Does Your Car Insurance Really Cover You When Transporting Children?

Family child care provider Janice Gorkosky-Clifton from California thought she was covered. She had paid an extra $100 on her business liability insurance policy for what she believed was extra car insurance that would cover transporting day care children.

Janice then attended my family child care business workshop sponsored by Child Care Links in Pleasanton, California last week. I told the workshop participants that most car insurance policies do not adequately cover child care providers who transport children. I told Janice and others that they should contact their car insurance agent and tell them exactly how they use their car for their business. If the insurance agent says you are covered, ask the agent to put this in writing. If you can't get written assurance that you are covered you should assume that you are not.

After the workshop Janice did talk to her insurance agent and found out that he didn't know what he was talking about and that she was not covered at all. "To get adequate insurance coverage would cost me between $1,500 and $2,000 per year," Janice told me. "I decided it was too expensive. Because of so much risk involved in driving other people's children I will not be driving them anymore.

"Car insurance is a serious matter. I've written about this elsewhere and warned child care providers not to get into a car with day care children unless you are positive that you are adequately insured. This means getting a written statement that shows you and the children are covered.

In the end, Janice was glad she followed my advice. "I can't tell you how much your books and your latest workshop have helped me with starting my business. Your knowledge has helped me to protect my family from losing everything, if I had gotten into a car accident with children in my care. I would not have rechecked this if it had not been for your workshop. I guess the part that scared me is that I thought I was covered and I was not."

I have heard similar stories from other child care providers who have contacted me after attending one of my workshops. Please check this out for yourself.

Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com

Image credit: https://mercedesdrivingschool.com/children-in-the-car/

For more details on car insurance and other business insurance see my Family Child Care Legal and Insurance Guide.