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Can I join my wife’s policy as an occasional driver?
To drive your wife's vehicle, you should be listed on her car insurance policy as a driver and you don't need to buy your policy.Skip to article
Written by:
Shivani Gite
Contributing Writer
Shivani Gite is a personal finance and insurance writer with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She is passionate about making insurance topics easy to understand for people and helping them make better financial decisions. When not writing, you can find her reading a book or watching anime.
Laura Longero is an insurance expert and Executive Editor at CarInsurance.com, where she specializes in helping consumers navigate the complexities of the financial and insurance industries. She has 15 years of experience educating people about finance and car insurance. Prior to joining CarInsurance.com, she worked as a reporter and editor at the
USA Today Network. Her expertise provides readers with practical guidance, helping them make informed choices about their financial and insurance needs.
Shivani Gite is a personal finance and insurance writer with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She is passionate about making insurance topics easy to understand for people and helping them make better financial decisions. When not writing, you can find her reading a book or watching anime.
Laura Longero is an insurance expert and Executive Editor at CarInsurance.com, where she specializes in helping consumers navigate the complexities of the financial and insurance industries. She has 15 years of experience educating people about finance and car insurance. Prior to joining CarInsurance.com, she worked as a reporter and editor at the
USA Today Network. Her expertise provides readers with practical guidance, helping them make informed choices about their financial and insurance needs.
To drive your wife’s vehicle, you should be listed on her car insurance policy as a driver; you do not have to buy your own policy.
Your wife should have already listed you on her car insurance policy. Car insurance companies usually require that all licensed household members be placed on it as drivers. If she has not informed her insurance company about you as her spouse, she needs to do so now and add you to the policy.
Once listed as a driver, it would be up to the guidelines of your wife’s insurance company if you will be rated as an occasional driver, primary or secondary driver since if there is only one car in the household and she is the primary driver of it.
You would not normally be able to get your own car insurance policy on your wife’s car even if you wanted a separate policy; duplicate coverage (two car insurance policies on the same vehicle) is almost never acceptable by car insurance providers. Dual coverage would be confusing (whose policy is primary, etc.) and unnecessary since you should be listed on her policy.
If you have a bad driving record or there is some other reason you have not been listed on your wife’s car insurance policy up to this point, her rates may go up when she puts you there. If this happens, shop around for more affordable auto insurance.
— Michelle Megna contributed to this story.
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Laura Longero
Executive Editor
Laura Longero is an insurance expert and Executive Editor at CarInsurance.com, where she specializes in helping consumers navigate the complexities of the financial and insurance industries. She has 15 years of experience educating people about finance and car insurance. Prior to joining CarInsurance.com, she worked as a reporter and editor at the
USA Today Network. Her expertise provides readers with practical guidance, helping them make informed choices about their financial and insurance needs.
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John McCormick
Editorial Director
John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.
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Leslie Kasperowicz
Executive Editor
Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.
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Nupur Gambhir
Managing Editor
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.
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Shivani Gite is a personal finance and insurance writer with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She is passionate about making insurance topics easy to understand for people and helping them make better financial decisions. When not writing, you can find her reading a book or watching anime.