How can I add someone to my car insurance for a day?

Car insurance gives you peace of mind while traveling the roads, but what about when your family member or friend needs to borrow your car? You might assume that your insurance won’t cover someone borrowing the car. In some cases, you may need to add the temporary driver to your policy, but not always. 

Many insurance companies have a clause extending coverage to anyone borrowing the vehicle. Read on to learn more about how to add someone to your car insurance for a day.

How To Add Someone To Your Car Insurance for a Day

If you’re only letting someone else use your car for a day or two, you most likely won’t need to add them to your policy. However, if your insurance company doesn’t offer automatic coverage for drivers you allow to use your car, you will need to call a representative with your company and give them the driver’s personal details so they can temporarily add the driver to your policy.

Your Permission Is Usually Enough

Generally, insurance companies consider people who are temporarily borrowing your car to be “permissive users.” Permissive users are those that don’t own or normally drive the vehicle that’s insured but have been given explicit permission to drive it. 

Insurance coverage automatically extends from the insured driver to their permissive users if the policy allows it. Some policies only cover immediate family members or spouses as permissive users, even if you do not share car insurance with them. Other insurance companies include anyone you give permission, even an employee or hired driver. Car insurance is for the car itself, not the driver behind the wheel, so it follows the vehicle in most cases.

Since the definition of a permissive user can vary significantly across policies and companies, it’s important not to assume based on previous experiences. Always call your insurance company and check on the current details of its permissive user policy before you hand over the keys.

When a Driver Isn’t Considered a Permissive User

In cases where your existing insurance coverage won’t cover your friend or employee, you can request that they be added as a temporary driver. Keep in mind that each driver you add to your policy, even temporarily, may increase your car insurance rates. 

The reasons a temporary driver may affect your premiums include:

• A lack of driving history
• Recent accidents or collisions
• A lack of insurance coverage for their own vehicle

Ask the driver you want to add about their driving history before you decide to add them to your car insurance for a day, or temporarily.

How To Find Out if You Need to Add Someone to Your Car Insurance

Only your car insurance company can tell you what your policy requires. You may be able to log into your insurance provider’s website and check out policy documents there that would outline precisely how the company handles temporary drivers. 

The fastest way to get an accurate answer in most cases is to call the insurance company. Any customer service representative or insurance agent working with them should be able to tell you right away what to do in this situation. If you are required to add temporary drivers in some way, your representative will let you know how long the person will remain on your policy and what you’ll need to do to remove them. 

You may want to add someone to your policy if:

• Your friend’s car needs repairs, and you’re not using your vehicle for the next few days.
• You’re selling the car and the prospective buyer would like an overnight test drive.
• A family member is visiting from out of town and would like to avoid renting a car.

It’s as simple as checking your policy or calling your insurance company to find out what you should do.

Check Before You Temporarily Add a Driver to Your Insurance

In most cases, you shouldn’t have to officially add someone to your car insurance coverage for a day. If you do need to add someone, beware that your rates could increase. Check your insurance policy’s permissive user regulations to know exactly what to do in this situation.