Hi everyone. My situation is a bit complicated, so I apologize in advance for writing too much, but I'll try to be as brief as possible. In short, I was trying to switch my car insurance to a different car, and now they are trying to charge me extra money without telling me. I'm dealing with it through the brokers and they seem to be very sketchy. I'm switching to another company in a month, but I'm wondering if I can dispute that charge. Here is the whole situation:
Several years ago, I was in a big financial trouble and my auto insurance was canceled due to non payment for a few times. I was unable to find a company that would work with me, but then found this brokerage firm that found a company that have insured me if I will be paying 6 months in advance. I was doing that with them for several years and had no issue. I had a car insured with them and paid for until the end of April this year.
The beginning of March, my car has died and I sold it to scrap and bought a new one. I have called my brokerage company to switch the insurance to a new vehicle. I have also asked them to let me know what my new premium will be, what happens to the money I have already paid and if I can switch back to monthly payments, since my cancelations have been several years ago. I have talked to a guy on the phone and he said he'll check with my insurance company and will contact me in a few hours with all the info. He sent me my new certificate, but has never addressed any of the other questions, just told me he is working on it and will let me know as soon as possible.
A few days later he sent me an email asking to send him my ownership, which I did. I haven't heard from them for about 2 weeks. Then I got an email from my broker saying that the insurance company has agreed to switch me back to monthly payments, and he sent me all the paperwork that I have to sign for them to do so, but still no word on my new rates or what happens to the money I have paid in advance for my old car. He told me that the insurance company is very busy because of the virus situation and there are 2 hour waits on the phone, so he is trying to get me my rates as fast as he can. I have pointed out that it has been almost 3 weeks, not 2 hours, and asked him how come he could get all the paperwork from the insurance company and get them to agree to switch me back to monthly payments, yet he couldn't get me a quote and asked how does he expect me to sign the paperwork and provide my bank information when I haven't even been told how much I will be paying and when. He just said that there was some charge of $149 on my account at the beginning of March, but that's all he knows, and also said that I have a new account manager and I should address all questions to her.
I have waited for another week, and haven't heard from them. I figured the guy was useless, so I decided to contact my new account manager through that email I got from the guy I have been dealing with originally. I have sent her the email telling everything I have described above and said I'm more than happy to sign all the papers and provide info as long as she can answer all my questions and explain me what is that $149 charge for and why noone told me about it until 3 weeks later. She responded within an hour with all the answers, proper quotes and also telling me that my new car costs more to insure, so that $149 was to cover the price difference between my old car and new one till the end of April. I have tried to get some answers from her as to why it took them a month to get me a quote, why I was never notified of a $149 charge until a month after and other general things, she just seemed very evasive and kept repeating that is how much my new car costs to insure. Also, the new rate was insane. This is something that a beginner young driver would pay or someone with lots of speeding tickets, while I'm in my 30s, have many years of experience and clear driving record (no tickets, no claims, no accidents), the only reason it is higher is because of the missed payments.
So yesterday, I have contacted another brokerage firm and they have found a quote for me within several hours, which was half of what my original company was charging. I'm switching to them at the end of this month. So I was going to message my original company and cancel my policy with them, but today I got a letter from them in mail with the new policy showing me how much I will need to pay on April 28 for the new policy and there is also that charge of $149. I'm sure they will expect me to pay that 149. I understand that this is how much I should have paid for the 2 remaining months of my policy, but I want to fight it somehow, because they have just switched my policy without letting me know about this charge, and then, a month later they are like "oh by the way, we have charged you $149 a month ago, so you should pay it now". I don't think it's legal, and at this point, it's the matter of principal. I'm just scared to have my policy canceled for non payment again and I will be forced to pay insane monthly premium again. Just want to cancel it and switch to another company. Any advices on this?
Several years ago, I was in a big financial trouble and my auto insurance was canceled due to non payment for a few times. I was unable to find a company that would work with me, but then found this brokerage firm that found a company that have insured me if I will be paying 6 months in advance. I was doing that with them for several years and had no issue. I had a car insured with them and paid for until the end of April this year.
The beginning of March, my car has died and I sold it to scrap and bought a new one. I have called my brokerage company to switch the insurance to a new vehicle. I have also asked them to let me know what my new premium will be, what happens to the money I have already paid and if I can switch back to monthly payments, since my cancelations have been several years ago. I have talked to a guy on the phone and he said he'll check with my insurance company and will contact me in a few hours with all the info. He sent me my new certificate, but has never addressed any of the other questions, just told me he is working on it and will let me know as soon as possible.
A few days later he sent me an email asking to send him my ownership, which I did. I haven't heard from them for about 2 weeks. Then I got an email from my broker saying that the insurance company has agreed to switch me back to monthly payments, and he sent me all the paperwork that I have to sign for them to do so, but still no word on my new rates or what happens to the money I have paid in advance for my old car. He told me that the insurance company is very busy because of the virus situation and there are 2 hour waits on the phone, so he is trying to get me my rates as fast as he can. I have pointed out that it has been almost 3 weeks, not 2 hours, and asked him how come he could get all the paperwork from the insurance company and get them to agree to switch me back to monthly payments, yet he couldn't get me a quote and asked how does he expect me to sign the paperwork and provide my bank information when I haven't even been told how much I will be paying and when. He just said that there was some charge of $149 on my account at the beginning of March, but that's all he knows, and also said that I have a new account manager and I should address all questions to her.
I have waited for another week, and haven't heard from them. I figured the guy was useless, so I decided to contact my new account manager through that email I got from the guy I have been dealing with originally. I have sent her the email telling everything I have described above and said I'm more than happy to sign all the papers and provide info as long as she can answer all my questions and explain me what is that $149 charge for and why noone told me about it until 3 weeks later. She responded within an hour with all the answers, proper quotes and also telling me that my new car costs more to insure, so that $149 was to cover the price difference between my old car and new one till the end of April. I have tried to get some answers from her as to why it took them a month to get me a quote, why I was never notified of a $149 charge until a month after and other general things, she just seemed very evasive and kept repeating that is how much my new car costs to insure. Also, the new rate was insane. This is something that a beginner young driver would pay or someone with lots of speeding tickets, while I'm in my 30s, have many years of experience and clear driving record (no tickets, no claims, no accidents), the only reason it is higher is because of the missed payments.
So yesterday, I have contacted another brokerage firm and they have found a quote for me within several hours, which was half of what my original company was charging. I'm switching to them at the end of this month. So I was going to message my original company and cancel my policy with them, but today I got a letter from them in mail with the new policy showing me how much I will need to pay on April 28 for the new policy and there is also that charge of $149. I'm sure they will expect me to pay that 149. I understand that this is how much I should have paid for the 2 remaining months of my policy, but I want to fight it somehow, because they have just switched my policy without letting me know about this charge, and then, a month later they are like "oh by the way, we have charged you $149 a month ago, so you should pay it now". I don't think it's legal, and at this point, it's the matter of principal. I'm just scared to have my policy canceled for non payment again and I will be forced to pay insane monthly premium again. Just want to cancel it and switch to another company. Any advices on this?
