Auto Insurance Endorsements: A Mystery of the Universe Revealed

Endorsements Explained

Endorsements – sometimes called “riders” – are optional provisions you can add to your auto insurance policy to expand your coverage. These additions or changes to your policy are made by the insurance company and can affect the cost of your premiums depending on what changes you’re making. Some companies offer online, do-it-yourself policy changes, but most people just pick up the phone and let their agent do all the work.

Some reasons you might want to add an endorsement to your policy are:

The thing you fear the most has come upon you. Your mother-in-law is moving in. Realizing your only other option is to take her yourself to the bingo hall, church, or to the beauty shop once week, you opt for putting her on your policy.

Or – mom-in-law has moved out! Eureka! You can take her off your policy.

In celebration of mom-in-law moving, you’ve decided to buy a new car. You need to put it on your existing policy and take off your old one.

Since mom-in-law’s moved out, your teenager wants his old room back. He’s also campaigning for a car. You’re tired of driving him to the mall, to his friends’, to the tattoo parlor, so you crater and get him one. You need to add him and his car to your policy.

After going for a ride with him, you’ve decided that right after you make arrangements to get your Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treated, you need to add additional coverages, like comprehensive and collision.

On second thought, you need to change the comprehensive and collision to Personal Injury Protection and add to your basic liability. The car’s so old it’s not worth the premiums for comprehensive and collision, but if your kid drives like he did when you took your spin around the block with him, you need to make sure medical coverage is in place as well as make sure you’re protected in case he clobbers someone else.

That same teen has finally grown up and moved out! After you’re done crying because your baby’s flown the nest, you can now cry with relief because the bass from his stereo no longer rattles the walls of the entire house. And you need to take him off your auto policy.

Since all your time is no longer taken up with that kid or your mother-in-law, you’ve decided to open your own business. You’re traveling a lot now and getting tired of paying Acme Rentals for rental insurance every time you leave the airport in a rental car. You want to make this a coverage in your own policy.

All these and more can be handled through adding endorsements or riders to your existing auto insurance policy and have nothing to do with promoting Uncle Bobo as the next president of your local Sailcat Prevention Society, signing over a check to him, or letting him ride in your car. Unless you want to add a special endorsement on your insurance policy to protect against those unwanted sailcats from attaching themselves to your tires or the undercarriage of your car. But you’ll have to talk to your agent about that one. Unfortunately, even your insurance agent can’t prevent you from signing a check over to Uncle Bobo or letting him ride in your car. Consult the designated intelligent person in your life regarding that.

Although most insurers are reputable, honest, and pretty darn smart, they’re not usually mind readers. So you will need to let him/her know if mom-in-law moves in or out, your teen is driving, or you’ve finally sprung for a newer car. Chances are, your premiums will change, but change is the law of life, and you must go with the flow and be at peace, Grasshopper.

Or not.