Our car insurance got cancelled! Vent!

[leighe]

I am sooo annoyed. I was balancing our checkbook this weekend and I noticed that the check for car insurance never cleared. The office was closed since it was the weekend so I looked it up online to check on it. Sure enough, either the check was never received or there was a mix-up somewhere and it had never been paid. We had never gotten a notice from our company or anything. It is always due on the 2nd but when I started looking at the fine print it says we have up until the 20th to pay it. Whew, I think, since it is the 19th. Well, I attempt to pay it online - it won't work and the payment is declined. I know there is money in our bank account so I called the payment processor and they tell me that apparently their online payment process isn't compatable with our bank or something. They give me the pay by phone number. That doesn't work either. At this point I am almost in tears I am so frustrated. DH tells me to just wait until Monday - we can't do anything about it at this point. So I email our agent this morning and he emails me right back - the insurance was cancelled yesterday! We both drove around yesterday and to work today with no car insurance . To shorten this saga we were able to have it reinstated but I had to pay an absolute fortune to do it.

Although I was at fault for not paying more attention to if the check had cleared or not I do find it really annoying that we were never notified that the payment hadn't been recieved or that our insurance had been cancelled! We have used this company as long as we have been married - and DH's parents have used them for years - and have never even made a late payment!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[Marseeya]

Please tell me it's not Progressive. We've had nothing but problems with them over the years.

We've been cancelled, they've taken double payments out of our account (we had to stop doing it that way), and all sorts of billing problems.

 

[CheshireVal]

That doesn't sound right! Maybe you should switch to a better company.

 

[KelNottAt]

It might be time to look into auto-debit for your car insurance. That's how we pay ours and it's never late. Also, since it's debited monthly, it's a much easier pill to swallow than coughing up a mega check twice a year.

 

[leighe]

No it's not Progressive - it's Grange through an independent insurance agent -who, BTW, I have always thought was a total jerk. I've always thought our insurance was really expensive for the cars we have and the age we are, maritial status, etc. We pay about $2700 a year for two cars - one is a 1999 Volvo and the other is a 2003 Dakota truck. It is, however, the company that DH and his family have used for ever and ever amen. I would love to do automatic debit but DH has a holy horror of it and is really against giving any company permission to take money out of our account every month. I just can't believe they actually cancelled it when we have never even had a late payment in almost 4 years!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

you are paying WAY too much in premiums. Start doing some comparision shopping and present it to DH if he's reluctant to change. What do you mean you had to pay a fortune to re-instate; the policy was only out of force for 1 day, if you don't get answers from Grange, I'd call KY's Dept of Insurance ASAP.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I second or third the "motion" to immediately shop around -- first for a new insurance agent and second for a new auto insurer. Auto insurance is very competitive, and you should be able to get the same coverage for less from a more customer-friendly company.

 

[leighe]

you are paying WAY too much in premiums. Start doing some comparision shopping and present it to DH if he's reluctant to change. What do you mean you had to pay a fortune to re-instate; the policy was only out of force for 1 day, if you don't get answers from Grange, I'd call KY's Dept of Insurance ASAP.

We had to pay the remainder of the policy that was due. We usually pay monthly and our insurance renews every Feb. So I had to pay November, December, and January plus a reinstatement fee of $25 plus a $4.95 fee for a payment over the phone.

 

[mum4jenn]

We are through Grange but we have never had a problem with them. We have a 2005 Dakota and a 2001 Mirage and we only pay around $150 a month. We don't have any accidents or tickets though and we are both over 40. Maybe you need to raise your deductable or something.

 

[Keggy]

we have geico - and if they don't receive our payment or if we are late, they will let us know first and give us time to pay before we get cancelled.

Shop around!

 

[DebbieB]

Something isn't right. I work for an insurance company. When you don't pay, they have to send you a notice of cancellation with a number of days notice. If you missed your 11/2 payment, they should have sent you a notice of cancellation with at least 14 days notice of the date (Kentucky rule). So while you still needed to pay it and they are within their rights to request full payment and charge fees, you would not have been without coverage yesterday. If they sent you the cancellation notice on 11/20 (the end of the grace period), the cancellation would not have taken effect for 14 days.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

We had to pay the remainder of the policy that was due. We usually pay monthly and our insurance renews every Feb. So I had to pay November, December, and January plus a reinstatement fee of $25 plus a $4.95 fee for a payment over the phone.

Our Allstate just did the same thing that yours did, we pay every other month, and Nov 8th we were cancelled, I paid on-line Nov 9th and there were no ridiculous charges.

 

[Chuck S]

Shop around. Try pricing different companies on the internet, some will be high, some will be more reasonable. I switched to Travelers, and saved $400 per year over State Farm, who'd I'd been with for over 25 years.

 

[EthansMom]

I'd call around to price out insurance too. If you find a different agency that you like better and/or is cheaper, you could cancel your current policy at any time and get a refund of the remainder of your premiums.

IMO, $2700 sounds like waaaay too much.