(Note to the reader: Given that my insurance case is pending and that there may be some nasty action taken, I have decided not to post the name of the insurance company here--yet--although I mention it on a certain forum I frequent. My claim should be paid--that's my goal. Nothing more, nothing less).
If my insurance issues are not resolved soon, I am going to be one rabid woman--including foaming at the mouth!
I've written about this on one forum so I'll try to be brief. My mishap was October 4th. My insurance company was notified immediately and they released a claim/case number and promised to dispatch an adjuster soon.
I received a call from Morton BMW telling me that when they called to get an okay to order the parts, my insurance company told them "we" had canceled the policy on Sept. 29th; therefore, they are not responsible for the claim.
We did no such thing.
I called the insurance company. They insisted that my husband had called and had canceled the "policy." Now, we've been with this company for years. At one time, they had both cars, the house, and the two bikes. I sold my car and made that one policy change in May '08. Dave did indeed call them on Sept. 29. He did so to cancel the house and the remaining auto. We would never ride motorcycles without insurance! Thus, we left that policy untouched--or so we thought.
Yet they contend that we canceled. We know that we didn't. Although we did received two reimbursement checks in the mail, we assumed it was for the house and auto since no letter of explanation accompaned the checks.
The company said they would launch an internal investigation. Investigation result: They will not cover the bike because "we" canceled the insurance according to the notes in our file. This went on for a few days.
Finally, Dave called. He was told by someone--the first time we've ever heard this, that the company does not ordinarily cover motorcycles. They will, however, if one has other policies with the company. This person stated that when we canceled the auto and house, the bikes would be automatically dropped. When asked why wouldn't we be alerted to that very important detail, we received a non-response response.
Dave finally reached the person with whom he canceled the house and auto. By the way, we canceled only because we found a better deal. This individual expressed surprise that we were having difficulties. He recalled taking the cancellation request for the house and auto. He claimed to have canceled only that. He knew nothing about the motorcycles being dropped. After all, they are separate policies with separate numbers, which he claims he didn't touch. He seemed ignorant of the drop-bike policy that his co-worker mentioned. Regarding the canceled motorcycle policy, he apologized and said he would immediately reinstate us to show no lapse in coverage and will send paperwork to that end.
I have contacted the state's insurance fraud and abuse department and they've dispatched their paperwork. Given that three superior's of the helpful customer service rep have already denied the claim, I feel for this guy's job. We've yet to receive any paper work detailing this drop bike policy for not having other policies with the company.
Some insurance companies get a bad rap for doing whatever they can to avoid paying a claim. A riding pal told me that some people are still waiting for hurricane relief from several years ago because the insurance companies keep requesting additional proof of lost. I've heard my share of insurance horror stories too--just never figured I'd have my own.
We're now waiting to see if the insurance company will do the right thing.
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Still, I'm checking my calendar to see if I can work out a nice winter trip to VA. Hopefully, Claye, Sylvia and I can take a little trip somewhere. I'll need to still leave the bike in VA and return again in the spring to finally ride my much missed bike home.
