My son arrived at BC 2/25/2016 - Can I cancel cell phone/auto insurance?

[jakesmom2]

Well he's gone.  Can't believe the date came so soon!

Is there a list of financial items I should take care of such as cancelling cell phone service, auto insurance, etc...?

Thank you all for your advice and PRAYERS!

[Becky]

My daughter has already been through boot camp and recently finished A school, so I have a couple tips from learning on trial and error. The Health insurance is a tricky one. I waited until my daughter graduated boot camp to call my employer of the life event change to have my daughter removed (she graduated in September 15). Since I waited more than 30 days I was required to wait until the end of the year to keep her on my health insurance. So check with your employer if they are still on your medical. As for cell phone, I'm employed with a major carrier and you can suspend military suspend for 3 years and 90 days. So call and suspend if it will save you money. My daughter was able to take her phone from the airport to A school. Hope that helps!

[Dukemom]

Awww... my son just arrived at BC this week too!   Auto Insurance, I did remove him as a driver from my policy.  He does not have a vehicle so don't have to worry about that.  I have to email something to his phone carrier to suspend it for military leave.  Good luck to your son as well!   

[MissiMom9470]

There are so many responses to this question. It seems all of us Moms and families have to deal with the same issues. My son went to BC on 2/3/16. We suspended his phone for the 2 months that he is at BC and will bring to him for A school in Great Lakes. I will get online and have the service re-instated for him on the day of PIR.

As for his insurance, my son is 23 and owns his own car. He hoped to try to sell it and cancelled the insurance prior to the sale going through. Well, the car did not sell and we contacted our insurance company to inquire about car insurance as we heard many things can happen in the state of Florida if your car is not insured. We were informed that if he did not have insurance on a car he owns they could suspend his driver's license. Well, I panicked and immediately got him insurance on the car, at a much lower rate, due to him being away for a few months at BC and then A school. We are now discussing him keeping the car for once he moves on to his new command. Hope this information helps someone else out.

[Anti M]

It depends on the A school whether they can have cars.  At Great Lakes, they cannot drive until they are in phase two liberty, and cannot keep cars on base in any phase.  Other training commands will have a variation on the rules, but no one gets to drive in phase one.  That's two weeks to a month.

Yes, they have to have insurance, or they cannot take the car on any military base.   

[lemonelephant]

YokeNavyMom, your Sailor will not be able to have a vehicle at Lackland AFB. It requires a special chit to have one and generally only a Sailor who has changed rates for some reason and already had a vehicle at the previous school or command is permitted to have one or to even ride in a privately owned vehicle (POV), which technically the vehicle in question isn't a POV since you own it and not him. It will all depend on where he is stationed on whether he can have it at his first duty station or not and if it is cost effective to have it. My son could not have a vehicle in Greece, but was able to have one in Japan and bought one there and sold it to another Sailor when he left and bought another vehicle when he was stationed stateside. No, the military does not offer vehicle insurance. My son found the best coverage through GEICO.

Once your recruit is out of BC, you can drop him from health insurance coverage since he is covered by the Navy. He is covered now, but it is sometimes hard to put someone back on if he were to be separated and things do happen sometimes.

[kentishgal_Ship12_Div178]

Hi,

AT&T agreed to put my son's cell phone # on hold but he did need proof of his service. They suspended it for 3 yrs and we've just cancelled the account this week.