The Disappearing Coverage

Have you ever been in an accident and afraid to exchange insurance information with the other driver for fear that you will somehow end up worse than if you just paid the entire bill yourself? This was my situation as I got out of my car one fateful day (actually it wasn't "fateful" at all, it was just hot and really muggy) after I rear ended this old nasty station wagon. Doesn't matter how crappy the car is though, if the accident is your fault.

I am not a good driver, never have been. However, my crazy insurance company, instead of raising my rates like any normal insurance company would, opted to take away coverage every time I got into an accident.

I had told them a long time ago that I could barely afford their temporary insurance, much less any coverage from a reputable company that would actually help me in the event of an accident.

The agent had reassured me not to worry. He told me that the company would work within my means. Then just as if he had a contract set and ready for people who give him the broke-as-a-joke speech, he just went in his desk, pulled out an extremely long official looking contract, gave me some spiel about how I would never find a deal like this one at any company, and how his company was the "best kept secret in the business." I believed him, mostly because I had no leverage to disbelieve him, and signed my life away without really reading what was going on.

If, like the writer of this article, you live in the USA then please accept my condolences. Here in the UK we do things differently!!!

Turns out that my paperwork gave the company the right to degrade my policy at any point after I became a "greater risk" to them than I was upon "initial signage." Meaning basically, if I reported anything to them, they could erode my policy so that I was paying the same amount for less service.

By the time I hit the old station wagon, it was easier just to pay the bill out of pocket.

Needless to say, I didn't stay with that company much longer. I found it easier to have no insurance than deal with this type of business. The moral? Read your temporary auto insurance papers!Copyright 2008 Don Poole