I am so jealous of my friend, Matt. He is region VP of an investment management company and because he travels so much, he is provided a company car. And his company is so cool, they have no problem with him or his wife using it for personal/family business. So basically, he and his wife get the use of a free car. Awesome!
What Matt didn't know is that his company's auto insurance policy would only extend coverage to Matt personally if he were using the car on business. So if his wife was driving the car or if Matt was using it for personal business and they caused an accident, he wouldn't get fired, but he also wouldn't have any insurance coverage for the injury caused someone else!
So then most people would think "okay, no problem, I will just use my own personal auto insurance to protect me". But they'd be wrong. Most policies have a significant exclusion removing liability coverage for autos you regularly have access to but are not owned by you. So that company car sitting in the driveway that you don't insure because your business does? Not covered by your policy!
But there is some good news. All it takes to correct this potentially catastrophic problem is an agent who takes the time to understand all the risks a family faces and then endorsement on the auto policy that will cost between $2 and $4 per month to give back coverage for the use of a car you don't own. And now we all make Matt drive when we go out to dinner.
