What should I know about my insurance policy when it contains a non-ownership or “drive other cars” provision?

If the insured’s policy contains such a provision, then insurance coverage based on this provision will only apply coverage will only apply if the insured is driving a vehicle in which he/she has no legal or equitable interest and drives the car on an infrequent or occasional basis.
The reason that the insurance carrier puts this provision in the policy is to cover vehicles that are occasionally used by the insured without having to pay an dis-proportional increase in the premium. If the insured has a vehicle that they use frequently or that they own but have not declared on the coverage, it probably will not be covered by this type of policy provision. More specifically, this provision is aimed at preventing a family that owns two or more vehicles that may or are being used interchangeably from insuring only one vehicle on an individual person’s family member. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Holland, 296 So.2d 100 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974).
Consider that you have a vehicle and suddenly the vehicle breaks down so you take it to the repair shop to be fixed. While your car is being fixed, you borrow your husband’s vehicle to run errands and your husband’s vehicle is not on the policy as an insured vehicle. Because the husband is a spouse and the policy definition of “named insured” includes spouse, no coverage will be extended if “temporary substitute automobile” definition excluded vehicles owned by a “named insured.” This rule was established in the case of Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York v. Fonseca, 358 So.2d 569 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978).
When you are trying to decide if the vehicle will be covered under the non-ownership provision, you should consider that the insurance company will look at how substantial the use of the nonowned vehicle. Persistent, frequent, or business use will probably nullify the provision. However, in another leading case an employee was using a company owned vehicle for regular use but was told to only use the vehicle for business purposes. The employee had no permission to use the vehicle for personal reasons and while on a personal errand the employee was involved in an accident that injured a pedestrian. In this case, the court held that the personal use of the company vehicle was infrequent and the employee was covered under the nonownerhsip provision of his personal automobile policy. United States Sugar Corp v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., 475 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985).
Now consider what happens if you send your child away to college and they get in an accident in their college state. Normally, the child would be covered as a “named insured” as a resident relative under one of the exceptions. However, in Sheehan v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co, the court did not allow the daughter of the named insured to be considered a resident of her father’s household because she had filed an affidavit of Florida residency at the time of her enrollment in college. Sheehan v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co., 504 So.2d 776 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). In this case, the daughter was not entitled to nonownership protection.

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