Does an unmarried couple residing in Abilene Texas who’s been living together need to share the same policy if they each have their own car? Is it cheaper?

Jeremy

Abilene, TX

Insurance companies tend to favor two-car policies and often offer discounts. What you can do is to compare rates from different auto insurance providers in Abilene Texas to see if it’s cheaper to combine or have separate insurance. Be aware that in calculating insurance premiums, each driver and each vehicle will be rated separately. It would be even better if you own a house together and use the same carrier for your homeowner’s and auto insurance.

Usually if your insurance company knows that you’re living in with someone, they will ask you to add that person either as explicitly included on your policy (listed as a driver and their driver’s license rated) or EXCLUDED (not allowed to drive the car and not covered if they DO drive it).

When deciding whether or not to combine your insurance policies, you may want to consider NOT mentioning that you live with someone who has a bad driving record. If a person has a bad driving record, it’s recommended to have separate policies for cheaper rates. In this case, the policy of the better driver may need to exclude that of the bad driver.

Just a footnote, for unmarried gay couples in states or cities where there is domestic partnership there may also be a discount being offered by some insurance carriers.

Are Texas car insurance companies allowed to cancel my auto insurance policy if I get ticketed for speeding?

Bruce

They are, yes.

Car insurance companies accept their customers based on a certain criteria, and you can’t expect a car insurance company that did not give policies to high risk drivers to begin with to continue to let you have a policy with them if you move into the high risk driver group while you are there. While it is not true that these companies will always, without fail, find out about any of your car traffic infractions, for the most part they check your driving record regularly, so if it comes up they can cancel or refuse to renew tour car insurance policy.

For the most part, this only happens if you get the ticket within two months of having gotten the policy to begin with. For example, if you get a ticket later on in your policy cycle, they might let it slide. The only reason that most companies will cancel during that time is if you don’t pay your premium as scheduled.

Also, if it is your first speeding ticket, for the most part your car insurance company won’t cancel or not renew your policy for just the one. While Texas is not among the states that have laws making it to where they cannot cancel you for one ticket, most car insurance companies still see letting the first ticket go as good business practice. If you get more than one speeding ticket during your premium period, though, you’re pretty much guaranteed a non renewal.

If you want to avoid getting high rates or policy cancellation, Texas offers defensive driving classes that you can take in order to get these offenses wiped off of your record.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.