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 Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 5:12 pm Post subject: Can my insurance company cancel without notifing me? |
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| I was just in a non injury accident and when filing the claim was told my insurance had lapsed and not been paid since 2006. I had never received an invoice or any notification of cancellation or non-payment. Normally that long of time without paying would have put up a red flag, however I have severe memory loss from taking an anti-seizure medication and unless I have constant reminders things get totally lost to me. When I receive bills I pay them immediately so they aren't set aside and forgotten, and I depend on the person who is billing to send me these invoices. My insurance company sent absolutely nothing, no bill, no late notice, no notification of canellation. |
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littlemc
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Littlemc... Well the document part you have mentioned is about the company. Why dont you check your bank account statements and check it on your side if as to some payment was made or no.......
Since you are talkg of suffering from "severe memory loss"; there's a possibility that you missed on the dox that were sent to you..........
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gnp
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Normally that long of time without paying would have put up a red flag, however I have severe memory loss from taking an anti-seizure medication and unless I have constant reminders things get totally lost to me. |
| Quote: | | I had never received an invoice or any notification of cancellation or non-payment. |
So you may forget a bill, or 6 but not a few cancellation notifications?
You can ask your carrier to provide a Proof of Mailing for the cancellation notice but my guess is that they can produce it showing you that the cancellation notice was sent out.
How often is the insurance bill due? If every 6 months then you've not made the past 6 payments, not received a new insurance card for the past 3 years and somehow registered your vehicle listing current insurance but never thought at any of these points to check that it had not renewed the past 3 years?
If you don't remember things my recommendation is to have someone assist you with your daily/monthly activities. But not having insurance for _3 years_ and not realizing it... I'd say that is one you and not your carrier.
How much premium do you pay over the course of 3 years? Will that be enough to address this loss? If so, consider yourself as breaking even. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 1:46 am Post subject: |
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Having been associated with this business for as long as I have, I have heard many, many different insured's tell me stories about how they were "never notified that their insurance was cancelled."
I find this almost impossible to believe in almost every case I hear. State laws and rules require insurers to mail (to the last known address) a premium notice as well as a lapse notice in the event of same. As well, if there was a lien on the vehicle, the insured would also have been notified by the lienholder. All states require that the insurer provide proof of coverage to the insured as well, normally in the form of a declarations page, ID cards and commonly a new policy at renewal.
You're telling us that due to your cognitive impairment that there's a possibility that you were indeed unaware. After three years, there had to have been a moment of concern over this...and there wasn't? I'm not trying to be difficult, I just find it hard to think that a person wouldn't think of this at least ONCE during a 36-month period.
You weren't paying premium, it wasn't automatically deducted from your checking or savings account, you have no current documents from the insurance company, no recent documents, no nothing??
Can you give us any more info, such as communication you've had with your agent or anything that might help us help you?
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InsTeacher
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:36 am Post subject: |
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Hi,
I is really not possible that your insurance co. did not notify you abou the premium status and lapse of policy.
As per law evey insurnace co. is supposed to kep their clients informed about any changes done on the ac.
There are atleast 2 mandat letters sent by the insurance co. if a premium is due and not paid.
Ask your insurance co to send you a history of your policy details and the letters sent to you. |
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DJ
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:41 am Post subject: |
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Hi littlemc,
| Quote: | | When I receive bills I pay them immediately so they aren't set aside and forgotten, and I depend on the person who is billing to send me these invoices. |
That's perhaps the best thing you could do under the circumstances..
| Quote: | | My insurance company sent absolutely nothing, no bill, no late notice, no notification of canellation. |
..if a person bills it must be in the records..did you check in with them?
Steven |
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steven
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:49 am Post subject: |
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Hi littlemc, you went on driving the car for last three years without insurance and were never been stopped for driving with expired coverage? Or, you were not driving?
You probably have got the idea that its hard to believe that one go without coverage for all these time without bothering to check with it. Since you have this impairment you were suppose to be more careful about not missing important things like insurance. |
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kelvin
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 9:56 am Post subject: insurance |
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| I agree............if you were getting THAT behind in Insurance payments, you would think your Insurance company would have notified you by now. Were you having the payments taken out of a bank account, of some sort? But.........3 years worth of payments?....gosh......someone should have called/written you. |
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sdchargersfan
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:47 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I depend on the person who is billing to send me these invoices. My insurance company sent absolutely nothing, no bill, no late notice, no notification of canellation. |
Well you can't little mc...and this is simply NOT possible, they HAD to have sent you a bill as well as cancellation notification, which I'm sure they will be able to provide the dates and address those were sent to....now honey, come on..what did your proof of insurance card say? had to list the policy period, and that ended in 2006... | Quote: | | someone should have called/written you |
SD they did...
Ins teacher makes a good point...IF your vehicle has a lein on it (you make car payments) then contact your leinholder, they may have slapped forced insurance on your car...which will cost you a bundle and they have tacked it onto your loan, but should pay to fix your car, and your car only.
Also per Tcope's post...how on earth did you license your vehicle over these past years?
Something(s) are just not adding up here littlemc...
What happened in the accident? Is there another party involved? Or just your vehicle (better hope so)...If there is damage to your vehicle only consider yourself lucky...if damage to anothers vehicle you've gotten yourself into a tough spot, and will be responsible for paying for that...
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Lori
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| Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:23 am Post subject: insurance |
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| I must have missed the part that the Insurance company was trying to contact the OP someway...sorry. As you are sorry, LORI,..it seems like there are parts of the story not being told. I don't understand how the OP could have kept the car in hr possession this long, etc. |
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sdchargersfan
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| Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 11:07 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I must have missed the part that the Insurance company was trying to contact the OP someway...sorry. |
You didn't miss it, she said they didn't but that's just not possible... | Quote: | | LORI,..it seems like there are parts of the story not being told. I don't understand how the OP could have kept the car in hr possession this long, etc. |
Yes, there is a giant chunk missing...or maybe she hasn't renewed her plates either?
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Lori
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| Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Yes, there is a giant chunk missing |
I think many understand that the huge part missing is that the OP simply did not pay the premium, the insurance company sent out several notifications that were ignored, the policy was cancelled, and now 3 years later and right after an accident happens, the OP suddenly realizes that the policy has not been in-force for 3 years. It's always right after an accident happens that people "realize" that their policy is not in-force. It's seldom at the point that they no longer are making payments as they have been. |
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tcope
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 3:34 am Post subject: |
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I think the insurer would cancel the policy and report the driver to the DMV for driving without coverage. Some states also require you to turn-in the plate when you have no insurance. It's amazing that neither happened to the OP.  |
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simon
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 5:35 am Post subject: |
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Some states require notice be sent to the state upon cancellation/non-renewal, others don't. Some states suspend drivers licenses and/or vehicle registrations, some states impound your car, some states actually sell the car at auction after repeated offenses.....and some don't.
This "no insurance and yer busted and then what happens next???" thing is so all-over-the-map it's absolutely ridiculous. My company is in more than 30 states, I research all those goofy differences, and I tell ya, it'll drive a person crazy. No offense to all of the crazy people out there. 
Getting back to OP, I think you've figured out what's going on here. In synopsis- there's unfortunately no coverage, and there are likely to be additional consequences depending on the state where you live. Hopefully you're in one of the good, so to speak, states. Sorry if I didn't catch the state in the thread if it was there.
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InsTeacher
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:55 am Post subject: |
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My state is a 'lacky' state IMO...if you get 'caught' without ins, you're reported to the state, and can lose your plates, and big fine to reinstate them...but you have to be caught..however you do have to prove ins coverage when licensing your vehicle, which too isn't a big trick...pay for a month, get the proof, license the car for two years, and you're good to go uninsured for another two years..just hoping you don't get caught... I like PA, they dang near throw you in jail.. 
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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