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My mother bought a vehicle for me to drive before her dementia came on. When she did this I was able to insure the vehicle under both our names even though she wasn't a driver anymore. We switched insurance companies because we were dropped by the original company. Late paying the policy so they dropped us. Now the new company is saying I need to be on the registration or the title in order to insure the vehicle. They also won't insure my mother with me as the driver because she doesn't drive. Their is still a lien on the vehicle. Has anyone dealt with this. I'm in NJ and they won't let me register it in my name because I'm not on the lien/title.

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My parents lived in Alabama and my siblings and i moved them up to Pennsylvania to be near us in 2013. At the time of the move my dad was still driving but within 6months of living with me and my family he was diagnosed with vascular dementia and prohibited from driving. My mom had her license but never drove.
First thing: get your mom a state ID and turn in her license. Second, yes you have to have your name on the registration to have the insurance according to my insurance company.
In our situation my son wanted to drive their car. So based on the instruction from the insurance company--we went to a Jack Rabbit Tag and added my son on the registration, dropped insurance from my parents, then my son got an insurance policy in his name for the car.
If your mom's dementia is early and she can still sign then take her to the tag place. if not, then hopefully you have POA as you will need to sign for her.
the insurance company should be able to give you step-by-step instructions on how to rectify this then call the company that holds the lien to confirm and finally the tag place to ensure they can do it all. That's pretty much what I did in our situation.
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My mother's car is registered and insured under her name only. I drive it much more than she does. My other sister drives it too. Mom only drives to the occasional drive-thru for lunch and then back home - she can't walk even to a store entrance without help.

I guess that works fine as long as there's no accident. I assume it would be covered for an accident that occurred while one of us was driving her around, but I never actually looked into that.
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I added a rider to my own insurance for non-owned vehicles; so if I drive a car not my own I'm covered. Every company does it differently. I've been with the same insurance since I began driving at 16.
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Have your mother "sell" you the vehicle for $1 so you can take title (if the lienholder has possession of the title, just tell them her intentions). She still is responsible for paying the bank/company with whom she financed the car with (you can pay this for her). Then you will have title and your car insurance company will insure you.
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I'd suggest you contact your states Insurance Dept to see what the requirements & restructions are for auto insurance companies to provide coverage. Most states have an online portal to ask a consumer question to dept staff.
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I agree with contacting your state insurance commissioner. I've been an agent for two different companies, one only in Ga, one that does insurance all over US. Most companies can and will do a policy with her as owner, you as primary driver, just not common scenario so every agent may not know they can do it. Does your mom still have a valid license even though she doesn't drive? If so, they'd still have to list her as a driver because she's legal to drive and underwrite for her as well. If that's the case, turn in her license for an ID. Also, shop around. I know it's not a fun way to spend your time, but have current policy on hand withVIN numbers and policy limits and it'll be much easier for you.
Also, if mom still has valid license and clean driving record, just tell them she doesn't care to drive and has you drive her vehicle to take her to dr or shopping. They'll list you both on policy. Nothing wrong with this, they don't ask about health issues in underwriting that I've ever seen so don't volunteer the info. Could be an agent hears dementia & immediately things she'll be driving and plow over a group of children so they don't want the risk. By the way, I've even written a policy for a blind woman. It's obvious she won't drive but owned a vehicle so when she did need to go places she felt independent in her son not putting wear and tear on his car. Also where is the vehicle 'garaged' If you live in seperate places but you keep car, that could be issue because they say she doesn't have control over when and who it's driven by.
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Ferris......some states will not allow this $1 sale as they want their full take on taxes involved in the sale. Such a state would be Connecticut. We know first hand because we sold a vehicle under market price to a family friend and CT came back at him for the difference and garnered more tax money.
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I live in the state of NJ. Just went thru the change from licence to ID. Your mother must sign even if the signature is not clear. Has to be done in front of a clerk. Price the same as a licence. POA is not allowed. Call the lean holder and see if you can take over payments in your name. Check with DMV what proof you need if u do this. I assume you have no title yet since the car is not paid off. If you have no credit, you may have to sell the car, pay off the lean then buy another car with what u profit. NJ not an easy state for insurance.
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I sent my agent a copy of the POA. He was able to take care of it so that we are all on the policy and she is just not a driver. She has a state ID but not a drivers license so they were able to use that. I figured there had to be a way since it was done before. Thank you all for your feed back.
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With my own parents who stopped driving 6 years ago, they were able to keep their insurance going with the only change being that I was now the "primary driver".

Maybe each State has different rules.
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