing hobby and have a heavily modified race car. Another type of specialty car that might require separate insurance is an antique or classic car. But why does that mean two policies? Because there are whole insurance industries dedicated to insuring these specialty vehicles, that will give you better coverage for that vehicle, while it’s still advantageous to cover your other car under a more traditional plan.