A car your parent no longer drives is still a car. Its battery can run down, its tires can lose pressure, its insurance renews, and its registration comes due. If nobody names an owner for those jobs, they fall to whichever family member is nearest, which is usually you. This guide sets the car up as an asset with an owner, a schedule, and a decision date.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Name the owner of each job
Write four jobs on one page: starting and moving the car, servicing it, paying insurance and registration, and deciding what happens to it. For each job, name one person and one backup. A job with two owners tends to get none. If you are the only name on the page, say so, and write down what you will stop doing to make room for it.
Set a running schedule
A parked car needs to move on a schedule, or its battery and tires suffer. Decide how often someone starts it and drives a short, fixed loop, and where that loop goes. Check tire pressure and fluid levels at the same visit. Keep a short log in the glove box with the date, the mileage, and the initials of the person who checked it. The log tells the next owner what happened without anyone having to remember.
Ask the mechanic who services the car whether they offer a check-only visit and what that visit includes. Ask for a written list of what was done, so the record lives on paper and not in one person's head.
Check the insurance and registration
Call the insurer and ask two plain questions: does the policy change when the car is not driven, and what coverage stays in force while it is parked. Ask what the insurer needs from you to change the policy. Then check the renewal notice route for the state motor vehicle agency, so the notice does not go to a parent who can no longer act on it. You can find public agency information through our Sources page. Put each renewal date in your calendar, not only in the mail.
Decide the car's future with a date
A car kept for a someday plan costs more than it looks like it costs. Set a decision date, such as the next time the registration comes due or the next time the insurance renews, and ask on that date whether the car still earns its place. The options are selling, donating, or keeping the car for a named purpose. Whichever you choose, record the decision and the reason, so you do not have to argue it again at the next renewal.
You do not have to keep the car to be a good caregiver. Writing the owner, the schedule, and the decision date on paper is the work.