Lease returned, can I cancel my insurance?

Ask the Hackrs
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1

I just returned my 2023 Hyundai IONIQ 6 to the dealership. dealership just took a car on their lot and HMF member will do inspection and send final receipt by email. I just got lease return confirmation doc from dealership which only has general information like return date, current mileage, model, key count, etc.
I took some photos in case if there is somethig come out later.

Can I cancel my car insurance today or wait until they officially take possession?
I will get new car tomorrow I want to just swap my insurance between these two,

2

Your coverage isn’t really “swapped” between cars as you are rated with a premium for each car differently.

If I was you, I would continue paying for the leased car until you are “official” as in off the hook with HMF. If something happens to the car while it’s on the lot before anything is final, then HMF, the dealer and anybody else could claim there was damage before you dropped it off and you would want your insurance company to address that whether it was true or not as opposed to you fighting the issue without their help and/or coverage.

Most insurance companies prorate your premium by the day regarding your coverage when cancelled during the policy term so for a few more bucks it is better to be safe than sorry.

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thanks for your comments, it does make sense. I meant “swap” don’t wanted to add additional car on my insurance, but yeh just few more days insurance pay is better to be safe.

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Did you takes the tags off the car? You can cancel the insurance once you return the tags to your local MVA or DMV.

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Generally you don’t return plates in California to the DMV.

They will almost always stay with the car unless they are personalized and you were transferring them to a new car.

6

yeh I am in Cal, will do NRL after getting official doc

7

Do the NRL now, there is no need for a ‘document’

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The DMV NRL is a separate issue from keeping your insurance until you are truly done.

You fill a NRL out, drop it in the mail and DMV receives and processes it a week later. Something happens in the interim and you are going to wish you still had insurance if you dropped it. A NRL isn’t the “i’m out and not liable” that everyone thinks it is, although it does stop DMV from “recognizing” you as the “registered owner” of the vehicle.

The NRL signing date is just one of many circumstances that goes into who is liable on the vehicle and to what extent when the “transfer” of the vehicle is in progress and it all hits the fan.

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Agree that the NRL should be signed and processed as soon as possible. I think you have 5 days to do it regardless.

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My link above lets you do it online and immediately. I just used it myself a couple months ago.

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Thanks both, just finished NRL, will kepp my insurance until finalizing return process.

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Yes, I have done it many times online and I didn’t say you couldn’t. My point above was an example with the mail, time elapsed, etc.

The issue of the question of liability aside from the NRL is still in play, and that is why I told OP to keep his policy in place until he was sure. Signing off on the NRL and then immediately cancelling your policy is a bad idea on the facts that the OP stated in his original post, i.e. while the car is in “limbo” and not final with the HMF inspection and sign off.

Saving a few dollars would not be worth it to me until I was certain.