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Dear Friends,

I have a child away at college (different state) with his car. For tuition purposes, the car was registered in the state where he's going to school. We are currently with a large, well-known company (rhymes with farmer) and he's on our PAP. My instinct and training tell me that we should put him on his own policy; however, you all know what that means in premium dollars for a youthful driver, clean record or not. There's one additional important note, we are still on title for the vehicle, along with the bank. Insurable interest, yes? Anyway, I'm looking for opinion here from an underwriting and claims standpoint. Your feedback is appreciated!

Talk to your underwriter about this. On the surface it appears that with the insurable interest and L/P it should remain on your family's PAP. However, the carrier may not have the same thought, or be able to insure in the state where it is "garaged". You should ask!

Wayne Lunday

RKunz2 wrote:Dear Friends,

I have a child away at college (different state) with his car. For tuition purposes, the car was registered in the state where he's going to school. We are currently with a large, well-known company (rhymes with farmer) and he's on our PAP. My instinct and training tell me that we should put him on his own policy; however, you all know what that means in premium dollars for a youthful driver, clean record or not. There's one additional important note, we are still on title for the vehicle, along with the bank. Insurable interest, yes? Anyway, I'm looking for opinion here from an underwriting and claims standpoint. Your feedback is appreciated!

Depending on the state & overall account, Chubb sometimes will allow the insured to show a vehicle registered & garaged in another state on the PAP. I know for certain of 2 Pennsylvania policies we've got in which one of the cars in California (the other one is in Utah) and both cars remain on the Pennsylvania policy. Both of these policies are parts of larger accounts and I'm sure were done on an exception basis but it's something to explore.

Best of luck with the youngin'!!

You should be able to keep the car on your policy. You have an insurable interest and if your kid is at fault in an accident they will go after the registered owner - you.

When I did personal lines this came up often. Garaging can & will make a difference in premium. I was in Iowa at the time, had a family send their kids to college in DC. Kept him on the policy, the premiums increased dramatically just due to the new location.

An issue could come up if your company does not write where he is going to school but (rhymes with farmer) is in most states for auto.

FYI if you take the kid off your policy they can keep good student with most companies but would lose multi car and auto/home discounts.

We are in NJ so pretty much any student with a car at college is not a problem since lower garaging rates should apply everywhere else. I think it is critical to get your underwriter to sign off on this and acknowledge the vehicle usage. If you live in say South Carolina and the car is in Boston and there is a claim, you may have a problem. Many national carriers can adjust the rate to where the veh is garaged away at school.

This is why I love this forum! Thank you for the awesome replies.

This is a timely subject for me. My daughter has my car in CA while she is at college. It is registered in my name only and insured in NV. She is the rated driver.
She got pulled over and cited for not having a CA DL, and the car not being plated and insured there. She is going to get a CA DL. What I want to know is, can CA force me to register and insure the car there? State Farm knows she has the car in CA, so I'm not worried about a claim. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

dj9123 wrote:This is a timely subject for me. My daughter has my car in CA while she is at college. It is registered in my name only and insured in NV. She is the rated driver.
She got pulled over and cited for not having a CA DL, and the car not being plated and insured there. She is going to get a CA DL. What I want to know is, can CA force me to register and insure the car there? State Farm knows she has the car in CA, so I'm not worried about a claim. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Yes, vehicles must be registered within 20 days of entering the state.

Fees must be paid within 20 days of entry or residency to avoid penalties. Any vehicle owned by a California resident must be registered within 20 days of entry into California unless a special permit was obtained. Nonresidents whose vehicles are properly registered to them in their home state or jurisdiction may operate their vehicles in California until they:

* Accept gainful employment in California.
* Claim a homeowner's exemption in California.
* Rent or lease a residence in California.
* Intend to live or be located here on a permanent basis (for example, acquire a California driver license, acquire other licenses not ordinarily extended to a nonresident, registered to vote).
* Enroll in an institution of higher learning as a California resident or enroll their dependents in school (K-12).
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/ho ... tm#feesdue

People argue all the time that they "live" in Nevada (or Oregon, or wherever) and am only in California "temporarily" - California law and California law enforcement does not care.

I guess the key words are "the registered owner" . If the daughter, the student, is not the registered owner of the vehicle and the registered owner is the father and he resides in NV there should be no reason to register the car in California. The daughter getting a CA drivers license does make sense though.

Wow, the CA rules suck. Another way for them to make money and since they have mismanaged things so severely that they are nearly bankrupt I guess they have to fight for every penny they can.

A key to me would be this: if your daughter is attending a public school and is paying non-resident rates you should be able to keep it titled in NV. She should also be able to keep her license from NV. Even if she attends there for four years she is technically a non-resident of the state.

However, if your daughter is paying the resident rate at a public school then you can't have it both ways: time for her to be a real Californian.

If she is at a private school I'd say she should be able to stay with NV documents as well.

But that California law says differently. Be prepared for a huge increase in premiums when you lose the auto/home and multi car discounts.

Good luck!

The rules - per CA DMV for drivers licenses:

If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home state license remains valid.

If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

So she could keep her NV license unless she's enrolled as a resident student at a CA state college or university.

I misread Ericpaulsens entry, thought it said all students enrolled in college must register their car. Good news and nice catch, Furrie Princess!

[quoteI misread Ericpaulsens entry, thought it said all students enrolled in college must register their car. Good news and nice catch, Furrie Princess!][/quote]

Well, kind of... if she's enrolled in University of CA or a CSU school... the non-resident tuitions are about double the resident rate... which keeps getting increased by the hour. I think the basic resident fees are about $6,000 a term. So non-resident fees aren't cheap. Might be cheaper for her to become a resident and re-register the car!