Hey all,
I’ve started renting out a room in my house recently. Do I need to list my roommate as an excluded driver on my progressive auto insurance? There is a 0% chance they will be driving my car. Is there a difference between listing as an excluded driver vs not listing at all?
My understanding is that the insurance company wouldn’t pay if my roommate crashed the car either way, so why does it matter? If I crashed my own car, would my claim get denied because I didn’t disclose someone else living in my house, even if they weren’t driving?
Thank you!
Excluded driver vs Not listing at all
byu/New-Measurement-1761 inInsurance
Posted by New-Measurement-1761
5 Comments
Yes anyone who lives in the household needs to be listed on the policy. If you do not add them Progressive can deny any claim you have because you did not update them with the driver’s info.
Disclosing household members is likely part of your policy contract. They could drop you for application misrepresentation.
You need to disclose all licensed household residents. In some states, you will be required to add them and pay additonal premium. Other states may allow you to exclude household members if certain stipulations are met. This means they would never be covered to drive your vehicle(s) and you won’t be charged any premium.
There is not an option to “not list” household members. Yes, not disclosing them can result in denial of claims and/non-renewal of coverage.
By not listing at all, you run the risk of material misrepresentation and your policy could be rescinded, meaning you could have no coverage even if you were driving.
Example- you are driving with roommate as a passenger and get in an accident. Your carrier asks for passenger info and see y’all live together. Now a material misrepresentation investigation is triggered..
If they’re not a relative they might have coverage even if they’re not listed. Progressive lists all residents of a home who might have access to the keys to make sure this risk is accounted for on your rate, and you could look at a possible larger increase when they’re found out due to misrepresentation. Could also have your policy cancelled.
If you have them as an excluded driver, that means your roommate cannot ever for any reason borrow your car, even if they’re driving you somewhere. The exclusion is for any operation of the car, and would put you and your roommate 100% on the hook for any damages to your car, other cars, buildings, people, etc.
I would recommend adding them as a non driver to your policy so you don’t run into fraud investigation territory.