I contacted my Allstate agent at an agency here in Michigan to change my policy because I had purchased a new vehicle. I told the lady on the phone that I was selling the car that was originally on the policy and that it needed to be removed by the end of the week. I then obtained a quote for my new vehicle to be added to the policy. I was quoted $670 for 6 months, or about $112 per month, and I accepted.
A month went by and I got my first bill, which was for around $250. I did not look into it much at the time, because I thought it was some sort of surcharge for removing my sold vehicle.
The second month came around and it was still the same $250 or so. I went online to check my policy and found out that my sold vehicle was never removed from the policy. I called the agency to demand an answer as to why the vehicle was never removed, and the lady told me this: "I see what happened... When we took your original car off the policy, it changed your status to an 'inexperienced driver' because you are only 22. The policy would have been substantially higher if we were to take the car off the policy, rather than just leaving it on and you not paying the 'inexperienced driver' rate." I asked why I was not informed about this, and she did not have an answer for me. So I was better off paying for a car that I did not own, so that I would not be labeled an "inexperienced driver."
I then sent an email to Allstate through the online email form at Allstate.com. It explained the entire story, as mentioned above. I then received a voicemail from a lady at the Allstate Corporation. I called her back a few days later and we discussed the matter. She straight up told me, "Well, we are sorry for this inconvenience, but it looks like you are going to have to pay that amount. It's just that it would be frowned upon by the Government if we were to write this off." I tried arguing against this a little longer, with things like, "You seriously think it is fair for me to pay insurance on a vehicle that someone else owns, because the agency didn't want to tell me that my rate would increase by removing the vehicle?" None of my ranting really worked. I could tell that she thinks in numbers and the outcome of things, rather than in what the customer is going through. At the end of the conversation, she told me that she would look into the matter with the Denoyelles Agency and see what happened.
She called me back a few days later and explained to me what I already knew: "So I see what happened, you went to remove a vehicle from your policy and add a new one, but they didn't remove it because your rate would have increased due to you then being considered an 'inexperienced driver.'" I thought to myself, "Obviously." She went on to say that this changed nothing and that I would still be required to pay in full. I straight up told her that I was not going to pay, because I was not to blame for the issue at hand.
I only had a couple of weeks left on my policy and I was already angry, so I let it cancel (the only poor choice I made). The policy was canceled due to non-payment, and I started receiving collection notices from Credit Collection Services of Needham Heights, MA.
I called her to compromise on the payment and told her that I would pay the amount I owed AFTER I knew about my policy having the sold vehicle on it. She wrote me a letter describing that she had obtained the pro-rata charge, figured by their "manual rating group," and that the charges removed from the $255 came out to be $5.62. The time period I mentioned I would pay for was between 3/6/10 and 3/22/10.
I wrote back to the Allstate representative explaining that it is basically insulting to take $5.62 off of what I owed. What kind of pro-rata factors are they using over there? I figured out the math myself and sent a return letter.
I have since received a collection notice saying that I owe them $250.27 (with the $5.62 taken off).
They don't seem to get it. It is either compromise, or I don't pay. Allstate will never see a penny from me again.
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