Insurance Policy-Named Driver

Written By: Graham McKenzie on January 29, 2010 No Comment

An insurance policy comes with many things; many which have stipulations. Your insurance policy requires you to make sure you list out your drivers by name on the policy itself before they are allowed to drive your car. If they are not listed on the policy as a named driver, they will not be covered. This often happens with households that have more than one person of driving age as well as couples.

For a larger family, a named driver is a good thing. This means that each person does not have to have their own separate policy for the same car. In larger families, not everyone typically has their own vehicle. This allows for flexibility and saved money in that case.

The biggest drawback that multiple named drivers on a policy have is the extra cost. After the first driver, the premium goes up. This is due to the fact that the more drivers you have; the more chance there will be to have an accident. This is especially true for many new drivers on one policy. The fact that they are new drivers alone increases the risk for the insurance company. Throw in age factor and you could have a heavy car insurance premium.

Being that named drivers is a constant occurrence, you can eliminate costs by choosing a company that allows you to add temporary named drivers. Sometimes this is helpful for family vacations or someone needing to use your car for a set amount of time. This covers appropriately as well as not being a consistent cost. It would be a onetime fee.

Keep in mind, only named drivers on a policy will be covered under the insurance policy. If you allow someone to drive your car, for whatever reason, you are responsible for them if they were to get into an accident or harm your car in any way. In this, it is best to not allow anyone that is not on the policy drive your vehicle.

To eliminate this from happing due to the cost factor, many people decide to put their younger driver on their policy instead of getting their own. This helps eliminate cost because the main driver is the experienced parent. Insurance companies, however, are catching on quickly and banning this practice in some areas.

Another way is to have the new driver?s policy in their name but put their parents as named drivers as well. The whole point of either option is to limit risk that is associated with a new driver. As we know, risk is associated with young and new drivers.

In all, it is very important that you take the time to shop around for insurance and carefully consider who you are going to be listing as a named driver. This is one area that deserves great attention because the consequences of not insuring properly can be disastrous.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za. South Arica?s leading car and vechile portal.