Remove Driver (Process & Flow Chart)

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UPDATE : To remain consistent across all states (UW 3.1 & UW 3.3), Proof of Residency (POR) is required for all driver removals, with the following exceptions:

Death/Fatality: POR is not required if the driver is being removed due to death. Please follow the steps outlined in the Deceased Primary Named Insured Process article.
Divorce: A divorce decree fulfills the POR requirement for removing a former spouse. Please refer to the Divorced, Separated PNI and Spouse Process for specific handling instructions.

Remove Driver Process

For Policies in Underwriting 3.3: NSA & SA

Collect driver's name
Reason for removal
Follow the questions in CORE
Depending on how the questions are answered the driver's status will change.
If removing because the driver no longer lives in the household, proof of residency is required:
Valid forms include current utility bill, mortgage statement, or lease agreement, with clear dates and addresses matching the operator’s residence.

For Policies in Underwriting 3.1:

Information to verify BEFORE processing the change:

Driver name:
Reason for removal:
When would you like the driver removed?
Does this driver still live in the household?
Are they regularly operating any vehicles still on the policy?
Are they the registered owners or co-owners of any vehicles remaining on the policy

** If removing because the driver no longer lives in the household, proof of residency is required:
Valid forms include current utility bill, mortgage statement, or lease agreement, with clear dates and addresses matching the operator’s residence. This is regardless of age.

To ensure remove driver requests are managed appropriately, the Underwriting team put together these guidelines:

When Removing a Spouse, see this KB: Divorced/Separated PNI and Spouse Process

Removing a Deceased Spouse

Removing a deceased spouse process differs from removing a driver as the PNI has legal ownership of the spouse's possessions when they are deceased.

If the PNI contacts us advising their listed spouse has passed, follow these steps:

Express empathy for their loss
Advise you can remove the spouse effective the date of contact
Don't forget to send a sympathy card!

Please Note: If any of the vehicles are registered to the deceased spouse - financial interest will transfer to the PNI and we can remove the owner (spouse) from the policy.

For the process when the Primary Named Insured is Deceased, please see this KB Article.

Dependent Child Definition

A child can be considered a dependent for TAX PURPOSES if the meet following criteria is met:

Relationship: The person must be your child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these (for example, your grandchild).

Age: The child must be:

Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)
A student under age 24 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)
Permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year, regardless of age.

Support: The child must not have provided more than half of their own support for the year.

Residency: The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.

Joint Return: The child must not be filing a joint return for the year (unless that return is filed only as a claim for refund).

Force Removal Driver

Similar to our current process of Forcing Policy Changes for address updates and adding a verified household member, we will be force removing a driver if the insured requests to remove a driver but does not want to process the change if the premium increases. When removing a driver, an insured may anticipate that the premium decreases, but depending on the rating of the removed driver, it could potentially increase the premium.

Note: If in a UW 3.3 state, POR is still required to remove a driver if the reason for removal is that the driver no longer resides in the home.

Possible reasons for increased premium:

Removed driver has more driving experience, less violations, or a more favorable rating based on other factors that go along with reports that are run when we add a driver.
Any change to the policy can create a reassessment of the rate and can shift how the risk is viewed.
Vehicle reassignment amongst remaining drivers

Forcing The Removal of a Driver is Acceptable When The Person:

Is not a co-owner or sole registrar of any vehicles
No longer regularly uses a covered auto
Is of legal driving age no longer resides in the household
Hasn't had any surchargeable accidents or tickets in the last 3 years
Is not between ages 16-24
- If ages 16-24, they can be removed if sufficient documentation is submitted and approved as Remove Driver flow chart indicates!

How We Process:

Follow the flow chart in this KB
Advise of change in premium
If premium INCREASES, process the change if FUTURE billing opportunity is present OR request to process the pro-rated payment due if no future billing opportunity is present.
Select the correct ticket disposition in Zendesk. This allows us to track the # of requests for this endorsement type.

If it's a full-pay policy and insured doesn’t authorize payment to endorse removal, file UW ticket (similar to address change & add driver). Although insureds can add drivers in the app, UW will monitor these endorsements to ensure policies are rated correctly.
If driver removal requires documentation of any sort (see flow chart) and also causes premium increase, we must still attempt to process as normal and inform of premium change (increase or decrease) either way.
If they don't want to provide documentation and opt to exclude the driver, advise this can also cause a premium increase and do the following:
- Send exclusion form and walk the insured through the process and expectations of the form.
- Process the change
- Inform insured of premium change.
  - If premium increase and the Insured refuses to process payment or sign an exclusion form, an UW ticket should be filed.

NOTE: For Zendesk Automatic Email information, see: Zendesk Automatic Email Nudges

Things to Consider when speaking with the customer:

If there is a premium increase, there is a good chance that the insured will want to keep the driver on their policy. When this happens we will want to ask probing questions but be mindful to not lead our insureds to the answer.

If Insured states they still drive the vehicle:

- Ask: “How often does this person drive your vehicle?"
  - Regular use is viewed as a vehicle being driven 30+ in a 12-month period. If they state the person drives the vehicle once or twice a week, then we would want to keep them on the policy rather than force remove them. If they say once a month, then we would advise them that the driver would be considered a permissive driver and we can move forward with the removal of the driver.
  - We want to be mindful to not provide the definition of regular use when asking the question. For example, “We consider regular use to be 30+ in a 12-month period, would you say they drive that often?”. Leading the witness to an answer can have an adverse effect in these instances.

- Ask: “Are they currently insured with another company for their vehicle?”
  - If they are currently insured with their vehicle, and living at a different address, the need to be on a policy to lower the rate for the insured is not there.

See this link for Additional Talk Tracks for this conversation: Remove Driver - Talk Tracks
When removing a driver remember: to review the relationship status and confirm contact information including the email and phone number listed.

Remove Driver Macros:

Customer Advocacy: Endorsement::Remove Driver (Chat)
CASA: Endorsement::Remove Driver

Removing A Spouse:

When Removing a Spouse, see this KB: Divorced/Separated PNI and Spouse Process