My husband and I bought a car for my elderly mother because she couldn’t afford one herself. She couldn’t even pay for the insurance. But when we rang the insurance company to set up a policy, we were told that we couldn’t do it. My mother had to take out her own insurance. This seems crazy. Was the insurance company correct?
Yes they were, though I’m surprised they didn’t offer some easy ways around the situation. You can insure a car that you own with your mother as the main driver. Of course, you must tell the insurer that your mother is the main driver. But you cannot insure a vehicle that she owns, which I’m assuming she does.
In fact, you cannot insure anything that someone else owns. So you have two options. You can keep the car you bought your mother in your own name and insure her as the main driver. Or, if you want her to be the legal owner of the vehicle, you can simply gift her the money she needs every year to insure it. Often this issue arises when parents want to insure for their kids. Many parents think they can circumvent the costs of insuring young drivers’ cars by taking out the insurance in their own name. But, if their kid is the main driver of the vehicle, then insurers must be told this. Get your mother to take out the policy and provide the cash for her premiums. It may well be the cheaper option.
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