Non-owner auto insurance policies are designed to provide liability coverage for individuals who do not own a vehicle but may need or want coverage for driving other people’s or rental cars. These policies typically fulfill state requirements and can also offer coverages such as Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Uninsured Motorist Coverage, depending on state regulations or if desired. These policies don’t provide Collision and Comprehensive coverage for the vehicle driven.
Non-owners car insurance policies usually provide secondary coverage to the vehicle owner’s liability coverage when driving someone else’s auto. But they can become primary if there isn’t any other liability policy in force, like in the case of rental cars.
Benefits of Non Owners Vehicle Insurance
Such a policy might be for you if any of the below benefits appeals to you or it allows you to comply with any requirements.
- Proof of coverage: Licenses may be suspended or lost after serious traffic violations like DUI. A few states require SR-22 forms that act as proof. Regardless of having a vehicle or not, the state may still want proof of liability coverage to let you get your license back. It is probably the cheapest way of satisfying this requirement in such a case.
- Frequent renters: If you rent a vehicle more than 10 days in a year, savings may be enough to pay for this policy. You may still need to buy a rental car Collision Damage Waiver to remove financial responsibility from you in case it is damaged while in your possession at either hire desk or from another source.
- Extra asset protection solution: Non-owners automobile insurance is a good solution to supplement car-sharing service liability coverage, if you often use them. Once their liability coverage is exhausted, the driver would have to pay the rest of the damages out of pocket so it makes sense to arrange additional coverage.
- Driving someone else’s vehicle: You may want extra personal protection from third party liability claims even though vehicle owner’s insurance usually includes you as an occasional driver. In such cases, the vehicle owner’s policy would be the first to pay for damages and injuries caused by you. However, non-owner auto insurance policy comes into play as secondary coverage to deal with any shortfall once the primary limits are exhausted.
- Way of avoiding lapse in coverage: You may have sold your automobile and haven’t bought the next one yet. You can keep coverage going by cancelling an expensive policy for the sold car and buying cheap car insurance for a non owner. This may be better than allowing a lapse. You may have to pay a lot more when you want to get a standard policy once again if there is a lapse in record. Besides it has other benefits as discussed throughout the article.
- Building history: You may be planning to buy an automobile in the near future. In the meantime, you may be renting or using friends’ cars. Finding cheap non-owners automobile insurance coverage would protect you and let you build insurance history at the same time.
- Peace of mind: These products are valuable not only for the financial assistance they may provide but also they offer peace of mind. Knowing you have something to fall back to may be worth a few hundred dollars you spend.
You may not need to have non-owners automobile insurance if you are a listed driver on someone else’s policy. Regular use of a partner’s, parents’, friends’ or employer’s cars may not require you to buy any other coverage, especially when you are listed on their policy. You can still arrange it for the other benefits listed above, though.
Not many companies offer non owners car insurance and you may need to look for smaller or non-standard carriers. The General, Direct Auto Insurance, Dairyland and Kemper are some of the companies selling non-owners vehicle insurance. GEICO and State Farm are two of the larger companies offering these policies and Progressive may offer it to existing customers only.
The cost of non-owner vehicle insurance depends on factors such as your driving history, age, and location. Obtaining quotes from different insurers will help you determine the specific premium amount you would need to pay.