Auto Insurance Coverage: Whose Insurance Applies If Someone Else Drives My Car?

When you give permission to someone to drive your car and they do not live in your household, whether it is your adult child or a neighbor or friend, they are covered under your auto insurance while driving your car. This is called a “permissive driver”. The more problematic issue, strangely enough, is allowing a member of your household, such as your adult child, to drive your car if they are not listed as an insured driver on your auto policy. Insurance companies want you to list all the drivers in the household on your policy so that they are aware of who is driving the car on a regular basis. Part of what goes into the setting of your premium is who will be driving the vehicle. If a member of the household is not listed, it can get sticky because many insurance companies will deny coverage if that person has an accident while driving. I would recommend you add your adult child to the policy as an insured driver to be on the safe side.