AB 60, Foreign License, Permit or None: Listing a Mixed Household on One Policy

Many households we quote look like this: a father with an AB 60 license, a mother with a license from Mexico, an adult son with a permit, an uncle who stays with them and has no license, and a cousin whose license is suspended. Every one of them is a question on the application. Here is how each is usually answered.

Why the company asks about everyone

People who live together usually have access to the same keys. Rates in California are built first on driving safety record, annual mileage and years of driving experience (Insurance Code section 1861.02(a)), so the company needs to know whose record, miles and experience it is insuring.

The household, person by person

Three rules that apply whatever the company

• Card type is not a rating factor. The factors an insurer may use are limited to the three mandatory ones and the optional ones the state's regulation lists, and "kind of license card" is not among them.
• Foreign licenses have a Good Driver clock. Insurance Code section 1861.025 presumes a driver with a foreign license qualifies for the Good Driver Discount after 18 months licensed in the United States or Canada, if the record over that time meets the same tests.
• A suspension can threaten everyone's policy. Insurance Code section 661 lets a company cancel if the license of a household member or a customary driver of the car is suspended or revoked. That is why companies sometimes ask to exclude that person.

Exclusions: the line people sign without reading

Excluding someone by name is allowed under Insurance Code section 11580.1, and once the named insured signs, it is conclusive: the excluded person has no coverage driving that car. That suits a relative who truly never drives. It does not suit the cousin who "only moves it for street sweeping."

When someone's license changes

A permit becomes a license, a foreign license expires, a suspension ends, an AB 60 card arrives in the mail, someone moves in or out. Each of these is a change to report in writing, with the date. An exclusion stays in force until it is removed by endorsement, whatever has happened to the person's license.

What usually works

1. Before you call, write a list of every adult at the address with the kind of license each one holds.
2. Say who drives which car, and how often.
3. When the declarations page arrives, read the driver section aloud against your list.

Bring the list and start a quote here; we will tell you how each company we use would handle your household.