Your car insurance will go up if you add your wife to your policy and your insurance company views her as a relatively high-risk driver. Your car insurance rate will also go up if your wife has a vehicle that you are adding to the policy as well. However, if your wife is considered a safe driver and is not bringing her own vehicle to policy, your insurance rate may not change at all when you add her. It could even decrease.
Married couples generally enjoy benefits like multi-driver and multi-car discounts that can make their insurance premiums less expensive than those of their single peers, so your car insurance may actually go down, rather than up, if you add your wife to your policy. However, auto insurance companies rely on a wide range of factors, including DMV records and insurance coverage histories, for all the active drivers named on a policy when calculating rates, so a certain outcome is far from guaranteed.
Your Car Insurance May Go Up If You Add Your Wife and She:
- Has traffic violations or accidents on her driving record.
- Has been convicted of a DUI/DWI.
- Has no/poor credit history.
- Has no/little history as an active driver.
- Has a long daily commute.
- Drives a high-risk vehicle, like a sports car.
- Drives a vehicle lacking safety features.
- Is younger than 25 years old.
Remember, simply adding your wife, husband, partner or any other driver to your car insurance policy doesn’t necessarily mean your rate will automatically go up, so it’s best to check with your insurer to be sure. You might also want to start shopping around for auto insurance policies geared toward married couples if you want to get the cheapest rate.
This answer was first published on 08/04/20. For the most current information about a financial product, you should always check and confirm accuracy with the offering financial institution. Editorial and user-generated content is not provided, reviewed or endorsed by any company.
