Hi, I’m Mark Goodwin. And we are on top of time for back to school. And what I want to talk about today is what to do about your auto insurance policy and your son or daughter who may be going off to college for the very first time. One of the questions we often get is, “Do we leave them on the policy? Do we take them off the policy? Does it save money to do that? What should we do?”
Well, our advice always is to leave your son or daughter on your auto policy. And there are four good reasons to do that. Number one, if they come home from school on break or to visit for the weekend and they want to borrow the car, go visit a friend, do their thing, they should remain listed on your policy so they are protected.
Number two, when they’re away at school and maybe they want to borrow a friend’s car, or maybe they’re a designated driver, or maybe just one evening a friend tosses in the keys and says, “Hey, you’re driving.” They’re college kids. Who knows what they’re going to do. You don’t want to worry about them not being insured in that situation. You leave them on your policy and should they borrow a car, that they are insured as they should be.
Thirdly, your auto policy protects them when they are a pedestrian walking on a sidewalk and they get hit by a car, on a bicycle if they get hit by a car, or if they’re riding in a friend’s car and they get in an accident, coverage could be extended from your auto policy for them if they get injured in a situation like that. So that’s a third reason to leave them insured on your policy.
And number four is to maintain a continuous insurability or a history of being insured continuously when they are ready to come off of your auto policy and go on their own. Having that sort of record of being continuously insured can help them get better rates.
If they are taking a car with them to school, of course they need to stay on your policy, but you should let us know or let your insurance agent know the zip code of where they may be attending school. It’s possible that if you live in a big city like Columbus, and they’re going off to a school in a small town, the small town rates may be a little less than what they get here in Columbus. So you could save a little money that way. You can also save if they are a good student. So maintaining a B average or better gives them a significant discount on their grades, and that’s college or high school for any driver. Always encourage your kids to get that discount.
If you have any other questions, you can email us service@egoodwininsurance.com or you can give us a call 740-387-8335. We would love to talk with you.

Call eGoodwin Insurance in Marion & Powell OH at (740) 387-8335