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My mother bought a vehicle for me to drive before her dementia came on. When she did this I was able to insure the vehicle under both our names even though she wasn't a driver anymore. We switched insurance companies because we were dropped by the original company. Late paying the policy so they dropped us. Now the new company is saying I need to be on the registration or the title in order to insure the vehicle. They also won't insure my mother with me as the driver because she doesn't drive. Their is still a lien on the vehicle. Has anyone dealt with this. I'm in NJ and they won't let me register it in my name because I'm not on the lien/title.

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I sent my agent a copy of the POA. He was able to take care of it so that we are all on the policy and she is just not a driver. She has a state ID but not a drivers license so they were able to use that. I figured there had to be a way since it was done before. Thank you all for your feed back.
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I'm in the same situation, but since Mom lives with me, Geico allowed me to bundle it on our policy with the other cars. My husband and I are listed as drivers and she is not, since her doctor ordered her not to drive. @ ferris: If Mom sells the car at less than market value, and needs Medicaid, seems to me that could be considered a gift and delay eligibility if it's of any significant value. I would be careful about that...it's why we haven't sold Mom's car and are driving it instead of letting it sit in the driveway depreciating and unused.
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Forgot to say that Dad's name was removed and mine added only as primary driver.
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Mom never had a license or drove a vehicle. When Dad passed, the vehicle was in both names. The same insurance carrier insured Mom with me as her primary driver. It is still that way. KY
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I live in the state of NJ. Just went thru the change from licence to ID. Your mother must sign even if the signature is not clear. Has to be done in front of a clerk. Price the same as a licence. POA is not allowed. Call the lean holder and see if you can take over payments in your name. Check with DMV what proof you need if u do this. I assume you have no title yet since the car is not paid off. If you have no credit, you may have to sell the car, pay off the lean then buy another car with what u profit. NJ not an easy state for insurance.
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Ferris......some states will not allow this $1 sale as they want their full take on taxes involved in the sale. Such a state would be Connecticut. We know first hand because we sold a vehicle under market price to a family friend and CT came back at him for the difference and garnered more tax money.
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My Aunt had a lease car for 3 d*mn years.. Seriously what kind of a person does a lease with a 82 year old woman with obvious memory problems. Anyhow.. She surrendered her drivers license.. We put me on as primary driver.. Rate also went down. Now we are in process of taking over the lease. My adult son is now primary driver. Plus now we've changed insurance companies and put it on our policy. No problems at all!
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I agree with contacting your state insurance commissioner. I've been an agent for two different companies, one only in Ga, one that does insurance all over US. Most companies can and will do a policy with her as owner, you as primary driver, just not common scenario so every agent may not know they can do it. Does your mom still have a valid license even though she doesn't drive? If so, they'd still have to list her as a driver because she's legal to drive and underwrite for her as well. If that's the case, turn in her license for an ID. Also, shop around. I know it's not a fun way to spend your time, but have current policy on hand withVIN numbers and policy limits and it'll be much easier for you.
Also, if mom still has valid license and clean driving record, just tell them she doesn't care to drive and has you drive her vehicle to take her to dr or shopping. They'll list you both on policy. Nothing wrong with this, they don't ask about health issues in underwriting that I've ever seen so don't volunteer the info. Could be an agent hears dementia & immediately things she'll be driving and plow over a group of children so they don't want the risk. By the way, I've even written a policy for a blind woman. It's obvious she won't drive but owned a vehicle so when she did need to go places she felt independent in her son not putting wear and tear on his car. Also where is the vehicle 'garaged' If you live in seperate places but you keep car, that could be issue because they say she doesn't have control over when and who it's driven by.
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I'd suggest you contact your states Insurance Dept to see what the requirements & restructions are for auto insurance companies to provide coverage. Most states have an online portal to ask a consumer question to dept staff.
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Have your mother "sell" you the vehicle for $1 so you can take title (if the lienholder has possession of the title, just tell them her intentions). She still is responsible for paying the bank/company with whom she financed the car with (you can pay this for her). Then you will have title and your car insurance company will insure you.
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I added a rider to my own insurance for non-owned vehicles; so if I drive a car not my own I'm covered. Every company does it differently. I've been with the same insurance since I began driving at 16.
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Moms van is in my Dads name. Dropped my Dad as driver left her as polocy owner & primary driver. Its a 2008 grd caravan we bought from Enterprise.I bought a $1,000,000 liability umbrella policy (financial guy suggested) for $250 just in case I or sitters/companions needed to drive. Raised her limits to 250000/500000 liability bodily injury, 300000 property damage, medical 25000, kept comprehensive, raised deductible to $500 on collision, uninsured motor vehicle bodily injury 25000/50000. She is still listed as prin driver. This is State Farm. Family they said wasn't a problem just other people. However, my Mom probably will never drive. Her license expired, so im going pick up a study guide. At some point she needs an ID & handicap certificate, so if that time comes we'll be ready. I won't be the bad guy if she doesn't pass drivers test. So her policy went from $880 to $1100 for a year. Can split payments in 1/2. In future, some revision(s) maybe necessary. Don't know if this will help but others may run into this same problem.
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@CarlaCB yep you should check with your mom's insurance company. generally speaking the car insurance follows the car and if you get into an accident in her car, her insurance will pay. Note-If the accident exceeds her insurance limits she could be sued.
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My mother's car is registered and insured under her name only. I drive it much more than she does. My other sister drives it too. Mom only drives to the occasional drive-thru for lunch and then back home - she can't walk even to a store entrance without help.

I guess that works fine as long as there's no accident. I assume it would be covered for an accident that occurred while one of us was driving her around, but I never actually looked into that.
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My parents lived in Alabama and my siblings and i moved them up to Pennsylvania to be near us in 2013. At the time of the move my dad was still driving but within 6months of living with me and my family he was diagnosed with vascular dementia and prohibited from driving. My mom had her license but never drove.
First thing: get your mom a state ID and turn in her license. Second, yes you have to have your name on the registration to have the insurance according to my insurance company.
In our situation my son wanted to drive their car. So based on the instruction from the insurance company--we went to a Jack Rabbit Tag and added my son on the registration, dropped insurance from my parents, then my son got an insurance policy in his name for the car.
If your mom's dementia is early and she can still sign then take her to the tag place. if not, then hopefully you have POA as you will need to sign for her.
the insurance company should be able to give you step-by-step instructions on how to rectify this then call the company that holds the lien to confirm and finally the tag place to ensure they can do it all. That's pretty much what I did in our situation.
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With my own parents who stopped driving 6 years ago, they were able to keep their insurance going with the only change being that I was now the "primary driver".

Maybe each State has different rules.
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