topic Re: Insurance fraud, IMO in Community Chat

Insurance fraud, IMO

comedy clubber — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 22:51:38 GMT

I am in the process of selling my car. Within two weeks, the new owner will own it. Meanwhile, my insurane company, Western National, out of Edina, MN, had sent me a renewal notice. The first payment was to be $74, for comprehensive, collision, and liability. I called the agent and told her the car was being sold and all I want is liability foe about a month. I called Western National and asked them what the new payment would be and informed them that I already had a potential buyer. She told me the payment was $74 even with the changes. That is fraud in my opinion, because when ever they get around to refunding me, there will be no interest paaid to me. So if anyone is looking for a new insurance company, steer away from Western National. Sorry just venting.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

RedTop — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:16:27 GMT

It’s not fraud; it’s company policy. The cost of the coverage you need is $74, regardless of how long you need the coverage.

It sounds like you expect a special rate on the premise the car will be sold in 2 weeks.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Marp — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:20:33 GMT

@RedTop wrote:
It’s not fraud; it’s company policy. The cost of the coverage you need is $74, regardless of how long you need the coverage.

It sounds like you expect a special rate on the premise the car will be sold in 2 weeks.

I read OP's post differently. The $74 (term unstated) was for full coverage and she requested liability coverage only with her complaint being the same cost for full coverage and liability only.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Kachina624 — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:23:39 GMT

My guess is that the company is just complying with state law and cannot pro-rate an auto policy for less than one month. There are people who would take out a policy for one day just to get the required proof of insurance.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

NYC Susan — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:27:36 GMT

I'm not sure I understand this correctly but I don't see anything that seems like fraud. It sounds more like miscommunication. Can't your agent explain to you why the premium amount remains the same? After you spoke to the insurance company, did you contact your agent again? If not, you should.

Also - Insurance companies don't care about "potential buyers". They care about current owners. Lots of potential sales never happen. (I hope this one does, but you never know!)

I moved last year, and because of that my car insurance company ended up owing me some money. I received a refund check within days. So I don't think you should jump to any conclusions about how long you would have to wait for a refund if you're entitled to one. It's not fair to bash an insurance company and accuse them of something like insurance fraud when it's really not clear that they have done anything wrong.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

happycat — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:29:11 GMT

I just hope you get the refund you should have coming after you are not in possession of the car anymore.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:30:12 GMT

When ever my insurance company has owed me a refund I have it in a short period of time.....

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

RedTop — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:32:14 GMT

Under these same circumstances, my insurance company would still charge me the $74, as they would not allow me to change my policy knowing I was trying to sell my car. They would issue a refund from the date I notified them that the car was sold. I’ve had the same insurance company since 1973.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Marp — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:51:52 GMT

@RedTop wrote:
Under these same circumstances, my insurance company would still charge me the $74, as they would not allow me to change my policy knowing I was trying to sell my car. They would issue a refund from the date I notified them that the car was sold. I’ve had the same insurance company since 1973.

Are you saying that when you receive your renewal notice your carrier will not allow any changes to coverage because you told them you are selling your car or no changes for any reason?

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Marp — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:54:44 GMT

@comedy clubber,it might be a good idea to revisit your decision to drop full coverage.

A lot can happen in an instant and if you only have liability and say a tree fell on your car totaling it you won't have a car to drive or sell and no money to compensate for the loss of the car.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

SleepyTime — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 23:57:06 GMT

I think when you remove some features others go up. I know when I lost multiple car discount other items went up. So maybe the liability goes up removing collision.

Something that should easily be explained.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Tinkrbl44 — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:02:07 GMT

@NYC Susan wrote:
I'm not sure I understand this correctly but I don't see anything that seems like fraud. It sounds more like miscommunication. Can't your agent explain to you why the premium amount remains the same? After you spoke to the insurance company, did you contact your agent again? If not, you should.

Also - Insurance companies don't care about "potential buyers". They care about current owners. Lots of potential sales never happen. (I hope this one does, but you never know!)

I moved last year, and because of that my car insurance company ended up owing me some money. I received a refund check within days. So I don't think you should jump to any conclusions about how long you would have to wait for a refund if you're entitled to one. It's not fair to bash an insurance company and accuse them of something like insurance fraud when it's really not clear that they have done anything wrong.

@NYC Susan @comedy clubber

That's how I interpreted it .... the OP needs to speak with her agent. There is nothing about this that indicates "fraud".

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

NYC Susan — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:04:16 GMT

@Marp wrote:
@comedy clubber,it might be a good idea to revisit your decision to drop full coverage.

A lot can happen in an instant and if you only have liability and say a tree fell on your car totaling it you won't have a car to drive or sell and no money to compensate for the loss of the car.

That crossed my mind also. Good point!

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Group 5 minus 1 — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:10:31 GMT

For whatever reason she doesn't want to pay the $74.00. She may not have the money.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

CrazyDaisy — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:34:17 GMT

When you change your coverage the agent needs to rewrite the policy. Most companies have a fee for that. It could be that the to rewrite the policy is higher than the cost of full coverage for the 2 weeks.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

viva923 — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:42:28 GMT

we changed policies 2 months ago(change was for better rates).

we wer charged by our old company for hours we had there policy to minute the new policy took over. At first they wanted a full monthly payment (which we fought royally), they agreed to make it half payment, nope wouldn’t do, finally got it down to $25.00 we took paid them and am on new policy. This took us 2 =3 months to get this all cleared up.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

kittymom56 — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 01:37:56 GMT

I had worked in insurance most of my life. And worked in billing. What may be happening is that the company may not have the appropriate amount of time to endorse the existing policy, recalculate premiums and issue a bill in a timely matter. It really is all about timing. We would always suggest paying that renewal bill, and the adjustment would be made on future billings. And if you are going to cancel the coverage on that car, it will be refunded back to you. It is not fraud, it's pretty much normal operating procudrue. I thinbk your agent would be able to explain this to you as well.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

CelticCrafter — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 09:29:22 GMT

@RedTop wrote:
Under these same circumstances, my insurance company would still charge me the $74, as they would not allow me to change my policy knowing I was trying to sell my car. They would issue a refund from the date I notified them that the car was sold. I’ve had the same insurance company since 1973.

That's simply not true, unless there was a lien on the car that required comprehensive and collision be carried OR there was an umbrella policy in effect that required liability limits of a certain amount be carried.

The insurance company cannot tell you you can't change your policy.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

Cats3000 — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 10:57:20 GMT

YOU CANNOT THROW AROUND THE TERM "FRAUD". YOU LEAVE YOURSELF OPEN TO LEGAL CONSEQUENCES!!!! YOUR "VENTING" COULD GET YOU IN A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE.

Re: Insurance fraud, IMO

bonnielu — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 11:14:23 GMT

Not sure where you are located but in our state there is an insurance commissioner and when we have EVER had a problem or even question, we called them. We had only one incident long long ago... Very icy roads.. school did not cancel in time (I am a school teacher). My hubby also going to work followed me out. We live on a small mountain and at the stop sign I stopped, he stopped but not in time. He hit the back of my car. We share the same insurance company obviously. They refused to cover the damage. It was not intentional that he hit me. If another car had done this their would have been no question. (Actually I was lucky since if he had hit me harder I would have fallen off the embankment.) In any case we called insurance commissioner (sp) the State of Maryland. They looked into it. We won not only the money to fix both cars but the ruling was changed, I am told. Family members are no longer treatedthe way we were.