Can I Add My Girlfriend or Boyfriend to My Car Insurance?

Here’s what you need to know about adding your girlfriend, boyfriend, or fiancé to your car insurance.

Yes, you can add your girlfriend or boyfriend to your car insurance policy. The act of adding someone to your policy doesn’t cost anything. However, having an additional driver on your policy may raise your premiums, especially if they have an ugly driving record. If you live together, your insurer will likely require you to add your boyfriend or girlfriend to your policy.

Adding your girlfriend or boyfriend to your policy is easy. You’d just need to call your insurer and ask them. Or, some companies may allow you to add drivers through their website or mobile app. They probably won’t charge you to add a driver, either.

You can add your partner as a listed, covered driver under your policy. This will give them coverage for regular use of your vehicle. If you share ownership of a car, you may need to add them as a named insured who can make policy changes and pay the premiums.

You probably don’t need to add your girlfriend or boyfriend to your policy if they only use your car occasionally. Most people you allow to drive your car are covered temporarily through permissive use. This is because car insurance generally follows the car, not the driver.  

Insurance companies recognize that people borrow cars for errands and such, so your insurance will cover accidents and damage that other drivers cause while driving your car as long as they borrowed it with your knowledge. In this scenario, your liability insurance would primarily be on the hook for any damage, with theirs potentially stepping up afterward if costs exceed your limits.

Permissive use also means another driver getting into an accident in your vehicle may raise your rates. Note that physical damage to your vehicle will also be covered under your collision coverage when someone else is driving your car, too. 

Car insurance companies have limits on permissive use. If your significant other regularly drives your vehicle, your provider will want you sharing car insurance with your girlfriend or boyfriend instead of constantly having them temporarily covered. Also, some insurers limit payouts if another driver crashes your car during permissive use. Sometimes, it’s easier just to list a driver on your plan.

You should add your girlfriend or boyfriend to your auto insurance when:

Insurance companies usually require all drivers in a household to be listed on the insured’s car insurance plan. So, if your significant other moves in with you, you’ll likely need to add them to the policy.

You need car insurance in almost every state to legally drive. If your significant other doesn’t have any insurance of their own, you’ll need to add them to your policy out of necessity to use your car legally.

On the other hand, you may not want to add your girlfriend or boyfriend to your auto insurance if they have an ugly driving record or very poor credit. 

Listing a driver on your policy with a bad driving record will likely raise your premiums. Adding a dangerous driver to your plan makes it much riskier. A dangerous driver is more likely to cost an insurance company money by filing a claim, so they’ll raise your rates to offset this potential risk.

If your girlfriend or boyfriend has had several at-fault accidents recently or a DUI/DWI arrest, you may not want to add them. Your premiums will increase, and with a DUI/DWI arrest, they could easily double.

In some states, insurers use credit scores as a rating factor in their auto insurance premiums. If your partner has significantly bad credit, adding them may raise your rates, too. Having bad credit means your ability to pay bills on time is questionable, and insurers may charge you higher rates due to your increased chances of missing a payment.

Some states don’t allow credit scores to be used as an auto insurance premium factor, so you may want to double-check with your insurer if you’re concerned about this.

No, you can share car insurance without being married. If you live with your significant other and share a vehicle, whoever owns the car should have the other partner listed on their plan. Buying an insurance plan for your partner’s car or getting a joint policy might be tricky, though.

As domestic partnerships and other long-term relationship commitments without marriage become more common, insurers are adapting their policies for domestic partner car insurance. Many companies make it possible to get a joint car insurance policy where you’re both named insureds if you’ve been living together for a long time.

You’ll be asked about your marital status when getting car insurance quotes. Some companies have “domestic partnership” or some variation as an option. This gets weighed similarly to the status of “married.”

You’ll likely have to provide information about your domestic partner later in the quote process, like their name, date of birth, and info on their recent driving record, so the insurer can verify their existence and driving history so they can grant you unmarried couple car insurance.

You likely can’t get joint car insurance for unmarried couples if you’re not living together. And, you can’t insure a car you don’t own, so you can’t buy insurance for your spouse’s vehicle if their name is on the title. But, you should still list each other as drivers on your policies if you will be using each other’s cars regularly.