The reason I'm asking is because I thought insurance usually kicks in the following day or after midnight but I see people buying cars and driving them home right away.
When you buy a new car, then add it to your instance before driving from dealership, is it covered right away.
byu/Tipsy247 inInsurance
Posted by Tipsy247
13 Comments
I had this same question. My agent told me I was automatically covered for up to 30 days after the date of purchase before I had to inform them. Just call your agent, YMMV
Most policies have a grace period of up to a month in which a new purchase needs to be reported. The vehicle is covered during the grace period. You should never drive a vehicle without insurance coverage.
In Ontario there is some leeway where a car will be covered for a time after purchase. You can also do what is called a same day bind and have a car insured immediately after signing the paperwork
With regards to the 30 day grace period.
1) the coverage is not free. You have to pay back to the date the car was bought
2) you only get the coverage you have. I.e. you have liability only on your 1992 civic and you trade it in on a new BMW. You only get liability on the new car as you only had liability on the civic. You wreck that BMW it won’t get repaired.
My insurance went into effect the same day they can’t let you drive off the lot without it being active and they know this. The first lawsuit of them accepting the policy and then claiming it wasn’t active until the next day would end that scam right quick.
That is typically because they have an existing policy that covers them for newly acquired vehicles. If you don’t have an active insurance policy, you would need to obtain one before purchasing a new vehicle, especially if financing.
Last car I got we couldn’t drive of the lot without our insurance going thru first. IDK if that varies by state…
14 days as long as it’s reported to insurance. It’ll be covered for the same amount as your current vehicles.
This is just my experience, but my wife bought a new car, we are picking it up on Saturday. I added it to our insurance, which becomes effective on Saturday.
NY will not register a car w/o insurance that is valid that day. You will be driving without registration then.
You can certainly swap a car and print a new insurance card.
Coverage is same day here. Plenty of times that I or a coworker started a new policy and needing to go back into the policy for something else shows an effective date same day the app was submitted. Haven’t seen one yet that was effective the day after unless the policy holder requested it.
Check your contract, most policies have automatic new acquisition coverage.
Yes.