INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT SEND NOTICES LATE
Watch the dates on policy cancellation notices!! If you repeatedly get cancellation notices in the mail AFTER the cancellation date of the policy, it’s important that you have your customer change insurance companies before you get stuck with a loss!
In the old days, you could be confident that insurance companies would give a 10 day grace period if your customer was late with a premium payment. You’d received a cancellation notice in the mail with time enough to recover your vehicle before you were at risk. Those days are gone!! Although many states have laws that require a 10 day notice before cancellation, we’ve run into several companies who choose to ignore those laws.
Today I processed a total loss on a 2004 Chevy Malibu. The customer was driving the Lease’T’Own® car and failed to pay his premium which resulted in a cancellation on 2-12-16. The car was totaled on 2-17-16 but we did not receive the notice from the insurance company until 2-20-16.
Typically, the customer would be responsible to pay for the loss, but he already has credit problems. That is why he was driving a Lease’T’Own® car in the first place. The dealer could get a judgment against the customer for the value of the car, but it could be years before collecting any money.
In this case, the dealer had Excess Contingent Liability Insurance on the Lease’T’Own® vehicle. A representative in the Insurance division at Northland took his case and worked on behalf of the dealer with the two insurance companies. Take note of that sentence – Northland worked on behalf of the dealer with the two insurance companies. We have representatives with years of experience in the insurance industry and as a service to our dealers, we offer insurance support at no additional cost. Remember our motto? “Helping Dealers Succeed”! We know our Dealers are in the business of selling cars – not in the business of knowing all the in’s and out’s of the insurance world. Our Insurance experience and assistance is a valuable benefit for the Dealers and Lease’T’Own® customers.
Was there a happy ending to the 2004 Chevy Malibu story? Yes! In the end, the Lease’T’Own® Excess Contingent Liability Insurance covered the loss!