Insurance agent changed auto mileage

[AmIParanoid]

Our insurance agent took it upon himself (while changing something else) to switch the mileage categories on our two cars. One car is used for commuting and the second older car is driven less often since I'm a stay-at-home mom. To save us money, he says, he switched the older car to be the commuter and the newer car to be the occasional-use.

I'm all for saving money, but isn't this fraudulent? I was a little flustered when he told me that he'd done this, just asked "Are you sure about this?" and he just said that if we received a form asking about the mileage to not fill it out but forward it to him. This seems really really fishy.

Am I just being paranoid or could this come back to bite us if we ever filed a claim?

 

[Tracey]

If your husband causes or is in an accident while driving to/from work in the newer car, he will have to explain why he was driving the new car and not the older one. If the ins.co. suspects he's lying, they will deny coverage on the basis of fraud.

The question for you is whether you'd rather save a little money now at the risk of losing a lot of money later, or if not losing lots of money later was the whole reason you bought insurance beyond the state minimums in the first place. How risk adverse are you? You could always just have him drive the older car.....

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

 

[AmIParanoid]

Thanks Tracey. That's what I was afraid of. I'd called the agent again and he insisted that it wouldn't be a problem. I'm going to have to talk to him yet again to get it corrected. Or maybe I'll ask my husband to do that. The agent doesn't pay much attention to me. Grrrrr.

 

[Tracey]

Simple solution to that -- get a new agent and report the old agent to the insurance company for attempted fraud. Perhaps a female agent would listen to you more closely?

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.