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Moving in together with your significant other - What about insurance? - Home & Auto Insurance Guide | Gabi

by Krystian Sip,  Feb 14 2022
Updated at Feb 14, 2022|3 min read

Not that long ago, cohabiting couples experienced hardships when shopping around for insurance together. Very often unmarried couples had to bend over backwards to find an insurance company willing to insure them. This is thankfully no longer the case. Majority of companies nowadays have no problem with writing a policy for an unmarried couple living together. In fact, many of them offer very attractive rates for people wanting to insure together with their significant other, roommates, friends, or work/school colleagues.

Depending on the type of insurance, the way you go about getting coverage together might differ from how a married couple would go about getting the same coverage.

Below is our short guide to help you ensure you are not caught off-guard by any small print when purchasing insurance together with a significant other.

Auto insurance

Getting auto insurance with someone other than blood relatives or your spouse used to be quite difficult in the past. Nowadays, this is no longer in issue. There is a possibility of getting two separate policies. Some insurance companies will still, however, require all household members to be listed on their policy, even if it’s just as an excluded driver. An excluded driver is a person listed on your document but not covered by your policy. 

To avoid having to go through the additional policy endorsements to add the excluded drivers on each policy accordingly, you can decide to get a policy listing all household members as rated drivers on it. Numerous companies have no problem listing your significant other, your work or school colleague or friend on your auto policy.

In fact, this way you can all find some additional savings. If each of you owns a vehicle, then a multi-vehicle discount can be applied to your policy, which might not be the case if you each decided to get your own separate policy.

It’s always a good idea to shop around, comparing the offers on the market. If you are unsure whether a company would be willing to cover both yourself and your significant other, it’s best to contact the company directly or reach out to a licensed insurance agent.

Homeowners’ insurance

Homeowners’ insurance tends to get a little trickier. It protects your house against fires, flooding vandalism or other acts of destruction. Both the property as well as your private property is covered. Different insurance companies can go about insuring unmarried couples in different ways.

If one of the partners is the sole owner of the property, under their homeowner’s policy the building itself is covered, their personal belongings and contents also. This can not always be said about the personal belongings of your significant other living under the same roof. By default, insurance companies would not cover them. It would be worth checking with your insurer or agent directly, to see if your insurance pro-actively covers your significant other. 

If this is not the case, they might require your partner to be added as an additional/named insured on the policy, to ensure their private belongings are covered as well.

Another way of ensuring you are both covered is getting a separate renters’ policy for your partner, although this option might not be as cost-efficient.

If you are both on the deed, there are a lot of companies willing to write a joint policy, even if you are not married. Considering you are both rightful owners of the property there should be no problem with obtaining coverage and sharing the insurance costs on the same policy.

Renters’ Insurance

Sometimes, as an unmarried couple, people end up renting an apartment together. Whether that is when getting to know each other before making a permanent commitment. During the period when you are both saving up for a mortgage. Or you just simply don’t like being tied to one place for a longer period of time! 

Rather than covering the owners, renters policy is aimed at protecting solely your personal property, making it much easier to get a joint policy with your significant other. 

The rates are calculated taking into account many factors, like the condition of the building, the area you live in (living in certain zip-codes might statistically impose a greater risk of damage, vandalism or theft), or how well the building is maintained by your landlord.

Which policy is the best for me?

So you might be wondering, “How can I know which company offers the best price in my specific situation, without having to spend hours calling out to individual companies?”.

The answer is quite simple, reaching out to a professional. Licensed insurance agents are there to help and advise on your best course of action.

At Gabi, our licensed insurance agents work with over 40 insurance companies to ensure we find the best price for the best, tailored coverage.

All it takes is a few minutes to get your quotes!

Editorial content on Gabi.com is reviewed by a licensed insurance agent. It is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal or financial advice.
Written by
Jessie Jordan
Jessie is a Marketing Specialist at Gabi. As a licensed insurance agent, she has been helping Gabi customers buy and understand auto, home, renters, landlord, and umbrella insurance in a digestible way since she joined the Gabi team in 2020. Before joining Gabi she was a globally recognized Senior Account Executive for UPS- trusted with advising top brands on how to grow and streamline their business.
Reviewed by
Robbie Boddy
Robbie is the Vice President, Head of Sales & Customer Experience at Gabi. As a licensed insurance agent, he has more than 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, joining Gabi after working with Liberty Mutual as the Assistant Vice President and Site Leader, Direct Sales and Innovation. Robbie is a member of the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters society and has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Grand Canyon University.
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