Insurance Non renewal

by Guest » Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:08 am
Guest

Non-renewal of an insurance policy simply means not continuing with an existing policy after the expiry of its term. Any insurance policy may be governed by the state laws. If an insurance company chooses not to renew a certain policy, it has to follow certain procedures.

Prevent insurance non renewal

There are few chances that your homeowners insurance policy will be cancelled by the insurance company. But if your insurance company chooses not to renew your home owners policy they must provide notice for a certain number of days and also explain why they have chosen not to renew your policy. If you have done something that adds a potential safety hazard on your property and that would invite a risk on the insurance company, the company may be allowed to cancel your insurance policy. Insurance companies usually also deny claim because the amount is mostly big.

The kind of home you buy and the kind of lifestyle you follow may affect your homeowners insurance policy. But if you file too many insurance claims it may result in non-renewal. If it is a house you are buying, make sure you are completely aware of the history of the house. If the house you are buying has a history of several claims, you may find it difficult or even impossible to find a suitable home insurance policy.

You may even raise your deductibles. By doing this you can reduce the amount of premiums that you pay and more importantly it will also reduce the risk of non-renewal when filing a claim.

Auto insurance policy holders must maintain a good record with the insurance providers. It is your responsibility to keep your payments up-to-date. However, lapses may occur sometimes. If your insurance provider decides that you are no longer worth the coverage, he can simply choose non-renewal of your insurance policy. If you have had poor driving records or have made abundant claims, you may be adding to the reasons behind why your insurance company would choose not to renew your insurance policy. If this does happen, the company is supposed to let you know a month in advance about its decision of non-renewal of your auto insurance.

Auto insurance cancellation is a more serious issue and your policy may get cancelled due to any violation in terms of the agreement you have with the insurance company. Most of the auto insurance companies reserve the right to cancel a policy with itself, be it for driving under influence of alcohol or late payment or any other fraud. If you want to avoid cancellation of your auto insurance policy, you may set up an automatic payment system. You can use online banking services to be able to use the automatic payment system.

Cancellation and non-renewal of a policy

A policy gets cancelled under 2 circumstances:
  1. Failure to pay premiums or
  2. Commit fraud or make inaccurate application

An insurance company cannot cancel any policy that has been active for more than 60 days. But the only exceptions to his rule are your failure to pay timely premiums and any fraudulent activity or misrepresentation of facts when applying for insurance. If your policy gets canceled, you may have to be at risk of paying a higher insurance rate in the future.

Either you or your insurance company may decide not to renew a certain policy after expiry. A company may decide not to renew a policy if they want to drop that line of insurance or maybe because the company has decided to write fewer policies in your location. However, if your insurance company refuses to renew your policy you will not necessarily have to pay higher premium at a different company.

4 tips on what information you need in case of non-renewal

  1. Make yourself heard: Immediately call your state insurance department if your insurer refuses to renew your policy. Laws may vary from one state to another, but you may still get a hearing. In case you think your insurer has not been fair, you may lodge a complaint with the insurance department.

  2. Check the discounts: Check if your insurance company had offered any discounts. Some insurance companies may offer certain percentage of discount to those who buy both auto and home insurance from them.

  3. Do not panic: If and when your insurance company refuses to renew your policy do not panic. Some other insurance company will insure you as there are lots of them competing for new customers. You may negotiate a good deal with them or even get an independent insurance agent to get you a good deal.

  4. Get your rights: If you already have a sustained damage, then there is an open claim. The insurance company cannot simply cancel your policy. State laws vary from one state to another. In Florida any company that wants to issue non-renewal, will have to wait 90 days after the repairs are completed before issuing the letter.

Knowing what to do when your insurance company wants to cancel your policy or decides not to renew your policy always helps. You must be aware of your rights so that you can have a fair judgment in such a case or when you file a claim. Non-renewal can be opted both by the insurer and the insured. But both have certain procedures to follow without which the entire process will be unjustified.

Hi..
How do you differ between termination of an insurance policy and its non-renewal? Also, would like to know if there's any legal for me to drive without insurance under such circumstances. Plasticmind

Total Comments: 18

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:17 am Post Subject:

Definitely there is!
I don't think that any insurance carrier would generally be able to cancel any policy once 60 days have passed after they have issued the policy. However they might cancel it on the following grounds-

# Non-payment of premiums
# Financial facts have either been hidden or misrepresented with the application
# Your license to drive a car has been withdrawn.

On the other hand with non-renewal, it could be both the parties choice to renew or non-renew a policy after the policy matures. However, your carrier would certainly need to offer you a said period of time as also state the reason for non-renewal of your insurance policy.
Mermaid-attitude

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:23 am Post Subject:

Yes,there are differences..its not always that a non-renewal of your policy has to do something with you. It is not unnatural for an insurance carrier to stop issuing a certain kind of policy over a certain economic segment or over a certain region due to a number of factors. so, you see its not that you'd always need to blame a carrier or yourself for a non-renewal. It could be due to an unforeseen reason that such a non-renewal might surface.
Regards, Caromel_merquez

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:28 am Post Subject:

And NO there is no legal way you can drive without insurance

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:29 am Post Subject:

Hi,
There could be another point that your insurance carrier would take into consideration- in case you get involved in some form of misconduct associated with driving and which charges you for damaging property or human lives, you may be caught at the wrong foot. Under such circumstances, your carrier would always have the right to terminate your policy benefits or stop renewing your policy any further. Packard-bell

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:59 am Post Subject:

your carrier would always have the right to terminate your policy benefits

no, not until renewal

or stop renewing your policy any further. Packard-bell

yes

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:19 am Post Subject:

Apparently non-renewal and termination of the policy both mean expiration of the coverage before the term ends. The insurer may decide not to renew the policy if too many claims were filed against the policy or a huge claim has been paid.

The insurer can terminate the coverage if there is a gross misrepresentation of fact.

~jeremy

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:29 am Post Subject:

One thing that the insurers are not permitted to cancel or terminate a new policy once its in force for 60 days. However, there is exceptions like-revocation of the license, non-payment of premium or material misrepresentation, but the insurance company is required to send a notice of probable cancellation of the policy 20 days prior to the cancellation.

The insurance company is also required to state the reason for cancellation clearly in the notice.

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 02:22 pm Post Subject:

One thing that the insurers are not permitted to cancel or terminate a new policy once its in force for 60 days. However, there is exceptions like-revocation of the license, non-payment of premium or material misrepresentation, but the insurance company is required to send a notice of probable cancellation of the policy 20 days prior to the cancellation.

Huh?

OP, you can drive without insurance if your state allows a bond to be posted in place of insurance. You have about $300,000 laying around?

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 09:47 pm Post Subject:

I never heard of having a bond posted. Thats a new one to me....As for the earlier question of driving without insurance...if you do please stay out of Western Pennsylavania...PLEASE.

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 01:28 pm Post Subject: auto insurance non-renewal

Im in PA. What do you do if your insurance carrier decides not to renew your policy

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