Car Insurance Doubles if Lapsed!

Posted by admin on April 17, 2009 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

I couldn’t believe it either. A friend was in an accident and his car was totalled. He was not going to fix this car anytime soon, hence was not driving this or any other car and didn’t need insurance. When he called to cancel his insurance he was strongly advised not to do so!

“Keep the insurance” said the agent over the phone. Puzzled he questioned the agent, was transferred to several different people, several times over, only to hear the following answer. In the state of Texas if your car insurance lapses, when you go back to get insurance, from any company, it will increase substantially. The revolving door of agents on the phone suggested changing the policy to a “garaged car”, meaning you can have the minimum coverages on it. Yes, he had made it clear he was not going to drive the car! Enters another agent, this time from the sales side of the insurance company , suggesting a  “non owner named” policy. Huh? Well, it’s a policy that means you don’t have a car, so you are basically getting it so your insurance won’t lapse. Note that this one was more expensive than the policy on the actual car owned previously.

Still puzzled, I called my own insurance agent thinking “aha!” there will be a reasonable explanation for this.

Sad ending, there wasn’t. Same thing. Car insurance will increase if it lapses.

Without a car to drive, hopeful to get one soon, and utterly puzzled, he is still paying on the same insurance he had before. Only having eliminated a couple of lines, reduced the rate by 40%.

Only a piece of chocolate can combat this one!

Has this happened to you? Did you find something different? Share!!!