Car Insurance Matters

When you are signing up for a new auto insurance policy, or receive your new documents in the mail, you may notice some terms that you aren't familiar with. These terms are in regards to the names of different types of drivers that may be listed or excluded from your auto insurance policy. Learning what these terms mean can help you to accurately fill out information when getting a quote and to understand your policy. 

Rated

A rated driver is a driver that actively drives the vehicles listed on your auto insurance policy. This typically includes you, your spouse and any of your children with a license that you regularly allow to drive your car. 

Excluded

An excluded driver is a driver that you are purposefully stating will not ever drive your vehicle. If they do drive your vehicle, they must have their own insurance because they are not covered under your policy. Typically, someone would decide to exclude someone from their policy because they have a poor driving record.

When you apply for an auto insurance quote, most companies will ask you to list any individuals in the household with a driver's license, as there is a chance they will drive your car. If one of those drivers has a poor driving record, your rates could be higher unless you specifically exclude them from the policy. 

Listed

The last type of driver that you can expect to see on an auto insurance policy is a listed driver. As was mentioned above, when you obtain auto insurance quotes, you are asked to name every person in the household that has a driver's license. This includes relatives, spouses, roommates and boyfriends or girlfriends. Because there is a possibility that they may pull your car out of the driveway on occasion or run up to the store in your car, your auto insurance company will want to make sure they are good drivers. If they aren't, you can exclude them from your policy. If they are, you can make them a listed driver. A listed driver basically means that they don't regularly drive the vehicle, but since they live with you, they may drive it occasionally. 

Different driving statuses can affect the price of your insurance and affect who does and does not have coverage if an accident occurs. Understanding what the different statuses mean can help you to correctly list drivers when you get auto insurance quotes or help you make changes to an existing policy to cover uncovered drivers or drop drivers you don't wish to cover. 

If you live in Colorado, this website can provide information about your auto insurance options—check it out here.