Texas State Auto Insurance Law Question (see details).
Asked by
YoBob (
12846
)
October 7th, 2011
I recently bought a new car and removed my older one from my insurance. However, since my son will be driving in a couple of years I am keeping the older car to give to him. However, I need to transport the older car a couple of hundred miles to the family ranch for storage until such time as my son is ready for it.
The question is about insurance coverage for the trip. If I have a friend drive take the vehicle on a “test drive”, does his liability insurance automatically cover him?
Since I still own the vehicle, would I still be liable if there were an accident on the trip?
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5 Answers
no, you are not covered
Yes, you will be liable
the only way to move it legally is to tow or haul.
I found this explanation regarding this scenario:
“If you drive someone else’s vehicle and they do not have any insurance (but you do) and you cause an accident, then your own insurance will step in with Medical Payments (Med Pay) coverage (if you carry it) to handle your medical bills and liability coverage to take care of the damage you cause to another vehicle and their medical bills and related expenses if they are injured. It usually will not, however, take care of the damage to the uninsured car you were driving. (Your friend needed to have collision coverage for that.) ” (From here)
That’s confirmed here :
“If a person other than the owner is driving, the driver’s insurance could provide secondary coverage if the owner lacked insurance or didn’t fully cover the damages.”
And here :
“in general, your liability insurance also covers you if you drive a friend’s car and the friend is not insured.”
I know you’re asking specifically about Texas, but I don’t see any of these legal types saying that it depends on the state.
Most insurance carriers have short term coverage available. I know I go through my own insurance company when I have to rent a car as they are several times cheaper than getting the rental car’s insurance.
You should be able to get a short term policy to cover the vehicle for a week when you move the car.
I would advise you to call the Texas Department of Insurance, there is a local 512 number to call them directly and a 1–800 consumer help number provided at the bottom of the page. These things vary from state to state and you are asking about Texas. I would go right to the source. It’s just not something to fool around with, I don’t think. Depending on what the laws are in Texas you could be personally liable for any accident caused by someone driving your car. If they were to badly injure or kill someone while driving a car owned by/titled to you that could be big trouble. I would just call the TDI. They can tell you for sure. Why take the risk?
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