Insurance went up. Question about switching

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So I managed to speak with Dalton Timmis just now. It was definitely an exercise in patience. :mad:

The broker checks my file and after 30 seconds says "You have 2 at fault claims. Nothing I can do."

I calmly tell her that's incorrect. There should only be 1, please check again. She takes a couple seconds and says "Yeah your wifes accident"

What wife?! I'm not married. :confused: She hums and haws some more and says "Oh I see it here. You side swipped someone with the motorcycle"

I tell her the Motorcycle accident wasn't my fault. I didn't side-swipe anyone, I hit the side of a car that turned into my lane. Please double check the details.

She looks again and says "Ok. Yeah I see now. Adjuster has you listed as at fault for your motorcycle accident."

Since when?! I've always been found not at fault. I've spoken with the adjuster a thousand times, and the insurance broker I spoke to that gave me a quote on Friday said herself it was showing me as not at fault. I tell her it's a mistake and maybe that explains the rate hike?

She checks some more "Oh! Yes I see that now. But you have a speeding ticket, that's why your rates went up."

I've had that speeding ticket for 2 renewals now. It didn't go up before. She keeps checking..."Oh yes, you're right. Well Novex rates are going up so that's why your premiums went up. I can look for cheaper rates but you have to give me a week atleast cause we are so busy."

Ummmm I got the renewal in the mail on Friday and it renews in less than 2 weeks. I can't wait a week for you to call me back and tell me I'm SOL.

"Oh. Does it? Ok. I'll try and call you back tomorrow."

Gee thanks. :rolleyes: I think it's just the broker that handles my policy but it's like pulling teeth with her.

I love how with insurance companies it's every excuse in the book as to why they are going to raise your rates. I've been paying through my eyeballs in insurance since I had my first car and insurance when I was 18 and they always had an excuse. But buying a newer safer car, or a POS car, or an old bike or a newer bike, or maybe having paid insurance continuously for almost 18 years and only 1 claim in that entire time is never reason enough to lower the premiums.

The ONLY time I ever saw a drop in premiums was when I was common-law and living in Shelburne and even that was short lived. They changed the postal code of the town and *poof* up the rates went again.

I remember thinking "I'm common law, in my 30's, no tickets or claims on my record (at that time), 2 cars, an old bike with Liability only and a house, all insured as a package, and my rates are still going up. WTF :(

...AND THEY ALL LIST THE VFR AS A SPORT BIKE. WTH!?!

Seems like the longest I can stay with an insurance company is 3 years before they crank up the rates and I have to go shopping for another insurance company.

Anyways....sorry for the rant. I guess I have more work to do to find insurance.
 
WOW

lol

Yeah i know some of the members here have good experience with DT, theyre certainly the popular blokes on the block, showing up at every motorcycle show with their big flags and tents.

I didnt have a positive experience with them, cant remember exactly but i was quoted at like 4000 for a ninja 300.(Andy singh)

Statefarm gave me 1300$. Quite a difference eh?

eventually i got with paul south who gave me a decent quote for my bike(cbr500)


You think you have it bad with the VFR, i got an all state guy telling me the R3 is a sport bike at a whopping 300cc!
After he told me i need to bring my car/house with the bike if they are going to insure me at all

Then he double checks and tells me he cant because they dont insure unless you've had your M for x number of years and continuous insurance coverage.

I was new back then.


Moral of the story? A lot of these 'experts' and 'Professionals' have their heads up their *****.

Shop around, take a day off and call/email everyone.
 
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Yeah they are all wonky huh?

Seems like a waste of perfectly good days off. I'll do what I can.
 
VFR has always been on the sport list of any of the companies I've been with. Since my current model sport bike was grandfathered, I have the same one again. lol Good thing I like it.
 
bigpoppa said:
Yeah that is often the case, bundles arent all theyre cracked up to be *Cough Allstate*

I had to take a day off when i was insurance hunting...most are only open office hours, and if you plan to shop around and speak to a dozen brokers/underwriters it will takes some time.
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Personally I'm getting better numbers with All State right now than I am elsewhere. Bike is cheaper with them than Dalton Timmis/Aviva, and car and home are slightly cheaper than my group rate with TD MM.
 
I went with Riders Plus, after TD wanted a lot more than they initially quoted me for.... But not sure if they'd help with the car and whatnot.

They even gave me a break for taking a decent rider course in BC before moving out here.
 
Call Dalton Timmis back and ask for Andy Singh. I dealt with him for several quotes on a variety of bikes and each and every call was professional and fast. It sounds like you just got a bit of a ditz.

You may want to ask him to review your AutoPlus record with you though as it IS possible your one not at fault claim is showing at fault even though it wasn't. It happened to me...very long story.

As for the ticket from a few years ago not effecting your rates until now, that's also very possible - many insurers do not pull full abstracts every year so they may not even notice a minor speeding ticket or something similar for potentially several renewals. Also happened to me over the years. The good part is that sometimes by the time they notice the ticket is only a year or so from falling off your record anyways, so they may not penalize you much (or at all) in the end. The bad part is when you go to switch insurers, they do pull your abstract and that unnoticed ticket...is noticed.
 
So I've hit a *snag*

Last 2 insurance companies I have called for quotes have informed me that my Auto+ Insurance record shows that the motorcycle accident I had in May 2016, the one that my insurance company has listed as 0% at fault, also shows the other drivers insurance has me listed as 20% at fault. :banghead:

This has actually caused TD insurance to say "you're high risk" and denied me.

I've had to dig out the auto adjusters number from my records and call them to see if they can remedy this.

I'm hoping that this error, that basically says I have a partially at fault accident, is the reason why my premiums have skyrocketed.
 
The last time I ran into this, I think I went straight to the insurance ombudsman, it seemed to help. You might want to request a letter of experience now in case you need it later
 
x2 get a letter of experience from whatever insurance company handled the claim, and do it NOW. Most new insurers will accept that in the case of an incorrect AutoPlus record.

You need to start with the CYA immediately.
 
Thanks for the advice :) as soon as they get it all resolved I'll ask for the letter of experience.

What exactly does the letter of experience show?
 
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slowbird said:
Thanks for the advice :) as soon as they get it all resolved I'll ask for the letter of experience.

What exactly does the letter of experience show?
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I would ask now. Letter of experience basically is a list of claims you've been involved with for a given insurer. When your Autoplus report differs from reality, sometimes you need to present a letter of experience to somebody to get things straightened out. I think I only needed it when I had gone from one insurer to another, or had different companies for bike & car. I dunno how co-operative people are being with you right now, but I really had to lean on people to get them to fix the Autoplus report
 
TwistedKestrel said:
The last time I ran into this, I think I went straight to the insurance ombudsman
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Arent they regulators?

I understand they have some authority in finance as well

Or they just review people, and businesses dont want to get on their bad side, as it affects who wants to do business with said business
 
TwistedKestrel said:
I would ask now. Letter of experience basically is a list of claims you've been involved with for a given insurer. When your Autoplus report differs from reality, sometimes you need to present a letter of experience to somebody to get things straightened out. t
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Hmmmm. So how would that solve, or prevent in the future, what I am currently going through?

My record, and all the insurance people I'm calling can clearly see that my insurance has found me 0% at fault for my motorcycle accident. But they can also see that the insurance company of the car that hit me has me as being 20% at fault.
Even though my insurance clearly states I'm 0% at fault, I am being quoted for being 20% at fault because, as the guy at TD put it, they go with whatever makes my record look worse.

So even if I had the letter of experience from my company showing I'm 0% at fault, they would still quote me for what the other insurance company is saying.
 
I haven't run into that problem before, and just reading it is making me a little angry
 
Sometimes....i get why the young squids ride their uninsured SS without plates.

They dont have to put up with BS like this....
 
slowbird said:
Hmmmm. So how would that solve, or prevent in the future, what I am currently going through?

My record, and all the insurance people I'm calling can clearly see that my insurance has found me 0% at fault for my motorcycle accident. But they can also see that the insurance company of the car that hit me has me as being 20% at fault.
Even though my insurance clearly states I'm 0% at fault, I am being quoted for being 20% at fault because, as the guy at TD put it, they go with whatever makes my record look worse.

So even if I had the letter of experience from my company showing I'm 0% at fault, they would still quote me for what the other insurance company is saying.
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letter of experience supersedes autoplus. i had a Not at fault claim and TD went and changed some of their systems (2014 or slightly before)...my broker had to re pull my autoplus because i had bought a new truck and all of a sudden i was listed as at fault...she was a old friend and was 100% sure it did not say at fault previously (she has dont my insurance for about 10 years now...which was when i left TD, also had a copy of my old autoplus on file) so i had TD issue a letter of experience and made them fix the autoplus updated info error.

i personally have never looked at my own autoplus but my broker/friend checked and said it was fixed.

IMHO - ask for a Letter of experience asap.
 
I'm with "The Personal" insurance company. (Just google it)
They charged my $300 last year and i just got a chequein the mail for $73. I called and they said we over charged you.


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I, too, would recommend going to the auto insurance ombudsman to have this fixed. You are getting caught in between two insurance companies. Also, there is usually no benefit to staying with your insurance company, especially when they raise rates. it is more beneficial to shop around and switch. This is how the insurance companies, as well as banks, bias to new customers.
 
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