Car insurance for your cadet - save some $$$

Dadandgrad

Dadandgrad

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Wanted to share this tip for parents with cadets - since your son/daughter won't likely be driving a car anytime soon your insurance company may be able to show them as an "inactive driver" and lower your premiums. USAA is my provider and they were able to do this. If you're like me and have a son and remember the sticker shock when you added them to your insurance this is a nice adjustment! Of course when they come home for leave or eventually get a car you'll have to reinstate them (or they can get their own insurance) but every little bit helps.
 
Actually you can likely drop them from your insurance completely. That is what we did 3 years ago.

Remember, they are in the AF. They are no longer your dependent.

Even with them off your policy, when they come home and drive your car, they will be covered just like any other person that drives your car.

If they borrow someone else's car at the academy, the insurance on that vehicle will cover them. Your insurance wouldn't cover it even if they were on your policy.
 
We also have USAA, they said not to drop them completely because your car is covered but they are not covered for any physical injury, and the military doesn't always cover them if its from an auto accident. Instead, they kept him on our policy as a "non operator" meaning we pay nothing, zero, to have him on there, but when he comes back on leave he is still covered as if he were a primary operator. Saved us over $300 semi annually. They recommended re-looking at dropping him completely when he can own his own car at the Academy, and will get his own policy.
 
falconchic88 said:
the military doesn't always cover them if its from an auto accident.
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I'll stay out of the keep/drop off insurance, because I really don't know the right answer; however, wanted to clear this misinformation:

The military will always cover a service member for injuries which occur "in the line of duty." Driving, eating, recreation, and general living even when occurring off duty or on leave is considered "in the line of duty." The only time something is found to be not in the line of duty is when some form of misconduct or egregious violation has caused the injury and even then that would only happen after much legal rangling.
 
We have Allstate and we dropped our son plebe year. When he comes home he is fully covered under the "visiting relative" clause when he drives our cars and is treated like a relative that comes to see you and drives your vehicle; he is not covered by our insurance to drive any other car that is not owned by us. Additionally, we are not required to contact the insurance company that he is home on leave....but I do anyway.
 
Just remember cadets (even C4C's) borrow cars from other cadets all the time, so you definitely want them covered if they are driving someone else's car.
 
@greentrees - there is no insurance you can purchase for a cadet that will cover them while driving another cadet's car. Insurance covers a vehicle, not a driver so even if they are still on their parents policy, when they drive another vehicle, they have no coverage from that policy.

some companies, like USAA sell a non-owers policy that covers the driver while driving a car. But it is only liability coverage and doesn't provide any coverage for the vehicle.

Technically, all cadets have to have insurance to have a vehicle at the USAFA and to get a parking sticker. I know that is no guarantee, but hopefully the cadets, being cadets, are honest about their insurance.
 
Bandit is right on with his answers. They are the correct answers. Believe me - I had to confirm all his answers the hard way when our cadet had an accident in a borrowed cadet's car.
 
Cadets should know, or be told that they are now adults. if they borrow a car and have an accident, they are on the hook for the damages, not the parents.

Most of the time, what I have heard is that if a cadet borrows a car and has an accident, the cadet pays for the damage out of pocket rather than turn it in to the vehicle owners insurance.

Every situation is different obviously. But I think this is the norm on the lower value vehicles. But the last thing you want to do is stick the vehicle owner with higher insurance premiums.

The best thing is to tell your cadet to discuss it beforehand, rather than borrowing a car assuming that nothing is going to happen and then scrambling to figure it out after something does happen. Because afterall, we all know that sh!t happens
 
Ours was responsible. Never had a wreck before but got into snow packed and icy roads on the way back from skiing. He paid the deductible and for a rental car for the cadet whose car he wrecked. The car he wrecked had over 200,000 miles and was 15 years old so the insurance company totalled it.

BTW - the higher premiums for a wreck travel with the driver not the car.
 
kp2001 said:
I'll stay out of the keep/drop off insurance, because I really don't know the right answer; however, wanted to clear this misinformation:

The military will always cover a service member for injuries which occur "in the line of duty." Driving, eating, recreation, and general living even when occurring off duty or on leave is considered "in the line of duty." The only time something is found to be not in the line of duty is when some form of misconduct or egregious violation has caused the injury and even then that would only happen after much legal rangling.
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Yes, this is true, and I was only qouting what the USAA rep told me. However the military does try to mitigate payment when auto insurance is involved or when someone else may be at fault. We are a military family, we have tricare, and we have been in this situation. If there is someone else that should foot the bill, the Military will try to get them to pay it first.
 
If there is someone else that should foot the bill, the Military will try to get them to pay it first.
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That is the case with every insurance company. If the person at fault has auto insurance with medical coverage, your own insurance carrier has a duty to try and get them to pay. This is the same in the civilian world as well.

It is even the same if you don't have insurance. If you are in an auto accident and you don't have insurance and the other person is at fault. You will likely have to pay for everything and then you will try everything you can to get the other person's insurance to pay.

Maybe I am misunderstanding but it seems like you are saying it is a negative that the "military" would try to find somebody else to pay. Seems like a good thing to me.
 
bandit said:
That is the case with every insurance company. If the person at fault has auto insurance with medical coverage, your own insurance carrier has a duty to try and get them to pay. This is the same in the civilian world as well.

It is even the same if you don't have insurance. If you are in an auto accident and you don't have insurance and the other person is at fault. You will likely have to pay for everything and then you will try everything you can to get the other person's insurance to pay.

Maybe I am misunderstanding but it seems like you are saying it is a negative that the "military" would try to find somebody else to pay. Seems like a good thing to me.
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No, not a negative at all, I think its a good thing too. I would expect the insurance to pay for it, BUT We've also been on the other side of it. We had to go thru alot of paperwork and red tape from the military when someone in our family had an injury participating in a high school sport--the military was trying to get the school insurance to pay, despite the fact that we had signed a medical waiver for participation. In the mean time, the hospital, ambulance, and surgeons all wanted thier payments. Tricare sent us the same form to fill out about the particulars 4 different times.

But, this is beyond the scope of the original post. The bottom line is, you can save money on your car insurance by making your son or daughter at the academy a "non-operator" and they will still be covered when they return home, as long as the vehicle they are driving is covered.
 
Our State Farm agent told us they would put our son (class of 2014 - Like a Machine!) on "student away" status. I guess I'll find out what that means to our insurance premium pretty soon, but I was told it should go down - I'm guessing significantly.

Of course our 16 year old daughter and soon-to-be licensed driver will probably soon negate that savings!
 
Bundy said:
Our State Farm agent told us they would put our son (class of 2014 - Like a Machine!) on "student away" status. I guess I'll find out what that means to our insurance premium pretty soon, but I was told it should go down - I'm guessing significantly.

Of course our 16 year old daughter and soon-to-be licensed driver will probably soon negate that savings!
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No tell them he is no longer a dependent. They tried that with me. My daughter just got her license and the tried to put him on student away status but he then was put on my new car.

even as a non dependent he will still be covered when he is home. It reduced my auto by 600/yr and my umbrella by 400/yr and he never had an accident.
 
Thanks for the State Farm advice. Now I see why "Texasrocks"!
 
I had same experience with State Farm. In fact, I had to fight with them to remove him from the policy. My insurance dropped significantly when they finally agreed.

When my daughter left for college two years later, they put her as an occassional driver and my policy hardly dropped at all.
 
We have Geico and they too tried to tell me I couldn't take my daughter off the policy because she was a underage/minor. When I corrected them and told them that as of June 24th, she was no longer my dependent, as per the US Military and their notice about who can claim them on taxes, they did take her off.
 
Yes, USAA is great, my oldest son just completed his RAT year at VMI, and they made him and inactive driver last year, and then we just dropped our second son off for Indoc at USMMA last Thursday and USAA put him inactive too...they are still covered when they are home on leave and for the summer, but it is a savings of over $900 a year having them inactive on our policy. USAA is very helpful when you call and talk to them.
 
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