What Happens When You Decide To Change/cancel Insurance Before You Sign The Contract?
I had bought a motorcycle and got a quote from this company for the insurance. As it was a good rate, I accepted, they sent me the temporary insurance paper (3 months) until I paid the full amount. During this time I found someone who bought my bike from me so I no longer required the insurance and disregarded the agreement(contract) never returned it or anything. I assumed they would cancel it upon not receiving any contract and payment,but 6 months later, today, they called me claiming the full amount or they will take me to court/collections. They have no paper whatsoever signed from agreeing to their terms. What should I do ?
October 25th, 2009 at 10:07 am
You need to return the original paper to them and request cancellation as of the day you sold the bike with the explanation that you no longer own the bike as of such and such a date. If you paid no premium at all, you owe them the pro rata premium from inception to date of cancellation. If you do not have the original paper, You can send them a lost policy receipt.r
October 25th, 2009 at 10:28 am
You owe only for the amount of time you owned the bike. You’ll need to show proof of sale.
October 25th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Moon, There are tons of places where you can get an online quote. http://www.autoadviceonline.com/Auto-Insurance-Quote.html It only takes roughly 10 minutes to do.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:32 am
They have a application signed by you agreeing to the terms, or they have you agreeing to the terms online by pressing some sort of button, so yes they have an agreement. Ignoring it was the absolute WORST thing you could have done. If the insurance wasn’t required then you contact the company and inform of this so the policy can cancel it per your request. Allowing the company to cancel the policy for non-payment makes you a high risk driver. Now when you go to insure another vehicle all of the good companies won’t even talk to you.
All you can do now if call the company who was insuring you and discuss it with them. If you tell them the vehicle was sold prior to policy inception MAYBE they’ll allow the policy to be cancelled effective the inception date of the policy. Of course they insurer is completely within their right to tell to pay up. If they do I recommend you do so before this goes to court and your credit score starts to go into the toilet.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:39 am
If you paid money to get the temp ID card, that would bind the agreement, signature or not. After that, it is your responsibility to notify them you no longer need coverage.
You have an out though so don’t panic. You can’t have insurance on something you don’t own, it’s called “insurable interest”. When you sold the motorcycle, you no longer had an insurable interest in the bike. Get your paperwork together from the sale and tell the insurance company when you sold the bike. They may want proof. Then you should only be charged for the time you owned the bike.