Three Dangers Involved In Putting A Bad Driver On Your Insurance Policy
If you know a bad driver, you may be tempted to try to help that driver out. A bad driver's auto insurance quote can be extremely high, and safer drivers can often alleviate some of these costs by joining their policies with bad drivers who are living in the same house. This often happens in spousal relationships. The wife may be a good driver and the husband a bad driver (or vice-versa, of course), and the husband will ask the wife to join their policies so that the two can benefit from lower overall costs. While this may seem like an obvious move, there are a few dangers that good drivers should be aware of before putting a bad driver on a car insurance policy.
First of all, you may not be able to add the bad driver at all if you don't have an insurable interest in his or her vehicle. Some auto insurance companies require a policy to contain cars with an insurable interest for the policy holder, so while spouses and parents can often combine their vehicles under one policy, in many other situations this isn't a possibility. An example would be two brothers trying to combine their policies; if each own their own cars, this would have to be reported to the car insurance company, and more often than not, a combined policy would not be a possibility. However, the nature of this policy varies from one insurer to the next, so speak with your agent for more info.
You should also know that there are often disputes between two drivers who share a policy as to what each driver should pay. Insurance companies can help you out with this by breaking down your car bill into separate premiums, and you should ask them to do this. Otherwise, the bad driver may insist on splitting the cost of the policy, which will obviously leave the good driver in a worse position.
Finally, realize that any traffic citation or accident will cause the overall cost of the policies to rise. Good drivers may not want to put bad drivers on their policies for this reason, as anyone who is frequently involved in serious accidents or who racks up speeding tickets will represent a major risk to insurance providers. Both drivers may eventually be booted from their insurance policy, so before making the decision to combine, look at the other driver's habits. Try to help him to find ways to lower his auto insurance quote without a combined policy, and you'll avoid putting yourself - and your insurance record - at risk of rising premiums and other potential problems.
