Auto-Insurance for Just Married Couples

Marriage changes your life. Nonetheless, it’s not just about picking out matching bathrobes. You often go through a period of combining assets in your respective lives. The way you live your life is going to change. Sometimes, it means that you will face risks now that you never have before.

Therefore, when you get married, think about these risks. Then, take steps to reduce them. This may include combining elements of your insurance coverage. When you marry, you and your spouse will likely share a lot of things, including your vehicles. Consider how marriage will affect your auto insurance coverage. Often, when they marry, couples can change or combine their policies. This might lead to better, more comprehensive coverage.

Why Marriage Means You Should Review Your Insurance 
Marriage is a legal process as well as a spiritual one. After marriage, an individual’s entitlement and access to certain benefits changes. As a result, the way that person should consider their own risks to change as well.

When you marry, you take on a degree of responsibility for another person. Likewise, that other person takes on a degree of responsibility for you. It is all part of the partnership of marriage. By taking on this responsibility, you take on extra risks. Simply put, if something happens to you or your spouse, the effects could harm the other person as well.

Therefore, it becomes imperative to adjust your insurance appropriately following your marriage. By doing so, you can better protect new or changing risks. For example, you might decide to join your spouse’s health insurance policy. You might decide to increase your life insurance adjustments. These changes should represent the added value that a new member of the family signifies.

We can say the same thing about our driving risks. When they marry, most people assume new driving risks. In many ways, this is simply because of their attachment to another person. Therefore, marriage often presents a unique time to change your auto insurance coverage. The way newly-married drivers may choose to augment their coverage often varies.

Often, marriage provides a situation to combine auto policies and potentially save money. However, in other situations, it may be best to keep your auto insurance policies separate.

Combining Auto Insurance Policies After Marriage 
Married drivers who have similar driving needs often find combining policies a convenient way to get insurance. Auto insurers often offer multi-vehicle policies. These allow married drivers to insure both spouses and each of their vehicles on one policy.

There’s always a chance that one spouse could drive the other’s car. By adding both spouses to a multi-car policy, you can ensure you both have coverage no matter which vehicle they drive. Include both you and your spouse as operators of both vehicles on your policy.

Multi-vehicle policies often come with similar coverage levels for both vehicles. Therefore, it’s imperative that you carefully consider the value of each car. You may need to adjust your coverage levels because of this changing value. Sometimes, you can adjust certain coverage limits separately for each vehicle on the policy. However, both cars usually have to carry the same amount of insurance mandated by your state.

The good news is that combining policies may lead to cost savings. Think about it, by combining policies, you will only pay for one policy instead of two. Certain insurers offer discounts for drivers who insure multiple vehicles on one policy. These may come in the form of multi-car discounts or other rate reductions.

Keeping Your Auto Policies Separate 
Nonetheless, combining policies may not be right for you and your spouse. You often have to use special consideration when keeping separate policies.

Drivers may not combine policies because one driver has non-standard risk levels. This may mean they need different, often higher, insurance levels from other drivers. By combining policies, drivers may risk having coverage that’s not right for them. For example, if a low-risk driver adds a high risk driver to their policy, they may see rate increases. This may not be best in the case of a low-risk driver. Keeping a high-risk driver on a separate policy might actually lead to better coverage and rates than having one policy.

Still, even if your spouse has their own car and policy, you should always add them as an extra driver on your own policy. This is because there is a chance that they may have to drive your car at some point. Make sure the coverage on both policies reflects the risk levels of both drivers. How a high-risk driver affects your policy rates will likely vary, based on how your insurer weighs that factor when determining prices.

To determine how to structure auto policies after marriage, talk to your insurer. Make sure you mention the value of both of your vehicles, and who will drive each car. Your agent can likely help you understand how combining your policies will protect both drivers.

Need auto insurance? Let Ayala Insurance help. Call us at 602-277-1900 for a fast, free policy quote right now.