Hi folks. I have a question regarding car registration and insurance. We live in michigan and have 2 of our three car in Las Vegas. One is registered and insured in michigan and driven by our daughter, who rents and works in Vegas. The other car was purchased in Vegas and insured in Michigan, I haven't registered it yet since we just bought it 3 weeks ago. Should I register it in Michigan or Vegas? It is being driven by our son who rents and works in Vegas. Is this legal? Do I need to let my insurance company know where the cars are? They are in my name and I'm a resident of Michigan. The kids are just borrowing them for a while.

You need to follow the rules in the states involved. Most require a car to be registered w/i a certain period of time after moving in to the state. Usually 30 or 90 days or something similar.

Hello malm, besides what janisj said you also need to call your insurance carrier (or the agent) and discuss this with them. It does not matter "what we think"..an insurance policy is a legal contract. So again contact your insurance agent/company and also check out the DMV laws of Nevada. Best regards.

Interesting question. The insurance company definitely cares, as they often base the rates partly on location. If you had a claim, or they otherwise figured out that you hadn't let them know about the location of use, they might well drop you.

A lot of states have absurdly short residence times (like two weeks in CA) before they want you to get their drivers license and registration; renting and working count as residence.

It's an interesting question when you bring in the issue of the owner being different than the driver (and in a different state). I don't know if that changes things for registration purposes. The only common exceptions I'm aware of are for college students living in dorms and military members. I've known lots of people to stretch things on this here in CA (check the out-of-state plates in the typical silicon valley company parking lot), but occasionally there are crackdowns.

Residency is defined slightly differently in each state (as well as time to establish, as mentioned above). But you keep mentioning renting - one does not need to own property to be a resident of a state - renting counts.

Some states will exempt students when it comes to out-of-state car registration, but none will exempt people working and residing in their state, as far as I know (and renting definitely counts). Some states will enforce sooner and/or more severely than others, and some will even ticket you quite promptly (watching cars in apt. building parking lots, etc.). Insurance is another issue and you don't want to get caught with a claim and have them deny coverage because you've failed to inform them of something.

You need to register the new car in Nevada, just to make sure all is covered (unless your insurer says otherwise).

I have a car registered in Missouri, and it spends 9 months/year in Connecticut. But, my DD is a student, and State Farm knows where the car is located. I'm assuming there are exceptions for students, I never really asked, just told them when we bought the car what and where it was going to be used. You should call your insurance agent as LoveItaly suggests.

Definitely call your agent. And as said, insurance companies might vary but know the regulations in the various states or can find out. When our DD was in college,but took a car we owned, registered in our state, even though she was renting an apartment for ten months, the insurance charge was different for 10 mths when in that state and adjusted for the 2 months it was back as 'garaged' in our state - it saved us money actually -

It never makes sense to take a "don't ask, don't tell" attitude about car registration and especially insurance. Do you really want to risk having the insurance company tell you after a claim that you were not covered.

If you register a car in one state and live/work/drive in another - and have an accident - most insurance companies will claim the insurance is void - since you lied in the contract.

To ensure your insurance coverage is valid you MUST follow the rules of the state in which the car's driver resides and drives (including how long you have to notify the company you have switched states when you move). It's likely the rates will be different - but what's the point of insurance you can't collect on?

It doesn't make any difference where the car was purchased. The things that govern automobile insurance is where it is egistered, where it is normally gararged and wjere the insured is domiciled. In OP's case his children "live and work" in Vegas therefor the cars they drive should be registered and insured in Nevada and OP's children should obtain a Nevada driver's license. The car OP drives in Michigan should be registered and insured in Michigan.

nytraveler hits the nail on the head, as far as your insurance coverage.

When you insured the car, you filled out an insurance contract. On that contract, you were undoubtedly asked questions such as: where will the car be kept and driven; who will be driving the car?

If you gave incorrect answers, your coverage for an accident might be voided. If your answers were truthful at the time you gave them, when you filled out the application, and you are into a subsequent renewal period . . . then all depends on whether you were asked the questions again at the start of the renewal period or whether you promised in the original application to update the insurer with any garaging or driver changes.

With all due respect to the previous poster, the insurance contract carefully spells out all of the responsibilities with which the "Insured" needs to comply in order for there to be coverage in force. And one of them is to advise the insurance carrier without delay of any changes in the usage, principal operators, marital status, garaging location of vehicles, etc. It doesn't matter if it is during the initial term of the policy or any time afterwards. You have to tell for there to be coverage. Period.

Just because the OP may have the physical insurance contract in hand doesn't mean there is any coverage in force if they have failed to honor those responsibilities.

IMHO, the OP should be calling their insurance agent ASAP.

In rereading my answer, I wanted to include a clarification.

I didn't want it to seem from my response that just because the true facts of the OP's (or another's) situtation are relayed to their insurance company (via their insurance agent) that there will automatically be any coverage in force.

It may be a situation where there 1) is not any insurance in force and 2) or cannot even put in force due to the circumstances. For example, the OP's insurance company may not be licensed to write insurance in the state of Nevada.

I personally feel that there is a lot more involved here than just a simple insurance issue. The OP (and her children) will probably have to be doing a lot of other necessary changes ASAP.

Hi exiledprincess..it sounds like you work in the insurance industry. A good summary of an insured's legal obligation with their insurance company. And RoamsAround post regarding the legal obligation of a person residing and working in a state, per that state's DMV laws is well spelled out also.

Last spring we bought our college student daughter a car in Oregon. Our State Farm agent said it was no problem for him to insure it, as long as the car was legal (registered) in Oregon, and our DD was a full time college student. I was also on title, so we got a multiple policy discount.

If she had not been a FT student, we couldn't have done this.

Call your agent! Like said above, if you are not doing it correctly, you don't want to find out by having coverage denied when you file a claim.

And check with Nevada law on registering the cars. Most likely you need to register them their. States like to get resitration fees from people who are regularly using their roads, and most states will fine you if you don't do it promptly.

exiledprincess,

with all due respect, not all insurance contracts are identical. In determining whether a policyholder has made a misrepresentation that would void coverage, you have to look at what questions the insurer asks on the application and what the contract says. And if the insurer is placing a continuing duty on the policyholder to update information, then that duty must be spelled out in the insurance policy or the application.

So the OP may or may not be in a situation where he/she has made a misrepresentation or failed to disclose required information, depending on her/his specific insurance contract. Unless his/her state has a law that imposes a duty to update regardless of what the contract says (and I doubt such a law exists).

But I definitely agree the OP needs to call the agent.