Insurance co retroactively charging $3000 for being uninsured since '97. Need Advice!

[New Jersey]

My auto insurance company is charging my parents $3000 because I was an uninsured driver's license holder since 1997 (I didn't own a car). I went to college and lived on-campus from 1997-2002 and thus my parents didn't add me to their policy for this reason. I did not drive for those years as I was dependent on public transportation. Now, I bought a car back in March and my parents then added me to their policy. The insurance dug up my history and noticed that I've been uninsured since getting my license back in 1997. Then, they said they were going to charge me retroactively since that year unless I can prove I had my own insurance---which I didn't.

[FYI: my New Jersey driver's license lists my parents' address]

A few questions:

1.) Can my auto insurance company retroactively charge me for those past years? Nobody I know has ever heard of this.

2.) Since I was uninsured anyway, how could this particular insurance company ask for money?

If anyone could provide some input on this, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

DWF