Son had accident and was excluded from my policy

by Kay

My son was in a accident in my husbands car. We had just excluded him because he has his own policy. I called our insurance agency to exclude him and I asked specifically if his truck broke down or something and he had to drive my car to work one day would he be covered.

They said yes, as long as he wasn't driving it on a every day basis. A few days later his truck broke down and was in the shop so he drove my husbands car to work. On his way home, he went left of center after hitting a pot hole and corrected and was in his lane.

The car he hit swerved in his lane and they hit on the drivers side head on.

The other driver said he saw my son in the wrong lane about 3 car lengths and didn't have time to stop. My son's car went off the right side of the road about 200 yards from impact and the other car stopped in the middle of the road. My son was sited for going left of center and the other driver wasnt.

My son's insurance is liability on his truck, and we only had liability on our car.

Our insurance said they won't pay cause he was excluded, but I was never reimbursed for insuring him until May 28th. They are going to just lower my May payment.

Is there any way he would be covered since I have not been reinbursed, and I was told he could drive if his truck was broke down? And would his insurance have to pay for anything? It has been two weeks and they are still investigating.

They said they were going to get my recorded conversation where they told me he could drive in an emergency. Now they say it came back and they said I had to call in and add him when he needed to drive.

They never told me that, what do I need to do about getting that conversation? Thank you for your time, I don't know what we need to do at this point. I don't want to get an attorney,

I am not a person who sues, I want to work this out on our own and make sure the other person is taken care of too.



Answer:

Hello Kay,

You have a difficult situation. I know you do not necessarily want a lawyer, but it would be the best thing to do. You do not need to sue anyone, but you do need your insurance company to move forward and determine who pays what.

There are couple of issues here. 1. Did the insurance company waived its right to exclude your son when it collected premium but did not return it before the accident (May 28th) and 2. Will his truck insurance pay?

1. It is very possible that they did waive this by not returning your premium, but they can use the fact that you call in certain date to exclude coverage. The question is going to be how long between the day you call, to the accident? If they did not have a reasonable time to issue you a refund, the they might have a defense. But if they had 2 to 3 weeks, then your argument will be stronger.

2. Will his truck insurance pay? Probably yes. Depending on 1. if your husbands insurance does not pay because they decide there is no coverage (he was excluded), then your son's insurance must "kick" in as secondary insurance and pay for damages (as long as he does not have this vehicle for his regular use).

Insurance follows the car, so your husband will be primary, but if it does not cover, then your son's will protect him. Again this is subject to some exclusions (your son cannot be driving this car everyday) etc.

In either situation, your husband and your insurance must come up with an answer real fast before he gets suit. Send them a letter stating that you need an answer on coverage asap.

One more thing, regarding the agent conversation, this is going to be a word v. word situation, and unless you have facts that point to the fact that they told you that, you are probably fighting a losing battle. Stick to what you do know, when you called to cancel coverage and to when they issued the refund if ever.

Good Luck,

http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com


Follow up questions:

Thank you so much for your reply! I excluded him around the end of April and he wrecked the middle of May. They said they would just lower my payment on my May 28th payment since they didn't exclude him at first.

I spoke with both insurance today and they both said they are not going to pay. My son's insurance said that since he lives with me that they will not cover him cause our vehicle was not on his policy. Mine said that since he was excluded they will not pay.

The manager at my insurance said he just got back from vacation and has to listen to the tapes where they told me he could drive if in an emergency.

But when I called the other day the customer service rep said they already listened to them and they said I had to call the day he was driving and add him. They never told me such a thing. I know it's my word against theirs, so now I have to call an attorney.

I just don't know what type of attorney to call. I have never felt so low as I do now, and just feel helpless! My son is feeling guilty because he wrecked and I don't want this burden on him. I don't speak of it in front of him about the insurance, but he can tell that the stress is there.

I just don't understand how we are abiding citizens and have TWO insurance companies and neither will help us.

I don't want anything, just that the other boy is taken care of. Why do they make it so you have to hire an attorney and then they have to pay out more money? This world I tell you???? Thank you again, sorry for rambling, just at my whits end!

Kay

Answer:

I am sorry for the situation. When I worked for insurance companies I realized one thing: insurance companies are bullies and we have a system to protect them and not the consumer. You are correct, how can you have two insurance companies that are getting premium get away with this? They LOVE the pointing the fingers and getting away with no paying for anything.

Getting an attorney could be expensive, you can called a personal injury lawyer (they deal with insurance policies). They often read insurance agreements and see if the insurance company is misrepresenting anything. Remember, the insurance company must put the exact reason why there is no coverage.

A "he is a resident so there is no coverage is not enough." They must show you exactly where in his your auto policy it reads "auto's of other residents not in this policy are not covered." and to show that you stated that he resides there.

Most insurance policies have the "furnish and available for use exclusion." This is if he uses this car all the time, then that vehicle should be in his policy. But the question will be, is this vehicle available for his use in the regular basis? The fact that you live together does not mean that.

The insurance company will probably try to argue that it does, but it does not. Remember, the burden is on you to show that a loss existed (i.e. the accident), and that damages existed. However, the burden is on them to show why the policy does not apply.

Also remember that a "we believe, or it is probable that there is no coverage" won't cut it. If things are iffy, the law will always side on the side of coverage. The have to show you where this says that.

When they tell you, make sure you verify this fact, they will sometime quote language from other policies.

Do get an attorney, and have them put the denials in writing, then you can move on to either file a breach of contract claim against the insurance company. You should also complaint, they have to do a pretty decent explanation to the board of insurance explaining why there is no coverage.

Good Luck,

http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com