by mommyergle » Mon Jul 19, 2010 10:37 pm
my car sales rep. told me last month when i bought a new car that if i found cheaper insurance than the one i had, i could get the cheaper insurance and have the old one refund my money, backdating the new one, is that true, and if so how do i go about doing that?
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:05 pm Post Subject:
Not normally done. The new policy will pick up where the existing policy leaves off (too much opportunity for fraud). You would probably receive a "short rate refund" of unearned premium (unused premium plus a cancellation fee) from the existing insurer.
To determine if a new auto policy can be backdated, you'd have to ask the insurer.
Could it be that a car salesman said something that wasn't true? I don't think that's ever happened before. :lol:
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:12 pm Post Subject:
my car sales rep
Here is where I knew incorrect information would follow.A car salesman only needs to be able to show that they have a pulse. No other knowledge is required. Sometimes they may not even ask about the pulse thing.
No insurance company is going to backdate a new policy. It either means that they are taking on an existing claim or that they'd be collecting a premium for nothing in return.
Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 10:39 am Post Subject:
Insurance is all about risks. Backdating a new policy would mean adding more risks for the same cost. I don't think any insurance co. would ever choose to do it.
Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:43 am Post Subject:
Backdating a new policy would mean adding more risks for the same cost. I don't think any insurance co. would ever choose to do it.
Well, Colin, you are wrong . . . partially.
Backdating policies in life insurance is a common occurrence. The purpose is to "save age" -- that is, allow a person to start their policy at an age 1 year earlier than the company has rated them.
Some companies use "age last birthday" or "age nearest birthday" instead of "attained age". These companies will allow a policy to be backdated up to 6 months in order to make the client one year younger for underwriting purposes. This can save a client thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands of dollars in some cases, over the life of the policy.
It adds no additional risk to the insurance company, since the person is alive today, and has already been accepted for coverage. However, it does add cost to the client . . . they must pay for the additional 1 to 6 months of coverage they are asking for. It's only fair, that if they are going to lower their premium over the life of the contract, they should pay the same amount of money that they would have if they had applied and been approved that much sooner.
But you are correct to the extent that backdating is NOT done in auto or homeowner's insurance, nor is it done in most other forms of property and casualty insurance, for the obvious reason that it would expose the insurance company to paying a claim that occurred in the past. But in certain types of commercial liability policies, the company may agree to cover claims made during the term of the policy for losses that happened up to 6 months prior to the effective date of the policy.
Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:19 am Post Subject: Best Auto Insurance
Help yourself - you can check your quotes in internet, for example here -
Best Auto Insurance Rate Review
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