<p>On the insurance, chiming in to agree with cartera45 and LBowie.We parents are still the owners of the car that DD drives. However, we had to move that vehicle to a separate policy when she took the car to college. The insurer considers the car’s primary location to be her college town, because it spends a large portion of the year there, even though the car comes home for the summer. As best I recall, the total cost of insurance didn’t change noticeably. However it’s important for the coverage to be correct, should a claim ever have to be made.</p>
<p>I’m considering a move. I need to go to a lower cost state to afford to eat and pay for college. I moved around in the military so I’ve lived in a lot of different parts of the country before.</p>
<p>It’s sad that making $60,000 in NJ is like making $30,000 in many other states due mostly to property and state income taxes. State of residence doesn’t get factored into the financial need of a person but it should. It feels like a punishment for living in NJ. And all that expense comes with zero benefit. Toll bridges, toll roads, beach taxes, etc.</p>
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<p>I think catera is correct. If he has an accident and they found out he is the main driver of the car (easily checked since he has another state’s driver’s license and an out of state address), the insurer can deny compensation. You are then wasting money getting insurance for a car that won’t have coverage if your son has an accident.</p>
<p>You don’t have to put the car in the student’s name. You just list the student as a driver on the policy and tell the insurer where the car is being driven. The insurance will go up but not as much as the child being the actual owner of the car.</p>
<p>Our insurance didn’t change the car’s locale to the college area; they said since it was our car and registered with our home address, it didn’t have to be changed. It probably varies by situation, so best to check.</p>
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<p>Different from our experience, so yes, best to check. Maybe it varies by state and/or insurer. As cbreeze mentioned, there’s no point buying insurance if compensation would be denied in the case of an accident.</p>
<p>I will definitely tell the insurance company the driver is in Chicago-they drive like maniacs there!</p>