insurance help

[tonysupra]

In Aug. 2006 I opened a restaurant and got a quote from an insurance agent of about $1900 for a year. I signed some papers and we were on our way to open. Everything was in a rush because we had to make the deadline.

Well the bill came, and the balance is freaking $3700. I paid $1900 of the balance and then stopped. I called my agent and he then tells me he quoted me wrong and failed to tell me about it. So we try to work things out and I lower my coverage from 100,000 to 50,000. The new quote now is $2,200, which is a couple hundred dollars more than what i signed for in the beginning. Seems fishy.

The guy i'm dealing with is vice president of the company and is a HORRIBLE agent. He doesn't return calls and I have to keep naggin him.

Fast forward to today, 6 months later, the agent tells me i still have to pay 1080.25 for the remaining time because it is pro rated, what ever that means. I would be paying a total of $3000 for a quote of $1900 that i signed for.

Any help or advice on what I should do would be great.

 

[Sportriderseattle]

You could contact your state insurance commissioner and see if there is anything you can do, however when you sign papers for an insurance policy you are not purchasing a car and an agent only gives you a "quote" based on what you verbally tell him. After you agree to having him insure you all the paper work goes to an underwriter (the guy who comes up with your insurance premium amount). It is he that validates everything you told your agent and he checks your insurance risk assessment by your past and the actual property. It appears that the info you gave to the agent was lacking or maybe not quite the truth or they found something out about the property that you didn't tell them or you didn't know that caused the "risk" to be higher than either you or the agent knew and thus the rate went up. FYI, an insurance premium can only go up outside either a 6 or 12 month policy period. If you signed and got actual paperwork showing the $2200 for a 12 month policy, then it is good for 12 full months and they can only raise it after that 12 month period. Are you sure this is not a 6 month policy? You might double check that first. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[tonysupra]

Thanks for clearing some things up. I signed for a 12 month policy for $1900 in Aug. and it should be good for 12 months.

In the beginning, the agent asked if i wanted to keep my coverage at $100,000 and I said yes. I didn't know what would've been a good amount so i just agreed. thanks again