auto insurance – The insurers’ response raises doubts: it depends. The age of the occasional driver, as well as his driving experience, have an impact.
insurance
Insurance does not cover all situations, even if it is customised.
Anyone with a valid driver’s license –and points– can get behind the wheel of any car, but can he drive anyone’s car? Yes, according to the DGT; however, insurance firms may not always be. So the answer is correct for a different, more important question: does automobile insurance cover a motorist who is not listed on the policy?
The firms, on the other hand, say it depends. Furthermore, it varies by company and, most importantly, by the age of the at-fault driver in the event of an accident.
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In essence, a driver who is not covered by car insurance may be covered if any of the following conditions are met: “That he or she is the same age or older than the person who is registered in the policy as habitual driver,” “who has more years of license than the habitual driver,” and “has at least two years of license,” according to the insurer Mapfre’s blog.
However, these are broad standards that do not obligate businesses to operate in any particular way, and each one is free to act as it sees right. “It is critical that the information stated and provided on the subscribed risk is correct and full during the vehicle insurance subscription process. According to Francisco Olmedo, director of Mobility at AXA Spain, “the declaration of the drivers who will use the insured vehicle has the same or greater relevance than the specific characteristics of the same for the correct declaration of the risk and avoiding problems or limitations in the coverage.”
In any event, the preceding has no bearing on third-party coverage. “Regardless of who is behind the wheel of the car, insurers are always accountable for mandatory civil liability, that is, for bodily or material harm caused to third persons,” says Francisco Valencia, a spokesman for Lnea Directa. If a person uses a relative’s automobile without declaring himself as an occasional driver, “and has an accident for which he is at fault, and the other party is hurt, and his vehicle is wrecked,” he says, “the firm will compensate that other party.”
The law still has an ace up its sleeve for insurers, who can demand recovery of these amounts if the individual operating the vehicle was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or did not have a valid driver’s license.
They can also do it if an unregistered driver is at the wheel, particularly if he is a minor. “At Lnea Directa, we assume the policyholder’s optional coverage and cover occasional drivers as if they were regular drivers, even if they aren’t declared as such in the policy,” Valencia explains. He emphasizes, “as long as they are over 26 years old.”
Francisco Olmedo advises, and Francisco Valencia agrees, that “the drivers who are going to use the car should never be omitted to avoid future complications.” “It is advisable to add undeclared drivers in the policy if the auto insurance does not offer full coverage to undeclared drivers,” says a spokeswoman for Lnea Directa.
The 26-year milestone is broken.
Insurance firms set the trust limit at 26 years, or 25 years in some cases, for a statistical reason: they have more claims, minor or major. According to the Ponle Freno-AXA Center for Road Safety Studies, drivers under the age of 22 have a traffic accident frequency of 29 percent, and young individuals between the ages of 22 and 25 have a traffic accident frequency of 25 percent, compared to 14.2 percent for the typical driver.
That is why, at the time of contracting, insurers inquire if the holder’s home contains children of legal age, so removing a potential source of suspicion. If the insured’s descendants will be driving, they must be listed as occasional drivers. The premium will increase, but the corporation will compensate them in the event of a loss.
“If that young person is listed on the policy as an occasional driver, we will cover the damages as if he were the primary driver, and always under the terms of the policy.” We will only respond for the mandatory half if we are not present and have an accident, and we will be able to claim compensation afterwards, “Valencia says.
“The insurance company has the right to pass on to the responsible driver the proportional fraction [of compensation] that corresponds to the increased premium that the insured would have paid if they had included this driver in the policy,” says Francisco Olmedo of AXA. “The insurance can decline the claims and not take care of the related reimbursement,” Olmedo continues, provided there are guarantees of voluntary contracting, such as damage to one’s own vehicle.
There may also be ramifications for the driver the following year. “If the minor under the age of 26 is not stated, the law recognizes an increase in the insured risk and allows us to offer to the policyholder a contract change with a predicted premium extra,” Valencia adds.
