Maxwell Mania: Only If You Commit Insurance Fraud.....

 We had a lovely, cool day here in Michigan!   This time of summer any day without 110% humidity is rare; one with a high in the high 70's is my version of heaven.    

I spent the day playing with my son - who right now says "vehicles" as "beagles" while also being able to say "excavator" and "front end loader" perfectly which leads to some confusion at times - and prepping a half-bushel of sweet corn for dehydrating.  I've shucked and grilled the 60 ears; now I'm relaxing for a few minutes before starting to plant a fall crop of peas and cutting a whole lot of corn off the cob.

While relaxing, I checked in at Titus 2 - the blog of the Maxwell family.  It's birthday season so there was a nice tribute to Terri Maxwell written by Sarah.  Stay tuned in January to see who writes a bland, underwhelming post for Sarah on her birthday.    I looked into the articles section and was mildly surprised to see that Steve was writing short articles instead of his usual multi-page behemoths.  In the third section of "Building a Godly Legacy Through a Husband's Leadership" , he shared what I hope is a badly thought out example of lines of authority rather than admitting his family committed insurance fraud:

Many dads have experienced heightened emotions–okay, terror–on handing their car keys to their son for the first time. The combination of the son’s driving ability, attitude, and level of responsibility all might proportionally affect Dad’s emotions. Dad is giving his son the authority to drive the family vehicle, registered in Dad’s name, and hereby Dad might have over-the-top liability should something go very wrong.

Fun fact: my husband is licenced to sell a whole slew of insurance types - including auto - in Michigan.  I read him the last sentence of this quote and asked him how true the statement is.

Long discussion short: That sentence is only true if the family commits insurance fraud.

If the Maxwells - or anyone else - followed the rules of their insurance policy and put the teenage son on the insurance policy prior to letting him drive, the liability of the family is no higher or lower than if any other insured member of the family.  Paying the deductible, dealing with insurance and the higher resulting premiums all suck - but none of that really fits under "over-the-top liability".

Now, the family would be in seriously over-the-top liability if the family decided to allow the son to drive without being put on the insurance.  That would void the policy - and the family is on the hook for the damage to their own car, any medical bills of the son, the damage to the second car or object, and any medical bills to any other people hurt in the accident.  

Teenage boys and young, single adult men have high rates of auto accidents and so they receive high insurance rates.   I can see where CP/QF families with many mouths to feed on one blue-collar income might skip putting a son or two on their insurance because they have nearly no assets to lose if there is an accident. 

The Maxwells, though, are not the standard CP/QF family.   Terri and Steven both are college-educated.  Steven worked in the corporate world for decades. They had 8 kids - which is a large, but not huge family - to support.   They own a nice house on a fairly good sized plot of land.   If Jesse - their youngest son- had been in a car accident where someone else had a non-fatal, but disabling injury without being on his family's insurance, the family could have lost everything.   If nothing else, the lawyer fees for the resulting lawsuit (and potentially for bankruptcy if they lost) would hurt.

Therefore, I'm skeptical that the Maxwells honestly committed insurance fraud - but that makes it even weirder to use as an example of lines of authority.