How do I know if I'm covered and what coverage I have if I'm not the primary policyholder?

I'm financing a car. The auto insurance policy started with full coverage for my car and with an endorsement with me as an added driver to a liability insurance policy. Two months later, it was cancelled due to non-payment and a new policy was started through the same broker, but with a different named company.

The broker deals with numerous companies. After six months, in March of this year to be exact, it was time to renew and we did. Since day one, the primary policy holder had liability for their older vehicle which is paid off. My car is still being financed. I was recently in a car accident where the at-fault driver had no insurance. My insurer states my financed car has only had liability auto insurance all this time which I recently found out. Only the primary policy holder's signature is on the contract. I am on the insurance card. Can you please help?

We are sorry to hear that you were involved in an accident and to hear about your current predicament.

Does the primary policy holder have the written policy so that you can see what cars are covered on it and for which coverage? If not, you may want to contact the broker that sold the insurance policy and have them look up the day the policy was sold. If sold via phone, they should be able to pull the call and see if it was mentioned that your vehicle needed comprehensive and collision coverage.

If it was not mentioned or you don't see it on your policy, then you likely have not been paying for comprehensive or collisision coverage and you may have to pay for your damages out of pocket unfortunately. Going forward, you can now add these to your insurance coverge. You may also want to consider uninsured motorist insurance in case this same type of incident happens again.