My auto insurance carrier is insisting that I list my newly licensed daughter as a primary driver on one of the car on our insurance policy. Can they do this? Is this mandatory in Massachusetts? I was under the impression that my daughter just needed to be added on the insurance policy as a driver and could drive any of the cars listed on our insurance policy. We live in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Charles

Lynn, MA

It can differ but many insurance carriers like to list the driver as the primary on the car that he or she drives the most, though they are covered to drive the other household cars also (as long as no exclusions are on the car insurance policy). It appears that your insurance carrier is such a company that requires your daughter to be listed as the primary driver on the vehicle that he primarily drives and that is not unusual.

While this is up to the insurance carrier to decide typically if they match up the different drivers with the different cars that they drive the most, to find out if this is mandatory in Lynn, Massachusetts you can contact the state’s insurance regulatory body. In Massachusetts this is the Division of Insurance and can be contacted by calling their consumer hotline at (617) 521-7794 or you may contact them online

Can I insure my teen daughter on my car insurance policy if she does not live with me? She has her own house. We live in Maryland.

Calvin

Columbia, MD

The answer to that question depends on whether you want to insure your teen daughter to drive your vehicle or insure her vehicle on your insurance policy policy in Maryland. You can easily insure her as a driver on your car insurance policy by contacting your insurance carrier to find out their procedure and if there would be any additional premium due. If you want to insure her vehicle on your policy you will need to check with your insurance provider as some of them will not insure cars from more than one household on a single car insurance policy. This might not apply if she is a student and keeping her vehicle away at school.