by captmiket » Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:15 am
I am trying to get auto insurance quote when I was told that I had not had insurance for 30 days.
My carrier stated they had a conversation with a person with my name (my dad), and he told them he did not need their insurnace and my insurance cancelled my policy, and they will not reinstate. All they say is they are sorry and there is nothiing that they can do.
If they would have verified that they were in fact speaking to the correct person by asking for the policy number and birthdate (which they did when I called and questioned them about this) they would have known they were talking to the wrong person;
Please let me know as soon as possible how I should handle this, since as of now I cannot get a insurance quote because it shows no insurance for 30 days.
I
My carrier stated they had a conversation with a person with my name (my dad), and he told them he did not need their insurnace and my insurance cancelled my policy, and they will not reinstate. All they say is they are sorry and there is nothiing that they can do.
If they would have verified that they were in fact speaking to the correct person by asking for the policy number and birthdate (which they did when I called and questioned them about this) they would have known they were talking to the wrong person;
Please let me know as soon as possible how I should handle this, since as of now I cannot get a insurance quote because it shows no insurance for 30 days.
I
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 01:49 am Post Subject:
You can get a quote... many people have not had insurance for 30 days and get insurance. Perhaps your rate will be higher or perhaps you will need to go with a different carrier.
The prior carrier would be required to send you a cancellation letter. You could have then responded within a short amount of time to have the policy reinstated. I'm guessing they mentioned this and you did not mention that here. What was the situation with that letter?
Why would your dad contact your carrier and cancel your insurance? What was the situation there?
Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:20 pm Post Subject:
Unless your dad was a named insured -- his name appears as the insured on the declarations page and ID Card, he cannot legally cancel your auto insurance.
Call the insurance company and tell them you will file a complaint with your state's department of insurance if they don't reinstate you as of the cancel date.
If they won't cooperate, speak to supervisor, and have them read to you the section of your insurance contract explaining how the policy can be canceled. It should show them they were wrong to cancel your policy. If they still won't reinstate you back to the cancel date, file a complaint with your state department of insurance.
Now, if you had a bill due, which was not paid, and the policy canceled for non-payment, there is not anything you can do about it.
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 04:08 am Post Subject: THANKS
Lakeman cannot thank you enough. carrier did not say who contacted who but why my dad would is he was mad at me about something. I did get a letter however it was sent to an old address as I had not changed address
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:32 pm Post Subject:
Unless your dad was a named insured -- his name appears as the insured on the declarations page and ID Card, he cannot legally cancel your auto insurance.
When more than one person is named as an insured on a policy (such as husband, wife, child on an auto policy), only the FIRST NAMED INSURED will have the right to make contract changes, including terminating coverage for any other named insured.
Failure to notify the insurance company of your mailing address change is your problem, not theirs. The insurance code usually talks about sending correspondence to "the last known address of record" as being sufficient to fulfill any required mailing, such as a cancellation notice.
Live and learn.
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 02:27 am Post Subject:
Yes, that is an important distinction about the first named insured, though a resident spouse ( not a separated spouse) has the same authority as the first named insured.
But we don't know who the first named insured might be, in this case.
Also, cancel requests are usually required to be in writing.
You are also right about the insured's requirement to notify the insurance company of a change of address. But this is besides the point, if the insurance company canceled the policy per the dad's request, if the dad did not have authority to do so.
The original poster should contact the insurance company and determine the reason for the cancellation. If it was because of the dad, and the policy was not canceled properly according to the policy contract, coverage should be reinstated.
If the policy canceled for non-payment due to bills going to the wrong address,which could be the case, then the op is out of luck.
Let's not tell the op live & learn until the op finds out more information about the cancellation.
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 07:57 am Post Subject:
though a resident spouse ( not a separated spouse) has the same authority as the first named insured.
Not true. When the contract states "The owner shall be the first named insured" (typical language), nothing beats that.
The OP stated the mail went to his former address.
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 09:02 pm Post Subject:
Quote:
though a resident spouse ( not a separated spouse) has the same authority as the first named insured.
Not true. When the contract states "The owner shall be the first named insured" (typical language), nothing beats that.
The OP stated the mail went to his former address
It's true for my auto insurance policy, and many others. Auto insurance policy language varies from company to company. You shouldn't speak with authority when you don't know the policy language of the OP's policy.
My policy defines YOU as a named insured or a resident spouse, and then states "YOU may cancel this policy during the policy period by calling or writing us and stating the future date YOU wish the cancellation to be effective."
The confirmation of the cancellation was mailed to his former address, and this has nothing to do with why the policy was canceled.
At this point, I think you and I may care more about this than the OP.
CaptMikeT, have you called your old insurance company to confirm the reason why your policy was canceled -- by your dad's request, or for non-payment?
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:48 pm Post Subject:
I think what happened was the insurance company was under the impression that the OP cancelled the policy. After a long time the OP claimed that it was his father that cancelled. The insurance company states that they don't know this to be the case and the OP had the chance to correct the error in responding to the insurance companies notification but did not.
The OP states that his father was made at him so he cancelled the insurance. To me, this does not make any sense. But the OP then did not ask for it to be reinstated after the cancellation notice was sent. The OP did not make any payments either. None of these things add up to one mistake as the OP mentions.
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