For some context, I totaled my first car on dec 1st due to mechanical failure. Flipped end over end twice. Almost done paying it off so i still was paying for full coverage. The insurance company (Liberty Mutual) paid me 6k for my car, paid off the rest (1.5K) and used the rest for a down payment on a new used car on the 16th. This morning while driving to work i hit a deer going 70 down the highway. My dad and i were in the process of adding the new car to our policy but it was the weekend and i was not home and the claim that since the car is solely in my name i needed to have my own policy. I am listed as a driver on my parents insurance and live in the same residence and this car was bought as a replacement for the last car that was totaled but was in my moms name. I know there is a certain amount of grace period days (i believe in the state of PA its 14) but the insurance company is claiming that there is nothing they can do and will not help since the car is only in my name and not mine and a parent. There was intent shown to add the car to the policy (the call on Friday) and everything I've read in the policy language points to the person we talked to this morning being wrong and it just being a blanket denial with nothing formal in writing. I am freaking out and have no idea what to do if they do not cover the damages. I've never been in an accident and now i've had two major accidents back to back and im mortified to even think about driving anymore. What are my chances of getting fucked over?
I need some advice before i go insane.
byu/adolfsmissingtesti inInsurance
Posted by adolfsmissingtesti
7 Comments
That doesn’t sound like it meets the definition of a replacement auto man. You are likely 1000% shafted on this one.
If you took out a loan it’s highly unlikely that they would have let you drive off the lot without proof of full coverage insurance. When I bought my very first car I had to immediately call my insurance company and have them add the new car to my policy right there or they were absolutely not releasing the car to me at all.
What form of proof insurance did you provide when you took the most recently purchased car off the lot? Who was the insured party? Sounds like it was financed?
I’m sure the insurance will provide a proper denial letter citing the policy language used to deny this. In the meantime, you can read the policy yourself. Depending on the exact language of the policy you’ll be looking at the definitions of something like’ newly acquired’ and ‘replacement’ vehicles.
From there, you’ll need to carefully read how the vehicle qualifies. Your time limit is likely ok, the issue is who the owner is. The policy probably indicates that the named insureds (your parents) on the policy need to be the owner of said new vehicle, so a child of the named insured being the owner won’t be extended automatic coverage under the policy. The vehicle would need to be actually added before it’s extended coverage, if your carrier even allows that, at not all do.
Additionally, if you are on the policy, then you driving a car that you personally are the owner of that’s not on the policy, that vehicle is then excluded from coverage as like a ‘non-owned’ or ‘other’ car.
I think you are confused. There would be a grace period IF the vehicle was going on the same policy. This was not. Your parents cannot insure a vehicle they don’t own. So you should have gotten your own insurance before ever leaving the lot.
So the issue is that a driver is not a named insured or owner of the policy. The language of the policy may be so specific that it states a newly acquired auto (or something similar) must be purchased by a named insured to qualify for coverage. The nuance will be what the policy says regarding the owner/purchaser of the vehicle and the definition of that person on the policy.
It will vary by state and company, but generally, if you’re the owner of the car, you have to own the policy. Somebody listed as a driver doesn’t own the auto policy.
Lots of people made assumptions here that are coming back to bite you, it’s going to be an expensive lesson.
How did you settle quickly. Mines being dragging for months. I keep refusing their low ball offers