The laws for auto insurance are created and maintained by each individual state. This means that there are no uniform insurance laws that you can point to for various situations. In any situation, you should read your insurance policy and make sure that you understand it before you take any actions. For example, you should check to see how your insurance is affected if you loan your car to someone and they get a speeding ticket.
What Is The General Rule?
The general rule is that your insurance company will not raise your premiums if you loan out your car and the person you loaned it to gets a speeding ticket. However, there are several variables that could change that outcome and cause you problems.
If your insurance policy specifically forbids you to loan out your car, then you could get in trouble if someone else gets a speeding ticket in your car. If the person you loaned your car to caused damage while speeding, then that could make things even more complicated.
Points On Your License?
Some people worry that if they loan out their car to someone who gets stopped for speeding, then both the car driver and owner could get points on their license. Each state holds drivers accountable for their own actions. If your friend speeds in your car and gets caught, you will not have to worry about any repercussions on your license or, in general, your insurance.
When It Gets Tricky
Car insurance generally follows the driver. That is why you can often use your own car insurance for a rental car instead of paying more for rental insurance. But in special situations, car insurance can be tricky. If you loan your vehicle to an uninsured driver and that driver causes damage while speeding, your insurance could wind up being affected. While you would not directly be responsible for the damages, the other party could sue your insurance company if your uninsured driver is unable to take any of the financial responsibility.
If you lend your car to an unlicensed driver, then any damage that driver does while speeding could be charged to your insurance. Once again, this would have to be done through a civil court, but you could be in trouble if you loan your car to an unlicensed driver.
The general rule is to not loan you car to anyone for any reason. While, in general, your insurance would not be affected if the driver who borrowed your car got pulled over for speeding, there are plenty of variables that could come back to haunt you later on.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!