If you don’t own a car but still drive occasionally, you should get non-owner car insurance. Non-owner car insurance provides liability coverage for individuals who drive cars they don't own.
Written by Leslie Kasperowicz
Leslie Kasperowicz
Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at Insurance.com.
Reviewed by Nupur Gambhir
Nupur Gambhir
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.
Expert insight from Zack Pope
Zack Pope
Agency manager, David Pope Insurance in Missouri.
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When you drive someone else’s car, the owner’s auto insurance policy should cover you if you use the car with the owner’s permission. However, if you get into an accident and the damages exceed the amount specified by the owner’s liability coverage, you may be on the hook for a significant amount.
When this happens, the injured party could come after your assets — including your savings and home — to get the money you owe. Non-owner car insurance protects your financial health by increasing the amount of your total auto insurance coverage.
“It is designed for you to have an additional amount of coverage for liability purposes when driving a vehicle that you do not own. This, however, does not give a person a safety net to drive your friend’s car that is uninsured as there should be a base policy in place for the vehicle,” says Zack Pope, agency manager at David Pope Insurance in Missouri.
Non-owner insurance can also be helpful if you will be without a car for a period — for example, if you’re spending a year abroad — and want to maintain continuous insurance coverage to prevent higher rates in the future. This is helpful because insurers typically charge higher rates if your insurance coverage has lapsed recently.
Key Takeaways
You should get non-owner car insurance if:
You shouldn’t buy non-owner car insurance if:
Non-owner car insurance is liability-only coverage for drivers who don’t own a car. If you’re driving a car that someone else owns and cause an accident, it will pay for injuries and damage to others and their property in excess of the coverage on the car being driven.
Non-owner car insurance is typically secondary coverage, which means it is used if the car owner’s insurance falls short in paying for the repair and medical bills in an accident that’s your fault. The insurance policy on the car you’re borrowing will be used first, and then your non-owner policy kicks in if the damages exceed the car owner’s liability limits.
For example, let’s say your non-owner policy has $50,000 in property damage liability, and the owner of the car you’re driving has $25,000 in property damage liability. You borrow the car and cause an accident with $40,000 in property damages. Your friend’s policy would pay out $25,000, and your non-owner policy would cover the extra $15,000 because your limits are excess and you have coverage.
However, non-owner car insurance won’t cover damage to the car you’re driving or cover your injuries if you’re at fault for an accident.
You should buy non-owner car insurance if you don’t own a car and:
Non-owner car insurance can help you avoid a lapse in coverage if you’re driving frequently but don’t own a car, which will help you maintain the lowest possible premiums. Insurance companies frown upon interrupted coverage and may charge you higher premiums when you buy coverage again because their statistical models show that drivers who haven’t carried steady, uninterrupted insurance coverage tend to file more claims.
“For individuals that only drive a company car, getting a non-owner policy a minimum of six months before they get a personal car could potentially save them money on insurance for when they purchase their own car. It also provides them additional liability protection outside the employer’s base policy,” Pope says. But, note, the commercial auto policy does not provide coverage for employees unless it is endorsed to do so.
Non-owner SR-22 coverage will fill the state minimum liability coverage requirement if you don’t own a car but need insurance to keep your license. Compulsory insurance states, such as North Carolina, require all licensed drivers to have auto insurance whether they have a car or not.
“For that segment, the policy can be fairly expensive as the number of companies that offer it is fairly limited, but is worth having to avoid legal repercussions,” Pope says.
