My husband is active duty military, and he called today to change our address with USAA, at which point they informed him that they had canceled our car insurance policy two days ago. He talked to three different people who all told him that they would not re-instate us. This is a horrible situation. Does anyone have experience with this, or know how we can get it back?
I have already been in touch with another insurance company to make sure we’re covered until we can get this all sorted out.
April 7, 2010 @ 6:21 pm
Well first why don’t you fill us in and tell us WHY they cancelled your policy. They didn’t just cance you for no reason.
The state you live in has guidelines for timeframes in which the insurance company has to notify you before cancelling the policy.
So, if they sent you a bill and it said the policy will be canclled on this date if payment is not made, and you didn’t pay, well then they can cancel your policy.
Otherwise, they have to had sent you a letter telling you the reason for the cancellation. Whether or not you opened and read the letter, thats another story.
So why did they cancel you? It would help in you getting an accurate answer
April 7, 2010 @ 6:55 pm
There are hundreds of insurance companies out there — one of them will sell you a policy. I suggest you start calling TONIGHT — Esurance, GEICO and Progressive all have 24/7 sales staff standing by.
April 7, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
Why did they cancel you?
April 7, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
Either someone has a bad driving record, filed too many claims, or didn’t pay the premiums. Insurance companies don’t cancel for no reason. There is an issue here that is not clarified. I know a fair amount about the armed forces and USAA Insurance. They give special rates and basically expect you to remain claim free and pay premiums always on time. I believe if they told you that they would not renew, then face the fact and be honest with yourself about why the cancelled the policy. Learn from it, and move on. Make a lot of calls and find the best rate you can with an insurance company. Just get back to having insurance. Go with a cheaper policy to get started. After some time you can move up the ladder. To be honest with you, USAA isn’t all that good about paying claims anyway. In my opinion your not losing much except maybe premium pay rate. If your vehicle ever needed work, USAA uses as many aftermarket parts on your car as they can. Read their policy. Farmers Insurance Company and State Farm, in my opinion are the two best to deal with.
April 7, 2010 @ 8:09 pm
Whether or not they will eventually cover you again depends on the reason they gave you for cancelling the policy. It could be too many claims, or not paying your bill, or giving them false information. For example, some people “forget” to change their address to keep lower insurance rates they were charged in another state. If this is the case, they can cancel your policy or refuse to pay claims due to fraud or misrepresentation. Another issue is that many insurance companies, including USAA, base their rates partly on your credit score. I don’t know if they would cancel a policy based on this but it is another possibility. Best bet is to ask them directly what you need to do/how long you need to wait.