Insurance... Just need to vent

[Gone in 60]

Cormanus, this goes back to the '90s, when I hung up my insurance hat, so it's possible that things have changed, and Empty, correct me if I'm wrong... in California, insurance follows a vehicle, not the person operating it. So, if a vehicle caused an accident, resulting in damages and injuries to other parties, and inflicting damage to the vehicle itself, the vehicle's policy would be liable for the cost.

So, let's say I let someone borrow my car, and they cause an accident. My policy is still the primary coverage. Where the specific operator of the vehicle comes into play is if the policy is written as "Named Driver Only", stating that as the owner of the car, coverage only extends if I am driving at the time of the accident. I very rarely came across these policies, as it is assumed that in a multi-person household, anyone in the household has potential access to all of the vehicles. I can tell my wife "Only I can ride the motorcyles", but there is nothing physically stopping her from riding one of them.

I did have the unfortunate task of telling a few insureds that their totalled cars were not covered becuase they had a named-driver-only policy, and let someone borrow the car, who wrecked it.

[Cormanus]

Thanks, Gone. That makes good sense, but it doesn’t answer my question about whether the policy contains an exclusion so the insurer is not liable if the vehicle is being operated illegally—for example, by an unlicensed driver or one over the blood-alcohol limit. Another example: would the insurer accept liability (or have to accept it) if your car was stolen or borrowed without your consent?

I might check my own vehicle policy and see what it says.

Update: my policy follows my bike, but there would be no coverage if the bike were operated, with my consent, by someone who did not have the requisite license.

[GoldOxide_imp]

I would hope vehicle owners, particularly bike owners would manage their ignition keys in a reasonable way to impede unauthorized use from family or other members (?) of the human race.

[Houtman_imp]

I have State Farm for our cars and house and liability insurance for 38 years and had Progressive for 35 years for my bikes and never had a problem with either but than I NEVER had to put a claim in for anything . You only know how good your insurance is till you need them . For us it paid to stay loyal to the insurance companies we have.

[Gone in 60]

Everyone says USAA is the greatest, and I should never leave them. One of these days maybe I should shop around.

[peterbaron]

Any number given here is for information only and is not adequate for comparison with other insurances.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Everyone says USAA is the greatest, and I should never leave them. One of these days maybe I should shop around.

Like some other Forum folks have lightly suggested:

Every few years check around. It is likely you'll end up where you are insurance wise, but at least you can feel good, and maybe even get a better deal with your current provider.

[Randy B]

I am so glad that I got out of CA. The nonsense that oozes from that state is deadly if you asked me.
The stupid laws and rules that other states pick up on and thing "heeey... we should do that here" are just bad for society at large.

I'm glad you got your bike covered because requiring all drivers in a household to be motorcycle endorsed is BEYOND idiotic. I mean, think about it. You have kids and they become of driving age and all of the sudden they either need to become proficient on a motorcycle or you can't ride? That's one of the implications of a law/rule like this. Give me a break.

[The Gecko_imp]

Back to the initial “venting” , Gone. Don’t we all have the impression that all sorts of people working for all sorts of companies have simply forgotten how to say “I don’t know, let me ... and I get back to you” ?
Instead “they vent” any excuse, I mean anything...

Is this fear of admitting or orders from above?

[Gone in 60]

This experience made me stop and think about the sad fact that, in large part, customer service is really a thing of the past. Randy, you're right, it's idiotic, and if you think about it, even for California standards it's too idiotic to be real. I'm certain that the first two guys I spoke with were seriously misunderstanding something. There's no way that everyone in California who owns a motorcycle can't get insurance without everyone in the household being endorsed for riding. The third guy was the return to sanity.