Auto Insurance Coverage & Your 18 Year Old Son or Daughter: Are They Covered if They are not Full-Time Students?

High School graduation has come and gone, and your child has decided full time college isn’t for him, at least right now.  Not everyone is ready for higher education at age 18; that’s fine.  But if your son or daughter drives either his or her own car, or one of the family cars, and has been on your auto policy, can they remain on your policy if they don’t go to school full time?

Living at home
Although health insurance and auto insurance do have a few things in common, this area can be very different.  With health insurance, when your child turns 18 (some companies say 19), if your child is no longer a full time student, they are often dropped from your health insurance policy, sometimes automatically.  You typically get a form in the mail to fill out indicating whether or not your child will be attending school full time.  If not, your teen has to apply for an individual policy separate from your own.  With auto insurance, however, this is not usully the case.  If you have an 18 year old who will not be attending school full time, but he or she is still residing in your household, you can include him or her as a driver on your policy for however long he or she is living with you.

Moving out
If, however, your son or daughter decides to move out, that could be a different story.  Insurance companies vary on how they deal with coverage for non-household members, whether they are full time college students or not.  Some will want you to take your child off the policy completely and, if he is driving his own car, have a separate individual policy issued for your teen. If he is still driving your car occasionally, the company will then likely regard him as a permissive driver on your policy. (A permissive driver is covered by virtue of having your permission to drive the car occasionally.)  Other insurers will allow you or even require you to keep your child on the policy as an insured if he is still driving the car on a regular basis.  It all depends on your insurance company's underwriting rules. 

Not to worry.  As long as your child lives with you, you can keep him on your policy.  It would be prudent to contact your insurance agent or company before your child turns 18 to find out about the company’s rules if your son or daughter will not be a full time student and either will be living at home, or is planning to move out on his or her own.  If he’s moving out, ask about the rules for covering non-household family members.