I hope this is the right sub and that someone can help. Sorry if this is long! An underwriter told me I must add my boyfriend and their parent to my policy as listed drivers and pay for them because I live with my boyfriend in a home owned by one of his parents. It is not the parent’s primary residence. Bf and parent are not passengers nor drivers in my car. Both have their own cars, car insurance, and health insurance. If I go anywhere with bf, we take his car. I purposely do this because my car is not in great shape. I use it to commute to work only. I asked to exclude them for these reasons. Underwriter said no, they’ve never heard of such a thing, it’s the law etc… and sent me a non renewal notice. I called back and spoke to a supervisor who gave me a slightly different answer. They said that I would at least have to add my boyfriend as a listed driver and pay for him on my policy because I have PIP added to my policy. He said even though though my boyfriend may not DRIVE my car or cause property damage, I would still need to add him in case he sustained bodily injury as a passenger, even if he is never a passenger. Supervisor said this is because bf lives in the same household as me 50% or more of the time and the parent does not. Supervisor would not let me fill out a named driver exclusion form for boyfriend. The supervisor was very hesitant to give me yes/ no answers and was insinuating that I have been committing insurance fraud this whole time because I agreed to “these terms” when I bought my auto policy years ago and never listed bf on my policy. I never hid this from my insurance and was never told to add anyone to my policy until now. I’m also really confused why 2 representatives from the same department would give me different answers when given the same exact information. I asked to file a complaint against the first representative because they gave me incorrect information which caused my policy to not get renewed. Supervisor literally told me I should not do that. I spoke to other insurance companies/ agents in my area and they’re telling me I definitely should’ve been able fill out a driver exclusion form both of them if I wanted to. Is there really no way around this? I have Progressive and live in NJ. I’m probably going to switch anyway but I want to know what is correct. Thanks for reading!

Comments

manningthehelm t1_jd3s46y wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:04 PM

I am a licensed agent, with experience in underwriting, state compliance, worked as a claim adjuster and now I supervise complaints to the state DOBI and our compliance record.

If they say you must add them if they have regular access to your car, this sounds like an underwriting guideline (like a rule) the carrier has, it was already approved by the state and no complaint will change that. Now it might not make sense to you or me, but if they have it, that’s it.

From a reasonable underwriting standpoint: If they maintain own insurance, they do not need to be added to your policy as they already have primary coverage and Progressive should not demand you pay primary coverage on someone whom already has it. If they do, while a weird choice, you have to do it or get other insurance.

For instance your boyfriend. Does he have his own insurance? If so, he doesn’t need to be added. If he is covered under his parents’ policy, who you said do not live with you, he may not actually be “covered.” Some carriers require covered drivers to live at the same address, with some exceptions like college or deployment and this MIGHT be why they are requiring you to add him.

Regarding the PIP, his policy covers him in your car. NJ PIP coverage follows the insured from their own policy, if they have one. It’s not extended from the person’s car they sit inside.

Depending on your age there might be other carriers that offer you better rates. This subreddit has tons of posts about insurance companies like GEICO, USAA, NJM, Liberty Mutual, etc.

Post on r/Insurance for more input but make sure you include the state in your post as different states have different rules.

PulpFriction21 t1_jd3ht99 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 3:59 PM

If you can’t make progress with the insurance company, you can file a complaint with the nj doi (department of insurance). Should help get your complaint looked at properly, with no run around.

manningthehelm t1_jd3p7cx wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:46 PM

It’s NJ Department of Banking and Insurance or DOBI. OP would file a complaint with the division of insurance.

PulpFriction21 t1_jd3ppzo wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:49 PM

My bad, I default assumed it was just the nj doi, I work for an insurer but I handle our southwest region, never interacted with the nj dobi directly or came across that. Most of the doi-s I’ve worked with are simply named like cdi, California department of insurance. Good to know though thank you.

manningthehelm t1_jd3s9is wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:05 PM

No problem, my sympathies for you dealing with California.

PulpFriction21 t1_jd3t728 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:11 PM

Honestly the states on fire, literally and figuratively, at all times, but that’s okay, because at least I don’t have florida on my plate tbh, rampant fraud, lawsuits, hurricanes, flooding, and terrible oversight. It’s not even a political thing, like Louisiana deals with all the same issues and doesn’t have a collapsed insurance market. I’m surprised more insurers aren’t leaving or tightening guidelines to push people to E&S markets. Around hurricane Ian and in the wake of it a wave of insurers left the state.

celcel t1_jd3obdx wrote on March 21, 2023 at 4:40 PM

I've never heard of this. I have progressive and have never been told any of that when renewing or changing vehicles. I do have more than the basic coverage to be able to cover passengers but have never added anyone else in my policy. Are you dealing with a local office? I've always renewed online and never have to deal with anyone.

Linenoise77 t1_jd3sjbb wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:07 PM

Its not about coverage for a passenger. Its about having another driver who has ready access to your vehicle.

Your insurance company gets you may loan your dumbass friend your car for a few hours. They don't want the guy with 2 DUI's and 3 accidents saying 'I don't have a car' riding on his wife's spotless insurance.

celcel t1_jd3zt1d wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:52 PM

Yea I understand it's not about passengers. I was stating my situation. I also had other drivers in my household but was never asked to add them.

Inner_Parsley7691 OP t1_jd3uz7q wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:22 PM

I did everything online. This is all happening because I received a letter from Progressive asking me to add 2 other drivers to my policy that came up on some report they did. I had no idea who those people are so I called and told them that. They gave me no issues, asked no further questions about them but then they asked about people in my household.

Linenoise77 t1_jd3s999 wrote on March 21, 2023 at 5:05 PM

Its been a long time since i have had roommates, but i do have a spouse, and know people with driving age kids.

Your insurance company is within their right to say "these people have regular access to your car, they either need their own policy, or be under yours" Usually this comes up only with young or new drivers, or as i mentioned above, you are in your 20s living with rando roommates on a cheap policy.

There SHOULD be an option to have a rider that explicitly excludes them from coverage. The gotcha with that is, if you want to let them borrow your car for a day, you are now not covered, and also committed a crime, if something happened, unless you want to charge them with stealing your car. That could be as simple as they were doing you a favor and moving it from one side of the street to the other, and hit something.

I'm going to assume if everyone isn't really young, something one of the parties involved did was big enough to flag you with your insurance company on an address search, in which case, you should be very cautious about loaning them your car. Likewise if they got flagged in an address search, well, someone is using your address.

Edit: just re-read your post, and the reason you PROBABLY got flagged was your BF's parents own the home so came up in an address search. So don't want to accuse anyone of anything. You SHOULD be able to tell your insurance company they have their own policies, and be good to go (they may want proof). Again, i'm going to guess you are under a cheap policy that takes no chances, or are new to the insurance company or a new driver.

If your company still won't take that, i'd start shopping around, but ultimately its up to your insurance company if they want to insure you (outside some protected stuff) and are free to refuse your business.

TLDR; someone probably has something bad on their abstract.