Marry for love - and combine insurance to be smart

Should you combine insurance policies after you get married?

Most of the time- yes.

We love "love stories" here at the St. Clair Insurance Agency. We are all for romance and marriage proposals and wedding engagements. It seems that every time we turn around, someone is tying the knot. So if you got engaged last Fall, or more recently around Valentine's Day, and you are getting married this Spring or Summer- call us! 

Yeah, we want to hear your love story (really, we do!). But more importantly, we want to help you save money and make sure you are properly insured now that everything is changing.

You need to make important insurance changes when you get married.

Combining your homeowners or renters policies

Every new marriage brings unique insurance questions. Let's start with "should my fiance and I combine our property insurance after we get married?"

If you both own a home, and one of you will be selling your home, and living in the other spouse's home, this should be easy. You may be able to keep your policies just the way they are for now. Of course you need to inform the insurance company about your change in marital status, and the change in "who is living where." 

Talk to us about the timing. Just remember that "what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine" works in the movies, but not always in this situation if you have separate policies. And your premiums may be higher while you do this. So call us and ask.

If you both rent, you will want to combine policies as soon as possible. Just like the advice to homeowners, you need to let your insurance agent know before the wedding of the changes in martial status, and who will be living where.

The good news is, in almost all cases, combining your homeowners or renters policies will save you both money.

Combining auto insurance when you get married

Should a married couple combine their auto insurance policies, or should they keep separate auto insurance policies? 

Here's where general advice doesn't always work. So we'll give you the generally accepted answer, and then bring up a few things that, if they apply to you, should make you call us.

General advice: combine your auto insurance when you get married.

Why? Because:

1. Married drivers usually are rated better risks, and that means lower rates.
   
2. You must report all drivers in a household, even if you have separate policies.
   
3. Liability claims, like in a rental car accident, are easier to figure out if you have one policy between a married couple, instead of two. 
   

When does this get "not simple?"
If your fiance has a lousy driving record, or bad credit, or too many accidents, adding them to your policy can get expensive. You will need a strategy to help lower your insurance costs that is unique to your situation.

What can you do?
You can (and should) call us to discuss all of your options. You can raise deductibles, or assign the higher cost driver to the cheaper car (if that is the car they will be  normally driving), or make some lifestyle changes (buy less expensive cars or drive less miles by carpooling). 

Yeah. None of these are fun topics of discussion, but they are things that need talking about for some married couples in unique circumstances. Some people may even need separate car insurance policies (at least for a short time). Some states and some companies allow for a seldom used endorsement called the "named driver exclusion" which is a fancy way of saying... your spouse is not covered at all on your policy. Even if you have insurance with someone other than us (shudder)... we can help you with these tough questions.

All of these options, or none of these options, may be helpful in your particular situation. Often, you aren't even sure if the questions you are asking are the right ones.

If we haven't rained on your wedding yet...

You have so much to celebrate. Go ahead. Get married. Let us do the worrying about insurance for you. Consider it our wedding gift.

St. Clair Insurance Agency: (951) 284-0400

(Photo courtesy Anthony Kelly, CC Licensed)