Short period family driving your car - insurance?

[Anonymous]

My sister will need to drive my car when she is here. How does one handle insurance in such a scenario. It scares me if something happens car is in my name, I am implicated right? This may need to be repeated 2-3 times a year. She is helping me out due to my health issues. Anything else I need to think of?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

If she has her own car insurance, she should be covered under hers and yours.

[Anonymous]

She doesn’t have her own car. Can she still get a car insurance? For my car? I have chronic health problems. I also take care of my mother in law. And have two little ones. So few times a year she would stay with us to help out. I really don’t want to take on risk stupidly. Would it be better for her to rent a car which I would pay for. Not something we can afford easily but if it’s the better option.

[Anonymous]

Add her to your policy as an additional driver. We do this for our nanny with our car.

[Anonymous]

OP. I know of a friend who had her nanny drive and hit a pedestrian. Their insurance had to pay big bucks. And of course premium went up. The car was in their name. She was a mess for the 2 yrs that it took to resolve. It was a huge amount. That scares me.

[Anonymous]

OP that is a real risk but most people take it. Lots of families in this area have Nannies and au pairs. My mother in law lives in the in the in law suite in our basement and is on the same insurance plan. Yep we could get into trouble! I think it’s stupid but DH doesn’t!

[Anonymous]

How often will she be driving? You are allowed to loan your car to someone else occasionally and they are still covered with your car insurance. regular driver like nanny or someone who lives with you like a kid who drives is different:

[Anonymous]

We added my sister to our insurance policy when she needed to use our car-and thank goodness we did because she ended up getting into an accident. The extra money was initially worth the piece of mind and ultimately saved us a ton of money. It was a simple process to add her. I just went onto the app and added her as another driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t have her own car. Can she still get a car insurance? For my car? I have chronic health problems. I also take care of my mother in law. And have two little ones. So few times a year she would stay with us to help out. I really don’t want to take on risk stupidly. Would it be better for her to rent a car which I would pay for. Not something we can afford easily but if it’s the better option.

Yes, your sister doesn't need to own a car to have car insurance. Assuming she has a driver's license, she can get a policy. It is cheap. My former boss didn't have a car, but did have car insurance.

[Anonymous]

In our extended family we drive each other’s cars all the time (like, whichever car is in the driveway last is the car who picks up the pizza or Chinese or whatever.) We all have a our own insurance though so we don’t worry about it at all.

[Anonymous]

I called my insurance to ask this question when my father was visiting from abroad, and they told me that unless he used my car for more than 2 weeks, I didn't need to do a thing. Your situation is slightly different, as it's very occasional use but throughout the year, so just to be safe, I'd call your insurance and ask them.