The Insurance Implications Of Driving Friends Cars Or Allowing Them To Drive Yours
Usually it is a small favor to let friends borrow your car or ask to use their car to run a quick errand. Today available policies are quite varied that the implications of driving vehicles belonging to others or allowing others to drive yours should be checked. It is better to know the position before an accident happens and avoid getting disappointed with the way the claim is dealt with. Several scenarios will be discussed below hypothetically. It is important to check your insurance terms directly with the insurer rather than assuming anything.
Normally car insurance coverage goes with the car and then the driver. So, if you have an accident while driving a car belonging to someone else, the insurance of the car owner pays for it. If the coverage is not enough in that policy, your insurance may have to cover the rest. This is assuming you have full permission to use the car and there are no special conditions on the policy limiting the people who could drive the car. But this is never a rule and you should always check with the insurer before driving cars belonging to friends and family or allowing them to use yours.
Alternatively, you could arrange your policy to cover you regardless of the car you are driving. When you buy coverage for driving any car, it covers the liabilities arising from your fault. The comprehensive and collision damages should still be covered by the policy of the owner of the car. These policies are specific to the car it insures while you can buy liabilities coverage for any car you drive. So, the owner of the vehicle will have to make sure there are no limitations as to who drives the car occasionally. By the way, if you are going to drive a specific car on a regular basis you should make that clear to the insurer.
Some policies may provide limited cover automatically for family members or someone who lives with you. Many policies will ask you to list the people who live with you and some may insist that they are included in your policy. The best practice is not to assume anything and checking before allowing people to use your car or using cars belong to others. If these auto insurance features are important to you, you should make sure that they are included in your policy.
Some cheaper policies will only allow the drivers who are listed in the policy. When the car is only driven by certain people in the family this is a great way of saving money. Still, you can add other drivers temporarily and pay the difference if some relatives or friends fly in to stay with you on a rare occasion. When money is tight, there is no need to buy a policy that covers anyone driving the car with your permission.
As long as you know the limits of your policy, you can deal with it effectively. The problems after the accident could cause friction between you and friends. So it is extra important to check the insurance implications before generously allowing anyone to use your car.
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