BEWARE: THEY 'DISCOVER' DRIVERS IN YOUR HOUSE TO EXTORT YOU FOR MONEY
BEWARE: THE NEW TREND IN AUTO INSURANCE IS TO ‘DISCOVER’ DRIVERS IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD, ADD THEM TO YOUR POLICY WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE, AND EXTORT YOU FOR MONEY
I’d had Progressive auto insurance for three years without incident. In March 2023, I paid my premium in full for April - October 2023. In May 2023, they ‘discovered’ that my 21-year-old stepson lives in our home and they added him to my policy without notifying me. July 3, 2023, I received an email stating that they would cancel my policy 7/16/23 unless I paid $996 IN ADDITION TO the premium I had already paid, and without any explanation as to why I suddenly owed them nearly a thousand extra dollars. The threatening cancellation email received 7/3/23 did not explain that they had added someone to my policy and seemed intended to intimidate me into paying without questioning why.
I called customer service and they explained that the ‘bill’ was for the cost of adding my stepson to my policy, even though they had added him without notifying me. I was told that if he had insurance, I could send his proof of insurance to exclude him from my policy. Then I would have to send an ‘exclusion form.’ I emailed his proof of insurance on 7/9/23 and received no response while the clock was ticking due to their arbitrary 7/16 policy cancellation date.
Due to their lack of response, I called customer service again 7/14 and asked them to verify the proof of insurance I sent. They verified they received it. Was he still on my policy? YES. Why? BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T TURN IN THE EXCLUSION FORM. I had specifically requested this form via email. They did not send me the form or in any way help direct me to it. I completed the Exclusion Form and sent it 7/14/23. They sent back policy documents confirming that they excluded him from my policy as of the 7/14/23 date.
I thought, ‘Great, they took him off my policy and I already paid the premium, so I’m all good now.’ WRONG. I get an email 7/17 stating that they’ve CANCELLED my policy, per their 7/16 cancellation date, because I still owe $594 – again, no explanation as to what it’s for. I call customer service and they explain that this is what I owe from May through July 14 when my stepson was on my policy – WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT DUE TO LACK OF NOTIFICATION FROM PROGRESSIVE – and that I still owe this money in order to reinstate my policy.
I explained that I should not be liable for paying for someone on my policy from May – July because Progressive never communicated to me that they had added to my policy. I told them they could remove these charges or I would not reinstate the policy. PROGRESSIVE REFUSED TO REMOVE CHARGES TO MY POLICY THAT THEY HAD ACCRUED SINCE MAY WHEN THEY ADDED SOMEONE TO MY POLICY AND STARTED BILLING ME FOR IT WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND WITHOUT NOTIFICATAION. Completely unacceptable. I will never insure with Progressive again. Don’t be taken in by their cute TV ads. They are hucksters just trying to make a buck off of exploiting the fine print in their contracts about ‘adding discovered drivers in your household.’
Next time you buy auto insurance, DON’T read the fine print. Ask your rep, “are you going to automatically add drivers to my policy if you ‘discover’ them in my household?” if the answer is yes, tell them that you will never consent to this massive invasion of privacy and go elsewhere. This is the new trend in insurance policies. If you don’t speak up with your voice, your choice and your dollars, insurance companies will continue to advance surreptitious policies like adding ‘discovered’ drivers to your policy and billing you a lot of money without warning.
July 14, 2023
Unprompted review
