A Relative's Car Is Parked at Your House for Months: Who Insures It?

Why this is the owner's policy, not yours

Insurance attaches to the car through the owner's policy. Parking it in your driveway does not move it onto your policy, and your policy was not written with that car in mind. The owner keeps responsibility for insuring it, and California keeps watching: a registered vehicle with no insurance on record has its registration suspended. What changes is the information the owner's insurer needs.

The week before they leave

1. The owner calls their insurer and gives your address as where the car will be kept, and the dates.
2. Decide who will drive it. Nobody, occasional errands to keep the battery alive, or regular use by you.
3. If you will drive it regularly, the owner asks the insurer whether you must be listed. Occasional permission and regular use are treated differently, and how varies by insurance company.
4. Get the paperwork into the car: current registration and proof of insurance, plus a written note of permission and the owner's contact details.
5. Agree what happens if something goes wrong: who pays a deductible if the car is damaged at your house, and who you call first.

If the car will not be driven at all

Two options exist, and they are not the same thing:

• Reduced coverage on a parked car. Some owners keep comprehensive only, protecting against theft, fire, vandalism and weather, while dropping the coverages that matter when driving. Whether that is offered, and how, varies by insurance company, and the car must not be driven while coverage is reduced.
• Planned non-operation. The DMV's PNO status is for a vehicle that will not be driven, towed, stored or parked on public roads or highways for the entire registration year. A car parked on the street in front of your house does not qualify. PNO is filed up to 60 days before or 90 days after the registration expires.

Within 30 days

• Start it and move it occasionally if the plan allows, so it is drivable when the owner returns.
• Confirm the owner's renewal date. If the policy renews while they are away, make sure the bill will be paid; a cancellation notice for nonpayment gives only 10 days to cure under Insurance Code section 662.
• Check registration renewal too, which arrives at the owner's address of record, not yours.

If something happens while it is with you

If you are driving the owner's car with permission and there is a collision, the owner's policy is generally the first to respond, with your own policy possibly applying after it; how the two interact varies by insurance company. Exchange the information the law requires, and if anyone is hurt or damage to any one person's property is over $1,000, the driver must file an SR-1 with the DMV within 10 days. If the car is stolen or vandalized at your house, report it to the police and to the owner's insurer, and let the owner know the same day.

When they come back

The owner restores full coverage before the car is driven again, updates the garaging address back to their own, and you are removed from the policy if you were added. If the arrangement became permanent, with you as the regular driver, it is time to talk about a title transfer instead.

If you end up buying the car or taking it over, you can get it quoted here in your name.