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You can exclude drivers from your policy but the consideration should be for a lot more than possible surcharge
for age or driving record. As an experienced agent I have been aware of many situations where I was either suspicious of whether
there were undisclosed drivers for a policy. In fact there were times when I felt pretty sure the vehicle was even purchased
by a relative of an undisclosed driver so that the intended driver could be secreted.
The undisclosed driver is
simply a person intended to be a common user of a vehicle but their presence in the household is kept from the agent. This
is usually done to keep the cost of coverage down but presents problems for the policy buyer and the agent. The policy buyer
that does not disclose an intended driver will be in jeopardy of being responsible damages caused by this non-disclosed person
because if a person over 14 that lives in your household is not disclosed as a driver, the registered owner of the vehicle
is still responsible for damages they cause while driving that vehicle.
Even to the extent that a person is not
a member of the household and is a regular operator of a vehicle, the registered owner may still be held responsible. In a
case where a person has not had any violation in 3 years then the owner is not liable for damages occuring from an accident
where this person is at fault because it could be assumed the registered owner loaned his vehicle to a competent driver and
the liability coverage should apply. But if it is determined the undisclosed person has been using the vehicle for weeks poses
the same problem as an undisclosed family member.
On the other hand if the driver is someone that has had 2 accidents
or a DUI or 2 then it places a responsiblity on the owner not to lend their vehicle to a bad insurance risk. But often this
scenario applies to not disclosing person in order to deceive the insurance company.
The other aspect
of excluding a driver is that they either live in the household and will not be allowed to drive the vehicle or is the extranged
spouse that is part owner by law and is excluded. The only angle to this arrangement is that the excluded driver is not covered
even in an emergency. This simply means the damage caused by this excluded person driving the vehicle is not covered by the
policy which should have no bearing on the need to drive in the emergency. The emergency angle has to be scrutinized since
being late for work may be considered by some to be an emergency.
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