Be sure your new car is covered by doing it yourself!


A common misconception is that lien holders or car dealerships will take care of the insurance aspect of your transaction for you but this can be very misleading. Not that you shouldn’t trust your salesman if they offer to help but in order to be 100% sure you’re covered appropriately, it’s best to contact your agent or insurance company yourself.

In Florida, most auto insurance companies allow up to 30 days to add a newly purchased vehicle. This is extremely important, especially if you financed the car through a lien holder. They require specific coverage and can back charge high premiums if you do not carry it. This general rule of 30 days applies when you’re adding a vehicle to what you already own.

This is still very important when you are replacing a vehicle on your policy with a different one because most companies only allow up to 7 days to make that change on your policy. This is when you’re trading a vehicle in or selling it to replace it with another one. Sometimes you may want to carry different coverage so your policy needs to be reevaluated. Often times, people will not carry collision or comprehensive coverage on an older vehicle but they need to add it when they get a newer vehicle.

Your salesman or lien holder may have good intentions by offering to take care of this step for you but you should definitely follow up. That will ensure that it’s done and correct in order to prevent being stuck either without coverage or paying a much higher premium.

Follow these easy steps when you have a vehicle needing coverage:

  1. Have the car’s VIN (vehicle identification number)
  2. Talk to your agent or insurance company about coverage & be sure you understand what you need and have and that you’re comfortable with the limits and deductibles
  3. Confirm the correct lien holder and how they’d like to be listed (if financing)
  4. Follow up on the change by getting a revised declarations page and ID card for your records

Call it a type A “if you want it done right, do it yourself!†move but it’s very important and you can’t be too careful. As always, let us at McGriff-Williams know if you need anything or have additional questions.