Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Hi all

My mother is planning to visit in Dec to look after our kids while we go away. Since we'll be away, she'd like to know she can jump into one of our cars if a problem arose.

Regarding insurance, I'm aware to let a family member or friend is ok. Would the same apply to my mother even though she doesn't have a US license?

Does anyone have experience of this?

My insurance company is Progressive if it helps

Thanks!

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Surely the best thing to do is to contact your insurance company and find out whether your mother can drive your car.:)

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

so long as a friend / relative has your permission to drive the car then the car is insured subject to the terms of the policy.

granted, I worked in Michigan, but i cannot imagine the rules regarding this are not similar all over the USA.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

My parents have done this over the years without any problems. We are with Allstate and they even printed a letter for my Mum stating that she was insured to drive my car with my permission ( my Mum was worried about being stopped..... Sigh)

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Thanks for the advice :)

Went trawlling the Progressive website but couldn't find anything that specific.

A call may well be in order to confirm.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Phone and check.

My experience with US insurance companies is when they say 'licensed to drive' it means 'have a US license', and when they say 'what year did you first become licensed' it means 'what year did you first become licensed in the US. They aren't geared up for non-US license holders to drive on their policies, by default. And their smallprint is likely to reflect that.

I'd call them at least twice, speak to a different person each time, and ask the same questions. If you get more than one answer..... keep digging, and ask for confirmation in writing (or email) before you let a non-US license holder sit behind the wheel.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

We called our insurance company to ask the same question, and they said that family and friends - even if they only held foreign licenses - could drive our car if we gave them permission.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

I was insured with Progressive until earlier this year and called them to ask about the same situation as you; my mum was coming over after I had shoulder surgery so I couldn't drive at all.. She only has a UK paper license issued many moons ago. They said she could drive my car on up to 13 occasions per year (not sure of the significance of the 13), and said that as long as she wasn't driving it everyday for months on end, there wouldn't be a problem.

Hope that helps a bit, but maybe worth calling just to be safe!

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Contact your insurance company (email) and get it in writing. As far as insurance companies are concerned I go by 'if they can get out of it they will'.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

We checked this when we were going to visit my wife's family for the first time. We were told that if I had an 'international driver's license' it wouldn't be a problem.

In th end, I got my hands on an International Driver's Permit (ten minutes at the post office and it's yours) and there were no problems...

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

That just shows how clueless these people are, and reinforces the point that you should get it in writing. An IDP serves no purpose whatsoever for drivers with UK licenses in the USA since the IDP is just meant to be a translation of a foreign license. Since UK licenses are in English no translation is needed, making an IDP worthless.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

unless you've a old paper license without the photo.

Re: Letting mother drive my car in US - Insurance
 

Also with Progressive. My BiL was out to see us last year and we added him to the policy. No additional costs and fairly straightforward to do over the phone or online. All that was required was his UK driver's license details.