FLORIDA AUTO INSURANCE
If you are in an incident with another vehicle, where no police report has been filed, no tickets issued, you do not report it to your insurance company, the other driver does not report it...and as far as you are aware
there is nothing in your record to show anything took place...nevertheless
you may be shocked to find when you apply for new insurance that the new company tells you about the incident and quotes you a higher rate because of your "driving record".
How could this happen?...
The other driver reported it and it became part of your record through something called a "clue report". I only found out about this "clue report" in which most insurance companies trade information without you being aware, by speaking to a forthright person in an underwriting dept. Don't try to contact someone in one of those departments because God may be easier to reach!!
Now for the bad news. There is no way to remove this incident from your record for 3 years. So you are saddled with this noose around your neck that you cannot remove and .... it is going to cost you a higher rate EVEN IF YOU WERE NOT AT FAULT!!
Update as of 02/10/09
Further events in the world of the big, bad, mercenary, nasty insurance companies.
I indicated to my current insurance co. that I would be cancelling my policy. Big mistake!!
I subsequently received a letter in the mail stating "at my request they were cancelling my policy effective (the date my policy term came to an end.) Why did they do this?...Simple...So they could save a few dollars by not insuring me during the period from the date of their notice to me until my policy lapsed.
Another example of what predatory s.o.b.s that industry employs... The golden rule that over rules every other rule that most companies try to live by in other industries...
1) Part company with long time customers in the nicest of ways...who knows, you may have the chance of selling them again.
2) Bend over backwards to try and put a sort of bonus in their pocket, like a pro rated return of their money on the unused portion. This holds true in any kind of business where this kind of technique is possible to employ.and it leaves a good taste in their mouth which story they may
relate to their friends thus helping your company's reputation and growing your customer base.
Instead, they have their own iron-fisted rule to every employee in the company...settle only under threat of a lawsuit and then for an amount as close to ZERO as possible.
By the way, the credit reporting company, ChoicePoint, sent me a copy of the report they sent to my insurance co. (Only because they were forced to by state law) It confirmed my position ..it states "no entry within the past 3 years against record in above name" and under Driving Record it states
Motor Vehicle Record Clear....So what the heck is going on here?
No money ever paid out on any claim...No accident report ever filed..and yet I have a report filed against me on the record which causes my premium to be increased...and I can't get it off my record for 3 years!!! Something ain't right here!!
And this is the way they treat Seniors in the state of Florida?
SHAME!!!
HOMEOWNERS
We have Homeowners Insurance from Company H for a number of years. (Over 10 at the minimum) We have never filed a claim.
In accordance with instructions received from a claim adjuster employed by the insurance company, we recently filed a claim for repair of the Facia and a small corner of our roof.
We were concerned about an approaching storm so we "protected our property in advance of any bad weather" as instructed in writing by the adjuster, and employed a well recomended contractor to effect repair.
The Insurance Company then sent an inspector who reported that he could not inspect the roof because the repairs had already been made
but that he would take information such as a listing of the work done by the contractor.I made an offer to meet him at a convenient location and give him the package of information including before & after pictures of the roof repair on a CD. He would not accept the package saying that he was told by the adjuster at company H that we should send it directly to the adjuster.I did so and then proceeded to followup.
The adjuster kept telling me "I did not receive your information yet. Then he stated that his system prevented him from opening my CD pictures.
Of course I took the CD to a CVS drug store and he printed the pictures in about 29 minutes. I then sent the before and after pictures which clearly showed the damage and asked for a resolution to the claim.
Much to my astonishment he never asked me for a dollar amount we were claiming!! Sounds like his mind was made up before the fact, doesn't it??
The Insurance company then sent me a rejection letter telling me my claim was rejected because of an obscure paragraph buried in my policy under which they would not pay anything due to "Wear & Tear under normal usage." One look at our pictures clearly showed this was surely not "normal usuage.
<>So fellow (or ms) Senior, be
careful to check your "normal wear & tear" clause and have it carefully explained to you...IN WRITING!!
