There can be some confusion as to who should insure a young driver’s car of divorced parents.  The young driver may primarily reside with his/her mother, but the father may have purchased the car for the young driver to use and it is titled in the father’s name. 

The mother will need to add the young driver to her policy because the child primarily resides with her, but the father will have to include the car on his policy with the child listed as a driver because it is titled in his name. 

If the car is titled in the child’s name then he/she can obtain their own separate auto insurance policy.  That is if neither of the parents wants to run the risk and increased premiums of having an inexperienced driver on their policy.  It will be much more cost effective for the child if they are added to the parents’ policy because they would get the benefit of the multi-car discount for having more than one vehicle on a policy and a multi-policy discount assuming the parents have their homeowners or renters insurance with the same company. 

It is important that the child be listed as a driver of the car on the father’s auto policy and listed as a driver on the mothers’ auto policy to make sure that they have the appropriate coverage in case they are in an accident.  It will also help the child when it is time for them to go out on their own and obtain their own auto insurance policy. 

I’ve had this happen a number of times when a young driver will come to me to get auto insurance because they are purchasing a new car in their name and they think that they’ve been listed as a driver on their parents’ policy, but unfortunately they were never added.  This dramatically increases the cost of insurance for the young driver because it looks like they’ve had no prior insurance.  The insurance company has no record to draw from to determine if this driver has been acting responsibly or not, so they charge them a higher rate.  If the young driver can show me their parents’ policy that lists them as a driver, I’m able to get them a substantially better rate. 

Once the youthful driver has their own insurance, the parents can remove the child from their auto insurance policy.  The parents’ insurance company will most likely want to see an actual policy showing the child has their own insurance before they remove them.