Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 8/8/2009

Question
Had a truck registered to me (mom). Son was listed as driver of the truck on my insurance policy.  About a year ago I had the title and registration put in sons name. Have never contacted insurance provider of that (allstate).  Son recently has had licence suspended for "failier to appear" on a window tint ticket. (stupid) . Yet continues to drive the truck.  If he gets in an accident am I responsible for it?    I am not sure if insurance company is aware of the transfering of the title/registration.  He has had several speeding tickets in the last 4 yrs. and my rates have never budged. So...not sure really what to do. He refuses to quit driving the truck untill he goes to court over this license suspension thing. Thank you for any answers you can provide!

Answer
Hi Sharon,

There are many things wrong here on many different levels. If your son is under 18 years old, you are responsible for everything he does. If he is over 18 and since the tryck is in his name, he is pretty much on his own. If he has an accident though, Allstate may deny a claim due to the suspended license.

Basically you neeed to tell this boy that mommy is not going to bail him out when he gets arrested for driving on a suspended license nor if he has an accident that causes thousands of dollars in damage and injuries and the insurance company leaves him out in the cold.


I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh