I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it is really not cheap to park your car here so I garaged my vehicle in my girlfriend’s house in the suburbs. Is it legal if I change my zip code (where the vehicle is parked) in my car insurance information.

Sam

Philadelphia, PA

The place where the vehicle is garaged is typically where you live majority of the time regardless of where you garage your vehicle occasionally. Even though you use your girlfriend’s garaging address to keep your vehicle, you likely still need to operate the car to where you live, by using your automobile on a regular basis. So your residential address would be the similar as your garaging address.

Insurance carrier’s guidelines can vary though so I would recommend that you speak with your insurance carrier to know what rules they have for garaging addresses. If how you are garaging the automobile is acceptable to them and permitted according to their rules and guidelines then you may be able to use the garaging address.

If the insurance carrier does not allow this, you might think about shopping around for car insurance and obtaining auto insurance rates from other insurance companies to check if you can get cheaper premiums in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Tags: auto insurance, car insurance rate, cheap auto insurance

Why do insurance carriers ask Pennsylvania (PA) residents if they commute or work in NJ or NY? Does that increase your insurance rate?

Allan

Erie, PA

Insurance providers differ in their rating systems so it is possible that some insurance companies within Pennsylvania include usage of the vehicle, meaning in this example commuting out of state into NY and NJ for work, could be used as a rating factor.

It is likely that driving into New Jersey and New York on a regular basis may find you to be a higher risk driver to an insurance provider since those states may have higher statistics of uninsured motorists and/or accidents. Risk analysis is what insurance carriers use when determining your car insurance premiums. Risk is probability; the probability that you will get involved in an accident and the probability of the severity of the incident.

It look like the PA laws permit usage of the vehicle, such as commuting into NJ and NY can be used to help assess your insurance rate. Whether it will increase your car insurance rate or not will depend upon the individual insurance carrier’s rating system so you can ask if working in or commuting to New Jersey or New York will affect the cost of your insurance.