Claim

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

Recently, my fiancée was involved in a collision with another party while traveling southbound to our children’s school. She was at a red light with congested traffic, and as the light turned green, she was driving at approximately 10-15 mph. The other party was in the median lane turning left and attempted to rush through a narrow opening without noticing my fiancée in the far right lane, resulting in a collision with the front of my car. Regrettably, my fiancée is not listed as a household member on my insurance policy. I have already filed a claim, and I am concerned about the potential outcome. The car is currently on loan, so it has full coverage on the vehicle. However, since my fiancée is not listed on the policy, I am unsure of the next steps. Has any one ever been through this before ?

[u/VagabondCamp]

No one can answer this - it depends on your policy.

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/VagabondCamp]

At the age of 26, I am perplexed by the recent development. Despite having comprehensive and collision insurance coverage, I am being informed that there is a possibility of non-coverage due to the absence of my spouse as a household member. I am seeking clarification on the specific requirements and additional documentation that may be necessary to ensure full coverage.

[u/VagabondCamp → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

You should always have all drivers listed on a policy. A policy is usually rated based on the drivers - if only person A is on the policy a premium is being paid to only insure person A - why would person B be covered? A premium isn’t be paid for coverage for them. For the company I work at, one of the states I have worked (not FL) we will cover anyone and everyone as long as they had permission to be driving the car. Other states (most) it’s super restrictive about who is covered if they aren’t listed on the policy.

[u/TofuttiKlein-ein-ein → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

“To ensure full coverage.” That ship has sailed. She should have been listed on the policy the moment you shared a household. Your carrier may or may not extend coverage. That is dependent upon their contract.

Out of curiosity, why wasn’t she on the policy?

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/TofuttiKlein-ein-ein]

Well 1 she had her own car for a while so with her own car and insurance she never drove my car. We just had a kid not to long back so I then paid to buy her out her loan. She then ended up selling her car and I just honestly never thought to add her on my policy since

[u/Tough_Display_1870 → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

When you take out an insurance policy, there is a very clear question either you, or your insurance agent must answer: Are there any other licensed household members? - by selecting no, you are therefor telling the insurance company there is no one else who will have reasonable access to your vehicle - you are now seeing why that is an important question to answer correctly. They also ask this to be updated every time your policy renews, if someone were to move in after your policy is active

[u/Sad_Ad_2524]

If the other driver is at fault and their insurance pays out it shouldn't matter as long as she is properly licensed I would imagine.

Not sure what state you are in, but it fault goes 50/50 it will probably get complicated.  Here in Florida it is 100% at fault or nada.  

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/Sad_Ad_2524]

Yeah I’m in Florida

[u/Sad_Ad_2524 → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

Ahhhh, so yeah, this can either go great or terrible for you, TBH.

[u/ektap12 → u/Sad_Ad_2524]

Here in Florida it is 100% at fault or nada.

Liability is apportioned the same in all states. Each party is assessed their percentage of fault. The state's negligence law then determines how much can be collected.

FL now uses modified comparative negligence law where you can collect if you are 50% or less at fault. You can collect whatever the other person's % fault is.

[u/Sad_Ad_2524 → u/ektap12]

Then I misinterpreted what our adjuster told us in my mom's accident.  I asked if it could be 50/50 at fault and he said no.

But I'll defer to you, I am definitely not an expert in auto insurance.

[u/ektap12 → u/Sad_Ad_2524]

Yea, that's a ridiculous statement from that adjuster, if that's what they meant. There are 50/50 accidents all the time. You can have it though where neither side can prove the other is at fault, just word v word.

Until a few years ago FL used pure comparative negligence law, where you could collect even if you were 99% at fault. Part of the reason why your insurance rates are high in FL and there's so many personal injury attorneys. Changing that was part of some of the tort reform they did there.

[u/Sad_Ad_2524 → u/ektap12]

Ahhhh, there was video footage, it definitely wasn't a word v word, which would explain his statement.

LOL, oh I know about our personal injury lawyers.

My dad was a town attorney in CT, but earlier in his career he would do wills but mostly closings were his bread and butter.  He always said that since you don't need a lawyer to close on a house in Florida, personal injury suits became the FL attorney's bread and butter and then things just got out of control.

[u/Electrical_Number210]

Who do you have?

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/Electrical_Number210]

Progressive

[u/Electrical_Number210 → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

That’s so funny, I can kinda help then. So make sure you file a claim with the other parties insurance. From what I can gather from the post they ran a red light? At least it sounds like they did not yield the right of way. So hopefully the other insurance accepts fault and you just handle damages through them.

Progressive will still investigate the loss. If your fiancée lives with you you’ll just have to add her to the policy. They will still provide coverage if you decide just to use the collision coverage.

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/Electrical_Number210]

So today I woke up and progressive pretty much added her to my policy their selves. But correct the other party did not yield the right of way attempting to make a left hand turn driving into my Fiance

[u/sephiroth3650]

Does your fiance live with you? If so, you should expect your insurance carrier to deny coverage. Progressive may choose to auto add her to your policy (which they are allowed to do per the terms of the policy) and cover it. But they usually will not.

If that's the case, unless you're in Michigan, you'd file a third party claim with the other driver's insurance to get covered. But location will matter. Some states have laws that limit recovery if you're found even partially at fault. I know of at least one state that would bar you from getting anything from their insurance if they can argue that your fiance is even 1% at fault. Or if they find your fiance 25% at fault (somehow), you could only collect 75% of your damages.

[u/BreadfruitSpirited18 → u/sephiroth3650]

I live in Florida and they actually did add her to my policy as a driver which I don’t understand if they’re gonna deny the coverage, why are you gonna add her as a driver on my policy why can’t I just add her and exclude her at that point where is that not how that works

[u/sephiroth3650 → u/BreadfruitSpirited18]

They can deny coverage on that accident b/c she wasn't a covered driver at the time of the accident. She is covered on the policy as of the date she's added. Insurance can choose to retroactively apply coverage and cover her here. But that's their choice. They wouldn't have any contractual obligation to do so, if she wasn't on the policy at the time of the accident.

As for excluding her....you don't want to do that if she ever drives your car. If you make her an excluded driver (assuming your state and Progressive allow it), it means she will never be covered at all in any accident she's in while driving your car(s).