Adding Your Spouse To Your Auto Insurance Policy

Given that you’re probably sharing the same household, according to insurance specialists, it’s probably a good idea to add your spouse to your policy. Whether they drive your car or not, you never know when an emergency might occur that requires them to use your vehicle. Since you have to report other household members to your insurance anyways, it’s best to error on the safe side and already have you both protected by the same insurance.

How To Add Your Spouse

Adding your spouse to your auto insurance policy isn’t a complicated process. In fact you’ll be able to accomplish this with some basic information about your partner, and a phone call to your insurance agent. In the modern era the complexities of making insurance changes is a much more simplified process. This may take you thirty minutes in an afternoon to get done. Contact your agent, or go online and see if you can just make the changes yourself through your insurance company’s website. In a matter of moments you’ll both have the same excellent auto coverage protecting you. It may seem like something you can put off, but don’t downplay the importance of both of you being covered. Adding your spouse will be a smart move going ahead, that will offer a sense of comfort to both of you in case anything should happen.

Benefits of Adding Your Spouse

There are many wonderful things to come out of the institution of marriage, and some of them have to do with your auto insurance. As soon as you’re married, you should look into getting your spouse on your insurance policy. Insurance companies tend to look very favorably at married couples, and will often give discounted rates for shared insurance policies. You may even be able to bundle other insurance packages together with the same company, even further lowering your rates. This is something you can easily look up on your insurance company’s website, and if they don’t offer you anything special then it’s time to shop around.

Another reason to add your spouse to your auto insurance policy is to make sure you’re both protected while utilizing the same vehicle. Even if it’s not a vehicle they commonly operate, that doesn’t mean the need to do so won’t arise, and if you’re both insured then there won’t be any disputes of the claim by your insurance company, should an accident happen.

Danger Of Adding Your Spouse

There are very few times when experts say that you shouldn’t add your spouse to your auto insurance coverage. Over 90% of the time insurance companies state that it’s prudent to have every licensed household member covered under all vehicles, so that you’re fully protected. There are exceptions to every rule though, so it’s important to note that occasionally leaving a spouse off of your policy might be the smartest maneuver.

If your spouse has an absolutely deplorable driving record that would raise your rates to ridiculous heights, then it’s a smart idea to get an exclusion to your policy in regards to your spouse. This would declare that they do not have permission to drive your car, and to be doing so wouldn’t be you allowing a violation of your insurance, but more of having it stolen from you. This would keep any claims intact you had to make if your car was in an accident, or any other traffic violation occurred while your spouse was driving it. It’s not a free pass, but if you really don’t plan on allowing them to drive your car, then this shouldn’t be that much of an issue.

Another way to go would be for your spouse to have their own insurance policy set up separate from yours. This would still grant protections in case they did have to use your vehicle, and your insurance company wouldn’t have to be involved if anything did happen. This would keep your rates from going up if your spouse had a problem while driving your car that their insurance company had to fix.