During a marriage motorists normally get used to sharing automobiles and costs. Even a slight change in circumstances changes premiums and competitiveness of carriers so people are advised to look at their coverage and get alternative quotes. In the case of divorce, a lot can change from address to vehicles and listed drivers that often it makes sense to arrange fresh car insurance policies to find the new balance between coverage and costs.
In any case, motorists need to go through a few points to rearrange their vehicles and insurance policies to reflect their new living arrangements and often state rules and insurers are influential in the ways they can handle the separation. Here are some areas to think about, take into account and move forward.
1: Removing Ex from a Policy
It could be a simple consideration especially if both parties were keeping separate cars and policies. Spouses are required to be included in vehicle insurance policies. Now that you are parting and one (or both) of you moved out, it should not be a problem to drop the ex off auto insurance coverage.
However, people often buy their vehicles and insurance jointly. In such cases, the registration documents need to be changed to show only the name of the person keeping the car. In case of joint policyholders, the person to be removed from the policy has to give written consent to be removed from the policy in most cases. There is a chance that the insurance company may allow people to keep the coverage as it is, especially if the renewal is near and arrange new policies for both parties after the renewal. It is often not a problem to cancel a policy and start fresh and many companies prefer this option.
2: Changes in Circumstances
Divorce often means changes in address, vehicles, listed drivers and the way you arranged your car insurance policies. All of them are significant factors affecting premiums so they will have financial implications. It is probably as good as any time to have a look at the types of covers, limits and deductibles. Have a good look at what you really need now and the budget you have for insuring automobiles. Whatever the new objectives they will need to be reflected on.
3: Automobile Insurance Discounts Lost and Gained
You need to update your details and this often results in losing some discounts. For example, many companies offer around 5% discounts to married couples and people lose it after divorce. Also, people often don’t need the multi-car policies which result in losing some more discounts in the range of 15%. That is why it is likely vehicle insurance will be more expensive after divorce.
It is possible that you were the one with good driving history. Then, you would save on premiums because the ex with a bad record doesn’t influence your premium anymore. Mileage is another point to consider in conjunction with address, work and drivers listed. There is a change you will be traveling less or more that may affect the prices.
4: Who Will Insure Driving Age Children?
If they are still on parents’ policies it may be necessary to work out which one they will go with or if it is time for them to get their own insurance. Normally, whoever gets the custody of children should be the one to insure them for sure, regardless of how the costs are split. They would be living with the parent who has custody so that is where their residential addresses are.
If you have joint custody, you should look at where the cars driven by children are normally kept. The address where they are kept should be the address on registration documents and insurance. It may also be possible to include both addresses if the cars are staying equally in both locations. And they should probably stay in both parents’ auto insurance if they are driving both parents’ vehicles.
5:Shop Around
The point to highlight here is that don’t just assume the current carrier will still be the best one for you even if it was highly competitive last time you checked. As mentioned above, many things change on car insurance after a breakup that can make you an unattractive risk to them and more appealing to other companies.
Each looks at every piece of information on a quote form differently. For example, you may have been with a company that offers 10% savings to married people. You would have lost it in separation. Credit history is another area that receives varied responses. Maybe the ex-spouse had a brilliant or terrible credit score that was beneficial or burdensome last time around. Depending on which one it was, you now would be looking for auto insurers, who care more or less about credit history.
It wouldn’t be a surprise at all that everything needs to be replaced. Probably, the separation was costly and will affect finances for some time. Moving forward, you would want to get the best coverage you can at the most reasonable price, regardless of being poorer or richer.