Can I sue my auto insurance conpany?

by jonathanstrou » Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:42 pm

I traded in my Truck in sept'08 for a new for a new truck. At the dealership I called my insurance company to let them know of the change. Once that was done the bank was able to finance the new vehicle and I drove it of the lot. in Feb '09 I hit a deer doing several thousand dollars damage to my vehicle. Upon contacting my insurance company to make them aware of the claim I find out that the insurance was not cancelled on my old truck and never issued on the new one. They now refuse to pay the sum of the damages. I had full coverage with a $100 deductible.

Total Comments: 6

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 01:42 am Post Subject:

Jonathan,

I am sorry to hear about your problem with your policy change. Did you talk to your agent, or did you talk directly to your company? If you can prove that you requested the change and did everything on your end, but they did not process it, and you did not know that they had not done it, then you have recourse against them. However, you will need to be able to demonstrate this. Do you have anything in writing?

I think the problem you are going to have is that you have been driving around with an ID card for the old truck. Depending on your policy term, it has probably renewed since September, so you also have a declarations page for the renewal policy that shows the old truck. I think that if you choose to pursue action against your agent or your company, you are going to have to explain why you have not said anything about it since September.

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 01:52 am Post Subject:

Didn't they send you an insurance card for this new truck? That would have been the first thing that would have told me that particular truck was not insured. Anytime I have ever gotten a different vehicle I always got a new insurance card in the mail. How about a declarations page from your insurance company? Surely they would have sent you one of these when getting this new truck. I would be calling my agent and asking a few questions.

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 02:06 am Post Subject:

Yes you can sue... anyone can sue for anything.

I'd recommend having a discussion with them as to why you'd keep comprehensive coverage on a vehicle you don't own and not obtain the same coverage on a vehicle you do own. They should see that it makes no sense and that they were still pretty much charging you for the coverage anyway.

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 01:20 pm Post Subject:

Who EXACTLY did you call to make the change (when you bought the truck) did you say you did so at the dealership? Did anyone over hear this conversation? Also the bank should've been up someone's butt about proof of insurance...not sure how that could've slid by.

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 01:40 pm Post Subject:

Thats what I was wondering. There is so many factors when getting insurance on the vehicle. You got to show proof everywhere and plus they need to send you an insurance card for in your vehicle. Just can not see how it slipped by. Surely the bank would be able to vouch since they would have had to see there was insurance. My bank had to have papers faxed over from the insurance company showing proof of insurance.

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 01:47 pm Post Subject:

My bank had to have papers faxed over from the insurance company showing proof of insurance.

most of them operate this way...hopefully the OP did not get a letter from his lein holder about this proof and ignor it, because if he did, he's likely got a giant amount added to his loan by his leinholder adding comp and collision coverage at an insane price...

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