Washington Insurance Council

                  Consumer Alert

Contact: Karl Newman, President
Darrin Sanger, Communications Director     

Washington Insurance Council    
Phone: (206) 624-3330
Fax: (206) 624-1975
karl.newman@wiconline.org
darrin.sanger@wiconline.org

GRADUATION CAN RAISE AN INSURANCE RED FLAG

SEATTLE - High school and college graduates across the state are taking the next step toward their futures.

In the midst of all the excitement, graduates' families can easily overlook needed adjustments to insurance policies covering their young adults.

"Graduation is a time to celebrate achievement and a bright future for graduates," said Karl Newman, president of the Washington Insurance Council. "It's definitely not the time to find out that you don't have enough coverage, or the right coverage, if an accident happens."

Often, a family might not need more coverage, just changes in the way the coverage is set up. WIC encourages graduates and parents to work with their insurance companies or agents to ensure their coverage needs are met.

Here are a few of many scenarios that could raise a red flag for graduates and parents:

• A high school or college graduate permanently moves away from home. This creates a possible coverage problem for personal property, since a child must reside in the parent's household for the child's personal property to be covered under the parent's policy. If the young graduate has now permanently relocated, he or she may need an inexpensive renters policy.
• A high school or college graduate takes a summer job as a delivery person for a pizza parlor and uses his or her own car (or one owned by parents) to make deliveries. Since many personal automobile insurance policies exclude deliveries, this creates a coverage problem for damage caused in an accident when delivering the pizza.
• A high school or college graduate gets involved in a volunteer program transporting young people, the homeless or the elderly from place to place and uses his or her own car (or one owned by parents). The parents could be liable under their auto policy for injuries or property damage that occur while their child is driving.
• A graduate gets a job and starts driving a family car much more than they used to. If the car is insured through the parents, this could create coverage problems because some policies specify that the car will not be driven to work or will only be driven a limited number miles per day.

Now that most seniors have already graduated, it's important that families check with their insurance companies or agents to see how their coverage may need to change. A few minutes adjusting coverage can prevent huge headaches after this year's graduates continue down the Walk of Life.

Washington Insurance Council is a nonprofit, consumer education organization funded by member insurance companies.

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