Metro Collision Center

5 Major Mistakes People Make with their Car Insurance

Many people end up getting into trouble with their car insurance and in most cases, it's simply a matter of being thorough and covering all your bases. When you purchase any type of insurance, you're entering into a contract with your insurer, so you have to pay your bills on time and abide to their rules and regulations. At Metro Collision Center, we're happy to be sharing this information with you, because here in Springfield, VA we see people making insurance errors all the time after they've been in accidents. 

Here are 5 common snafus that people make with their car insurance:

1. You haven’t added a licensed teen to your car insurance policy.

Nobody wants to pay more for their car insurance and many people become mute when it comes to informing their insurance company about things like adding people to their policy. Withholding information about your teen driver from your car insurance company is a major misstep, because insurers have ways of finding out. If your insurer does not find out about your teenage driver until they get into an accident while driving around Springfield, will you take that chance of them not covering you?

2. You let your adult child take your car with her when she moved to another state.

This is another common mistake, because most people are busy and details like these often fall through the cracks. If you want to do things the proper way in this scenario, just simply add your child’s name to the car’s title, and then they will be able to register the car in the state they've moved to.

3. You loan your car to a friend for a short time, but you don’t notify the insurance company. 

Don't let anyone borrow your car, but if you must, your car insurance policy will normally cover a friend who drives your car sporadically. However, it’s a different story when you loan your car out for a long period. The car is now located somewhere else and you are no longer the primary driver of the vehicle.  The problem is that if your friend gets into an accident with your car, your insurer can deny claims because you withheld vital information about the “real” driver and vehicle location.

4. You sold your car and the purchaser is making payments, but you’re still carrying the title and insurance.

Don’t ever keep your name and insurance on a car that another person owns. It's just as simple as that. If your name is still listed on the title, you're liable, so make sure the new owner changes the title into their name pronto. Otherwise, you might get one of those dreaded phone calls telling you that you're liable for an accident you were not involved in.

5. You let an "excluded driver" operate your vehicle.

This is a major mistake and too many people make it again and again. If you specifically exclude a driver on your policy it means that the person is not covered under through your policy and shouldn’t be driving your car for any reason. 

We at Metro Collision Center hope these tips have helped you, and that you will recall them whenever you are contemplating what to do with your insurance.

Sources: AAA, MSN and USA Today