What a Lease Requires of Your Policy

A lease is not a loan and it is not ownership. The leasing company owns the vehicle, you have contracted to use it, and their contract states what insurance you must carry. That contract, not your judgment about what feels sufficient, sets the floor.

Find the insurance clause before you quote

It is usually a short section in the lease agreement. It will specify liability limits, require physical damage coverage, sometimes cap the deductible, and name the lessor as an interested party in a particular form of words. Photograph that page and give it to your agent — it removes all the guesswork in one step.

What lease clauses commonly ask for

• Liability limits above the state minimum. How far above varies by lessor.
• Comprehensive and collision coverage, often with a maximum deductible.
• The leasing company named as additional insured and/or loss payee, in their exact wording.
• Notice of cancellation sent to them.

Every one of those is company-specific. Read yours; do not rely on what a friend's lease said.

The gap question, honestly

Leases raise the question of what happens if the car is totalled and the settlement is less than what you still owe under the lease. Whether that difference is covered by the lease itself, by a product offered at signing, or by something you would add to your auto policy differs by lessor and by carrier. Ask both parties directly and get the answer before you need it, because this is the single most common unpleasant surprise in a leased-vehicle total loss.

Quoting before delivery

You can be quoted before you take the car. Get the VIN from the dealer as soon as it is assigned, along with the lessor's exact name and insurance-notice address, and have coverage bound effective the day you take delivery — not the day you signed, if those differ.

At the end of the lease

Two things to remember. Turn-in inspections generate charges for damage, and whether any of that is something to claim on your policy depends on the damage and your deductible — worth a conversation rather than an assumption. And do not cancel coverage until the vehicle is physically returned and accepted.

Send us the insurance page of your lease and we'll quote to it exactly.