Can I drive without my name on car insurance?
Megan, I understand your situation. You are very lucky in this situation due to the way California insurance law is written. The law states that a secondary driver would be covered by the vehicle owner's policy if the vehicle owner gives the secondary driver permission to drive. It is not necessary to be a named party on the vehicle coverage. This is somewhat unique to California, for in most states you must be added to the policy. It would be true that your mother would be ultimately responsible for anything that might happen while you are behind the wheel. So yes, you would be covered by your parent's policy if they grant you permission to drive. Please be sure to carry current proof of insurance coverage for the vehicle at all times. Such proof of coverage would need to be provided to law enforcement in case you were stopped or involved in an accident.
Can my Friend put me under his car insurance?
Generally no. You don't live with said friend, so he really has no "insurable interest" in your car. Add to that, even if he did, you would be primary driver on your car which would increase his insurance to the same range you are looking at for the same reasons. Now if you lie, and say you live at that address and are secondary driver, they *might* give a policy that would save you some money all the up until you actually needed it to make a claim. Then they would investigate, find out you didn't live at that address and were the primary rather than secondary driver, your insurance will be void, and they could charge you with fraud. It's part of driving. Pay it. Don't take it personally, rates are set on statistical information, regardless of how well you do things statistics say those under age 25 have the most accidents and get the most tickets, especially males.
If I rent a car and pay for a secondary driver, what happens if he gets caught drinking and driving?
I do not really understand the purpose of your question.You rent a car, the other driver drinks and police gets him. No one is hurt. The driver gets penalized according to the law. It is quite likely that the car rental agency does not get to know anything about this incident. If they do, they might cancel the contract and ask you to give them back their car.Same situation, but the other driver is involved in an accident. Police finds out that he was drunk. He gets penalized. Now you probably have a problem with the rental car company, because their terms and conditions do not allow any driver to drink and drive. So they may demand compensation for the damage of their car as well as for the damage of the other party. You may have had an insurance package to protect you against such incidents, but this is void, because you and your friend broke the terms and conditions of the rental car contract. In Europe the insurance will be forced to settle the case (so that the other party gets compensation for their damages), but they will demand their money back from you, as you are the one who signed the contract. You may want to sue your drunken friend, but as he may be broke, you won't have many chances to get your money back.As you are responsible for the car, you have two options for dealing with this sitiation proactively: If you are aware that your friend is drunk and you sit in the car next to him, make the car stop (Shift lever in neutral, handbrake on), kick him out of the car, drive on. If you are drunk yourself, proceeed as indicated before, then leave the car, lock it, put the keys in your pocket and call a taxicab. If you are not in the car, but you are aware that your friend has taken it and drives around drunk: Call the police, explain the situation and pray that they'll find him before he causes an accident.
Can a secondary driver live away from home and still be driving the car?
i'm 17 and i would be living away from home. is it possible to have my dad insure a car, and me be a secondary driver, but have the car away from home and drive the car regularly. so really, i'd be having the car in a different town, but still be under his insurance and him as the primary driver. is that possible?
My mother's car insurance company is asking for her other insurance's policy # with me as the 2nd driver; should we give it to them?
Essentially, the insurer of the vehicle that does not have you listed as a secondary driver is trying to confirm that you are listed as a driver on the second vehicle. The reason for this is pretty simple, if you are listed then there is a good probability that you will not be driving the first vehicle with any regularity; whereas, if you are not listed on the second vehicle they will likely require you to be listed on the first. If you do not provide them with the required information they have a couple of remedies available to them; a) they can decline to write the policy (meaning they will cancel the insurance on the first vehicle either immediately or choose not to renew it when it expires), b) they can insist that you be excluded as a driver on the first vehicle, or c) they can insist that you be listed as a driver on the first vehicle and adjust the premium accordingly. The only real area for concern here depends on what jurisdiction you are in. In many (but not all) jurisdictions a person can only be considered the primary driver on one vehicle. If you are in such a jurisdiction then once the two insurers speak to each other then it is likely that your mother will have to choose to be primary on one and make you (or someone else) the primary on another. Chances are that the rates on whatever vehicle you are made the primary driver will increase substantially. There are exceptions to this rule in most jurisdictions that have it (usually for antique, recreational, or farm vehicles) so you'd want to check if you fall into one of those exceptions.Of note, all the above assumes that you live at the same residence.I also want to stress that you need to be entirely honest with your insurers. If you fail to disclose information or you deliberately mislead them you could find yourself in a terrible position. See, when a claim is reported, someone like me will investigate who was operating the vehicle, how often they operate the vehicle, and for what purpose they operate the vehicle. If it turns out the regular use of the vehicle differs from what the insurer was told when writing the policy then the insurer may void the policy ab initio. This means that the policy is considered to have never existed. This is a huge problem, as it will be done AFTER you have a claim, meaning you will have no coverage for the damages. My advice: give your insurer all the info they ask for, they are trying to properly assess the risk, not trying to screw you.
What is the Difference between a PRIMARY and SECONDARY type of driver on Insurance?
The primary driver is the person who drives the vehicle the most, or has possession of it the most. The secondary would be other people who drive the car on occasion. To be a secondary, you must be listed as a part time/secondary driver on the policy. Depending on your secondary's driver license, your rates could be much higher, not change. If the person is under 25, and particularly male, your rates will increase substantially. Defensive driving classes help reduce your rates, for each person who takes a class and passes.