by strawberry » Mon Dec 13, 2010 11:25 am
Hi! Thanks for taking your time to answer my question. I am in a very serious situation. I have known my agent for a very long time. He has had my business for 15 years or more and I trust him. Well, I was recently in a very serious accident where the other driver had to have a leg amputated and he has retained an attorney. My insurance company thinks it's serious enough to where they feel it's necessary to hire me defense council.
A few months ago, my agent switched from one company to another (again) and called me to see if he could move my home and auto (again). I said that was fine as long as my rates didn't go up. So he "ran the numbers" and said he could save me a few bucks." Well, what he didn't tell me was that in order to save me a few bucks, he was lowering my limits from 500K to 300K per person. What's even WORSE is that he failed to check my umbrella policy that he ALSO wrote, which requires me to maintain 500K in order for it to be valid. So not only did he leave me with 200K less coverage which I need right now, but he may have rendered my umbrella invalid. What do I do? I'm very scared that my personal money is on the line. This is my children's education that we are talking about. I feel I may have a claim against my agents E&O policy. How do I go about looking into this. Thanks for your help.
A few months ago, my agent switched from one company to another (again) and called me to see if he could move my home and auto (again). I said that was fine as long as my rates didn't go up. So he "ran the numbers" and said he could save me a few bucks." Well, what he didn't tell me was that in order to save me a few bucks, he was lowering my limits from 500K to 300K per person. What's even WORSE is that he failed to check my umbrella policy that he ALSO wrote, which requires me to maintain 500K in order for it to be valid. So not only did he leave me with 200K less coverage which I need right now, but he may have rendered my umbrella invalid. What do I do? I'm very scared that my personal money is on the line. This is my children's education that we are talking about. I feel I may have a claim against my agents E&O policy. How do I go about looking into this. Thanks for your help.
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 03:23 pm Post Subject:
What's even WORSE is that he failed to check my umbrella policy that he ALSO wrote, which requires me to maintain 500K in order for it to be valid.
OK, so the agent gave you an apple-to-oranges quote and you accepted. The insurance company you switched to would have sent you a policy and declaration pages to show the coverage you purchased. When did you get around to reading that?
Although the agent may bear some liability for the diminished coverage you have, you are still responsible for verifying the coverage you have and making sure it meets your needs. If you had noticed the smaller amount of coverage, you could have either increased the coverage or not accepted it and remained with your former insurer.
You can -- and should -- file a complaint against the agent with your state's Dept of Insurance, although this will not improve your situation. You can also sue the agent in a cross-complaint piggy-backed to any legal action instituted by the party you injured. That's how his E&O coverage (if he has any) would come into play -- you have no standing to file a claim against his E&O policy directly, only against him as a negligent person. You probably have a good chance of collecting under that policy in this instance, if you are forced to pay more than your policy limits for the injuries to the third party.
As for your umbrella policy, if you did not carry the required minimum coverage, you may be able to obtain a refund of your premium, but you will not have coverage under the terms of that contract. But you should check the language of your umbrella coverage first. It may not require $500,000 per person under your auto policy -- mine only requires $250,000 (which in California translates into $500,00 per accident when more than one person is injured).
Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 09:21 am Post Subject:
Did the agent have you sign an application showing you your limits of liability on your auto insurance policy when you made the change? Did you sign it? This is going to be the big factor.
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