The mortgage on the late Mama Plant’s house has been paid off, and I am free of the jerk insurance company the bank saddled me with. New Insurance company have been helpful and polite insuring our home and cars. Old Insurance company were uncooperative jerks.
But I digress.
Old Insurance Company insisted that I cancel their policy. I thought just not paying them would be enough; they’d figure it out when I didn’t pay them. On getting a past due notice I called them and they insisted on an email to cancel the policy despite my phone call. Is there some insurance law or are they just jerks?
There may well be language in your policy with the old company that states that coverage automatically renews unless the policyholder takes active steps to inform the company that they wish to cancel the policy. In this case, it also sounds like they require “written” notification (the email that you mention); a verbal notification may not be enough.
While not paying them will, eventually, lead them to cancel your coverage, without you having given them that notification, your coverage that they provided very likely continued past the payment-due date on which you didn’t pay (even though you had coverage from the new company at that point).
Look at it this way: if your lack of payment had been an oversight on your part, rather than an active choice, you’d want your insurance company to extend a grace period on your coverage, wouldn’t you? In the view of the company, “cancelling by not paying your bill” looks exactly like “I forgot to pay, but I still want my coverage.”
Thanks, kenobi 65.