Glossary
Named insured, defined
The person or business the policy contract is issued to, listed by name on the declarations page. That person can change the policy, cancel it and receive claim payments; other people covered by the policy, such as household members or listed drivers, generally cannot.
In practice
A spouse is usually treated as a named insured automatically on a personal policy; an adult child, a partner or a roommate is not unless added. Who is named affects who is covered when driving a borrowed car, who is protected by the home policy's liability section, and who the carrier will speak to about the policy.
A worked example
Suppose a couple who are not married buy a car together and only one of them is named on the policy. If the unnamed partner is in an accident driving a friend's car, the policy may not follow them the way it would follow the named insured. Adding the partner as a named insured closes that gap. Hypothetical.
Applies to: Auto InsuranceHome Insurance