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Does Your Car Insurance And Registration Have To Be Under The Same Name?

You just bought a car and have registered the car with your name, but you are not the one that makes use of this car frequently. In this, it may be very important to also get automobile insurance cover for the person that makes use of this car frequently. But the question now is, does your car insurance and registration have to be under the same name?

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According to the law in the New York, it is expected that the name on your auto mobile insurance policy match the name on your car registration. As required by the state in New York, if you have two names on your car registration, you also need both names on the insurance policy. But in most other states, it is the insurance providers that decide whether the name on your car registration must tally with the name in your insurance policy. 

Does Your Car Insurance And Registration Have To Be Under The Same Name Or Address?

 

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Yes, on a normal circumstances, your car insurance and registration have to be in the same name and address. That is, the name on your car registration has to be the same with the name in your car insurance policy. Having known that it is not good to have different names in your car registration and insurance, you may really be wondering what the aftermath effect would be if not this instruction is faulted. However, we will be addressing below, the reason it is not advisable for your car insurance and registration not be under different names

Disadvantages Of Having Different Names In A Car Registration And Insurance

 

The major disadvantage of having different names in your car registration and insurance, revolves around difficulty in getting settlement from your insurance provider.

Many insurance provider shun at using different names on your car registration and insurance policy; in this some of these insurance providers would delay your settlement or even deny it totally if they notice that the name on your car registration is different from the one on your car insurance policy. 

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The reason most insurance companies take actions against this is because, car insurance cover for low-experienced drivers and drivers below 25 years is always costlier than the other way round. So because of this, some low experienced drivers or drivers below the age of 25 years may decide to use the name of more experienced or older drivers to get insurance cover for their cars, in order to reduce the cost of the insurance cover. 

Because of this, whenever insurance companies notice that the name in a car registration is different from the name in the insurance policy, they would suspect that there was such foul play as discussed above. And this is why some insurance companies will resort to delaying or denying your settlement if they notice such scenario.

Another disadvantage of using different name in your car registration and insurance is that, during payment of settlement, your insurer (the insurance company covering you) may get confused and may pay the claim for the coverage to the registered owner rather than the insured driver. 

In this case, let’s assume you are the owner of the car, and you used the name of a more experienced driver to register for the insurance policy, if the car got damaged through accident or any other means, then the insurance company covering your car may mistakenly pay your settlement to the experienced driver whom you used his name to buy your insurance policy. This means that you have made your entitlement to go another person.

Having understood this, I believe you have been clarified concerning the question, “do your car insurance and registration have to be under the same name?”

Situations That Conflicts Having One Name On Your Car Insurance And Registration

 

There are situations where you may not be the only one using your car, in this, it may become difficult to some people to decide which name to use for the insurance cover. Such situations are:

  1. Having a driver that uses your car frequently
  2. Having a friend, son or your family member that uses your car more frequent than you do.

 Each of the cases above may be very conflicting to the idea of having one or the same name in your car registration and insurance. This is because the car was definitely registered with your name, and not the name of the people that use your car frequently. And insuring the car in their name means you may stand to suffer the disadvantages as earlier discussed in this article. 

I know this may appear to be a confusion to many people seeking to insure their car, and that is why we have been getting the question, “do your car insurance and registration have to be under the same name?”

However, as the saying always goes, “every problem has a solution.” But in actual sense, is it really true that every problem would always have a solution? Even if there are problems that don’t have a solution, this particular problem of having the same name in car insurance and registration, definitely has a solution.

So in the section below, I will be showing you the best approach to solving the challenges that may be faced with having the same name in car insurance and registration. In order words, I would say that it is still possible to have many other names in your insurance policy and still not violate any policy.

Normally, your insurance policy covers anyone driving your car for occasional use, even if you lend out your car to a family member or neighbour. But most insurance companies will require someone that uses your car frequently, to be insured under a policy for that vehicle. 

How To Solve The Challenges

 

In order to have some of your car users also covered in your insurance without violating any policy, here are some few options you may consider taking.

Include Some Persons’ Name In The Car Insurance

 

The good news is that there are some insurance companies that allow more than one name in their insurance policies; some even allow more than two names.

So the best idea here is that if you have some persons that use your car frequently, then you should go for such insurance companies that allow more than one name in their insurance policies. Then include the name of those persons that you know they use your car frequently.

In this case, you will never have any challenge in getting your settlement from your insurance company when need be; because your name and the name of the persons that use your car are already included your car insurance. It means everyone is covered by the insurance policies.

Put The Person’s Name On The Car’s Registration

 

Since you know you are not the one that is going to be using that car, or that you have some persons that are going to be using the car frequently; the best trick to use here is to include their name in the car’s registration, when registering the car.

Does Your Car Insurance And Registration Have To Be Under The Same Name?

Since their name is included already in the car’s registration, you can easily include their name also in the insurance, without facing any problem in future.

Let’s assume you are buying the car for a family member, or that you have a driver that is going to be using the car frequently; then you can add their name to the vehicle’s registration, and still add them in the car insurance. This is because most state laws let residents enter two or more names on a vehicle’s registration.

Even if the car has been registered before getting the driver, you can still include the driver’s name in the car’s registration through “transfer of ownership.” Transfer of ownership requires the new owner to add their name to the car’s title.

In some U.S. states, the law demands that new owners apply to the local department of motor vehicles to change the name on a vehicle’s registration. Other states allow residents to transfer ownership just by filing paperwork.

Purchase A Non-Owner Insurance Policy For Them

 

Another option you can go for if you have some persons using your car frequently, is to simply purchase non-owner insurance policy for them; whether your driver, your wife, or your child.

A non-owner insurance policy provides coverage for drivers who don’t own the vehicles they use. Once this is done, it means insurance now covers the persons that use your car frequently; in this if they get into an accident while driving your car, a non-owner insurance policy will help to settle the damages.

Discuss With your insurance company

 

It might be that your insurance company allows only one name in their policies. Meanwhile you have a driver or a child whom you would like to cover in your insurance.

All you have to do is to table it with your insurance company, they will definitely give you a way forward or reach an agreement with you so you won’t have problems with them in the future especially during payment of settlement. With all we have discussed so far, I believe you have been clarified about the question, “do your car insurance and registration have to be under the same name?”

Do You Have To Be The Registered Owner Of A Vehicle To Insure It?

 

Normally, it is advisable that you are the registered owner of a vehicle to insure it. However, there are few important options as we have discussed above.

If you know you use a vehicle frequently but you don’t own any yet, it may be wise you purchase a non-owner insurance policy.

Will GEICO Insure A Car Not In My Name?

 

Government Employee Insurance Company (GEICO) is one of the known insurance company that offer a non-owner insurance policy. So if you frequently borrow cars or use cars that are not yours, then you can buy a non-owner insurance policy from GEICO and get yourself covered against the unforeseen.

Can A Car Be Registered In Two Names?

 

Yes, most state laws allow residents to include more than two names on vehicles registration. So let’s assume you are buying a car for a family, you can include the names of the family members, as many as possible.

Can You Get Insurance If The Car Is In Someone’s Name?

 

No, most insurance companies won’t allow you to get insurance for a car that you are not the registered name. Most states and insurance companies require that the registered owner of the vehicle is the name insured on an insurance policy.

However, you may decide to go for a non-owner insurance company if you frequently use cars that you don’t own. Check our related articles for more insurance guide.