Cancelling Auto Insurance Policy
Reader question:
My wife recently died and we have been working on all of the normal stuff, like closing her phone line and all that. Her name is still on my auto insurance policy and has been forever, and I’m not sure what to do with it. Help?
Jake
I extend my condolences, Jake.
In the case of any big event in life, you are going to see a notable difference in your car insurance rates, and normally it would be a good idea to renew your policy. Two of the situations that require this kind of attention are the loss of a spouse, either to divorce or to death. As difficult as it might be to think about things as glum as car insurance policies while you are dealing with a very emotional event in your life, this should be considered very soon after death or separation.
After the divorce or the funeral, whichever case it may be or you, and as soon as you are ready, go get your car insurance policy and look it over. Consider the types of coverage you have, such as comprehensive,liability, and so on. If there will only be one person on the plan, now, then your liability coverage probably does not need to be so high. If your wife died, then you probably won’t be using her car anymore and will sell it, so that needs to be taken off of the policy. All of this will, of course, affect your car insurance rates. And now that you’re alone, you should give extra consideration to things like rental reimbursement coverage and gap insurance since you no longer have someone to constantly back you up.
If you get a divorce, then the person who needs to insure a certain car needs to be the one whose address the car is always at. However, in order for them to be able to insure it, the car has to be registered in their name. In that case, then, you should probably wait until the divorce is finalized and the two of you decide what belongs to who so that you can determine whose name should be on what and end your previously jointly held car insurance policy.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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