Keep in mind I don’t know that much about insurance.
first off I own a bike. I want to pick up a second bike. I would like to make it so that my first bike is insured for my girlfriend to ride and keep the second one insured under my name. Is this possible without gifting/selling the bike to her. I don’t want to give her the pink slip in case anything happens. I don’t want to lose out on a couple grand there. Anyone familiar with how this works?
Maybe you can insure the bike in your name but list her as a second driver of it. My fiancee registered and titled her car in her name, but it is insured through my name and she is listed as a second driver of it. I would assume you could do the same with bikes here and register and title it in either your name or your girlfriend’s but then insure it through yourself but list her as a driver of it. The only problem then is if she does get into an accident, you are the one taking the hit on insurance rates.
As long as you have liability insurance on the bike and you give her permission to ride it, she is covered. This the the same if I let you drive my car and you get an an accident, insurance follows the vehicle and she will be a covered driver as long as she has your permission to ride it.
However, if she gets in an accident, your insurance will go up. Same as if you were driving my car and wrecked it. Because it is your insurance policy, regardless of who is riding the bike, your policy still pays out, hence it going up.
You can list her as a 2nd driver of the bike if you want, but you technically do not have to.
As far as insuring the vehicle under her name alone, this is where it gets a bit fuzzy. I am not an agent, I only do insurance claim, so I am only taking an educated guess on this issue. I believe that she actually has to be the owner of the bike to insure it under her name. As in the title/registration has to be in her name for her to be the named insured on the policy. Dont quote me on that one though. I would call whatever your insurance carrier is an ask them about it.
^ You’re right, you cannot purchase insurance on a car (and assuming a bike) in New York, if it is not registered in your name. I tried to do it years ago when my dad technically owned my car at the time, but I wanted to put my own policy on it.
thank you for the help. this is very helpful
Yes you can.Iv sold people cars and they have gotten insurance on it before i turned my plates in.
the difference is whoever you sold your car to was going to be the new registered owner and since in NYS you need ins to reg a veh of course they had ins before you turned your plates in.
the op is stating that he had no intentions of putting a vehicle in his name but instead just insuring it on his own policy without ever being the rightful owner.
TSITALON. Call your insurance agent and ask. From my understanding if a vehicle is insured registered and titled in your name and somebody has permission to operate it then all is well. Problems only start when that person decides to slam into somebody and a legal shit storm ensues. Your policy would be dinged and from what I recall you yourself can actually be held responsible to some extent. Call your agent and ask man probably your best bet. Honestly play stupid and call a few. in the time it took you to post all this crap on here you could have called some agents. With that said go call some people and let us all know how things work out.
this isnt a wise idea, now if you have a fight, she can dump the bike, and you’ll be out a bike and your rates will go up.
You could add her to your insurance policy (if you’re comfortable with that) as a second named insured. An she would be the primary driver of the vehicle. This way the bike is still yours and titled/registered in your name.
But like FourSeasons said, your best bet is to just leave your policy alone and just give her permission to use the bike. If something was to happen your policy would cover the bike and the driver.
^^^correct but if she does have an accident or claim then be prepared to have those fuckers add her to your policy…
^^True… If she has an accident and does not have her own insurance policy then she will have to be added to yours in order for damages to be covered. If she already has her own policy then you don’t have to worry, because they’ll have no reason to add her. (Correct me if I’m wrong FourSeasons, I only work in service not claims lol)
youre right…i also used to work for that shit bag company you work for.
LOL… Yeah, it had its pros and cons. I work in the new homeowners department, so its not as bad as auto.
If the girlfriend has her own policy, there is no need to have 2 on the same bike and Im not sure you can even do that. If she does have an accident, she wont necessarily be added to the policy as a listed driver. That happens a lot when kids turn 16 and the parents let them drive the vehicle. As soon as the insurance company finds out, they are added to the policy and the parents rates go up because it is a young driver.
If she did have an accident, just play dumb and and tell her that this is the first time she ever took the bike out. This is as long as you tell the insurance company that she was a “permissive user” of the bike. So again, you dont have to add her to the policy.
I dont believe the girlfriend can get her own policy on the bike unless it is registered in her name. So really, that cant happen. Even if she has her own auto policy, that would not come into play as I said before that insurance follows the vehicle. You cant apply your friends/girlfriends policy to your bike. Just like I couldnt apply my car policy to anyone elses car for liability.
…ok, that isnt 100% true… There are always exceptions depending on the language of the policy. If she was to get in an accident and severly injury or kill someone, then her own auto policy may come into play as secondary if there wasnt enough coverage under the bike owners policy… but now I am getting way beyond the OPs question.
Same here, my girlfriends old car was registered under her and her fathers name for some reason (co owners)…
When she went to get her own insurance policy, they wouldn’t do it unless she re-registered the car.
We ended up doing that, paid about 75 bucks if I recall…
Bad idea. I have nothing else to contribute.
There are way too many ways this could screw up
…of course its a terrible idea…
however i think he is just asking if it is do-able. :gotme:
True, it’s most likely do-able but plz consider the outcomes. You’re MUCH better off having her own the bike/insuring it than letting her hop on ur insured vehicle.
It’s not a car, it’s a bike. We crash more, remember. Especially new riders.
you can register a vehicle that isnt yours, I have done it before…
that way she has her own reg and ins. you both have to be at the dmv at time of registration though.