On 9/18 my brother reported an accident to Esurance that occurred when he had been driving my vehicle. He had hit a parked car. No damage was reported on the car he hit, but the passenger front end on my car was completely smashed in. I received notice on 10/3 that my brother had been added to my policy since I had not submitted a Driver Exclusion form to the Esurance Underwriting Department. It had been verbally conveyed to them during the report of the claim and multiple times after that my brother did not have insurance at the time of the accident and he was not to be added to my policy. Also on that day I added a newer car to my policy.
On 11/2 I submitted the Driver Exclusion Form to Esurance
On 11/22 my policy was amended and I was not notified
On 11/27 charges were added to my policy. I called Esurance and was told that since my brother had been added to my policy, my premium had increased and I would be responsible to pay for the days that he was on my policy.
On 11/28 more charges were added to my policy. I was told that I was being charged from the date of the claim (9/18) to the date that they received the Drive Exclusion Form (11/2). I began search through all 3 versions of my policy (the policy for my car that was in the accident, the policy for my new car, and the amended policy) and was unable to find anywhere the stated Esurance would add a relative or family member to a policy that was not already on that policy in the event of an accident. Also, it was not included until the amended policy that a Driver Exclusion form had to be sent in. It was not a part of my original policy.in addition, I checked Esurances website for public information regarding this scenario and did not find any document or phrasing on their website that explicitly states that a driver will be added to your policy if they report a claim and/or if they reside in your household. I was able to find in the language of my policy that any driver I give permission to use my vehicle or family member would be covered by my insurance, it never states that they would be added.
I checked with the Minnesota Department of Commerce site that deals with Auto Insurance and the information I found their stated that drivers who live with the insured, but are not insured and/or not covered by the same policy, would be covered by the owner of the vehicles policy. No mention of a person who borrows the car being added to the owners policy. I also contacted the Consumer Protection division and was told that anyone given permission to drive my vehicle should be protected by my policy.
I have asked the Underwriting Department at Esurance to provide me proof of documentation in my policy or from their website that is accessible to the public language that explicitly states that a driver would be added to the owners policy in the event of reporting a claim and that family members who reside in the same household should be excluded using a form if they are not to be added to the drivers policy. I also asked for documentation in regards to the exact rates that were added to my premium and proof that the post rated premium was not at the rate for the newer vehicle.
On 12/2 I was contacted by an Underwriting supervisor who said he would resend e-mails and a part of my policy for the 1995 Toyota Camry that outlined that there would be a change in rate based upon operator usage. However, nowhere in the policy does it state that a driver would need to be excluded to avoid these charges. Also, I was notified after charges and changes were made when such knowledge should have been made known to a person before making an agreement to a Policy. He admitted that it is in the underwriter guidelines but not made public knowledge. I am still waiting for the results of the audits on the charges applied to my account.
Customer service overall has be horrible and the Underwriting department tries to belittle you and make you think you don't know what you are talking about.
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