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Texas insurance glossary

Permissive use

Permissive use is coverage that follows a vehicle to a driver who is not on the policy but had the owner's permission to be behind the wheel.

Sources checked

The ordinary rule on a standard Texas auto policy is that the insurance follows the car. A friend who borrows it with permission is generally covered, at the owner’s limits, and a claim they cause is the owner’s claim.

Two things defeat that. A named driver policy covers only the people listed on it and nobody else, which is common in the non-standard market and is exactly the sort of thing that is not obvious from the price. And a driver who has been deliberately excluded by endorsement is not a permissive user — they are an omitted driver.

Permission is also not the same as regular access. A household member who drives the car routinely belongs on the policy.

Sources: TDI — home insurance glossary; TDI — automobile insurance guide (CB020). Verified .

A definition, not legal advice and not a quote. Rules and figures change; confirm your own situation against the source named above, or with us, before you act on it. Last checked .

See also

  • Named driver policy A named driver policy is an auto policy that does not provide coverage for a person residing in the insured’s household unless that person is named on the policy.
  • Omitted driver An omitted driver is a household member deliberately removed from a policy by endorsement, so that nothing the policy covers applies while that person is driving.
  • Exclusion An exclusion is a clause naming something the policy does not cover, and it operates by carving that thing back out of coverage the policy has already granted.
  • Liability coverage Liability coverage is the part of an auto policy that pays other people for injury or damage the insured driver causes; it repairs nothing belonging to the insured.

Where this is handled

Knowing what a coverage is called is not the same as knowing what is on your policy. One independent agency can read your declarations page with you and compare the markets that will write your record.

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