Question: Can I add my partner to my USAA policy if we’re not married? I want to add my girlfriend to my car insurance policy as we only have one car after hers died.
Answer: USAA recommends adding licensed drivers who live in your household or drive the vehicle regularly. In terms of being able to add them to your policy, it does not matter if you are married or not.
A USAA auto insurance contract covers “all licensed drivers in your household.” This also means that USAA needs specific information about them in order to give you the most accurate rate quote because their age, gender, and previous driver history will be factored into the overall policy rate.
To add an additional driver, you can log in to your USAA account via the online system. You can also call USAA’s Auto Insurance department from the U.S. at 1-800-531-8722. They are open Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. CT and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CT on Saturdays.
Joint car insurance
Generally speaking, most insurance companies will allow you to share joint car insurance even if you are not married. You can also add each other as a listed driver if you maintain separate policies. You may save money by sharing a single policy rather than continuing to maintain two separate policies.
Your specific situation will depend on your location, insurance company and your significant other’s details. If your partner has a poor driving history, you will want to think twice about combining them into yours, as it could possibly raise your rates. In some scenarios, it may make sense to maintain separate policies.
Of course, there is always the risk of a breakup, and in that situation, you would need to adjust your shared auto policy once again to be accurate. It is important to handle this situation quickly so one (or both) of you don’t end up with a lapse in coverage. This might mean one person dropping off the coverage and getting their own policy or both partners starting over with new policies.
If you fail to list or add your partner to your car insurance policy, you risk running into a lot of trouble should they get in an accident, cause damage to your vehicle or damage someone else’s vehicle. The main issue you can run into in these situations is that the insurance company would deny the claim and you would be left to foot the bill for whatever damages were caused by the un-covered driver.
These guidelines also extend to other people living with you who use your vehicle on a regular basis, including roommates. The bottom line is you should look into auto insurance coverage options for anyone who lives at your same location and drives the vehicle regularly. This is a “better safe than sorry” situation.
Kevin Berry is the Senior Director of Content at Jerry and has been working in the digital content space since 2011 across the car insurance/repair, personal finance, travel and sports industries. Prior to Jerry, Kevin was a content team lead at NerdWallet overseeing the Multimedia Production and Travel Rewards teams. Previously, he worked for NBC Sports, Comcast Cable and Nike. He has a Master`s Degree from Arkansas State and a Bachelor`s from Oregon State University.
Giselle Gomez is an editor with over a decade of experience editing content across personal finance, education, travel, and sports. In editing for Jerry, Giselle’s focus is on making sure content is consumer and SEO-friendly and helping readers understand all things car ownership. In prior roles, she worked as a content strategist, syndication editor, and writer. Her work is featured in AP, NerdWallet.com, BestColleges.com, and more. Giselle holds a master’s degree from Arizona State University.
