Agents mistake on car insurance is haunting me

[retro12]

I apologize for this being so long winded, but I think the background is necessary for an informed answer...

I am located in New York. Long Island, to be specific.

Back in the beginning of 2003, I insured my van with a local agent. He was never there and refused to take payments... was unavailable to help when someone hit me...(the driver was actually exiting a repair shop that just finished detailing her car from her last accident)..I opted for a 6 payment plan and was paid off in full 6 month prior to the next years renewal....

about a month from the end of the policy, I get a notice that we need to turn in the plates for an uninsured vehicle and to pay the fines for each day...I call my insurance agent, who from here on in, is never available..the secretary tells me that I still had a small amount due and that he had billed me for it and since it wasn't paid, my insurance was cancelled...the charge was $17.00 , a bill I never rec'd....all I was told was that my premium was not paid in full...

I immediately paid the large fee motor vehicle charged, so as not to incur any more...I still intended to fight this and went down to my agents office with all my check stubs and invoices showing the billed amount and the payments made. Again, the agent wasn't there, just the secretary was in... I requested a printout of the payments they had recorded for me...I was pretty mad, so I guess I must have flustered her a bit, because she made a mistake and printed out a bunch of in office memos...one of which showed that the charge was not an unpaid premium for my cars, but for a commission ( I had already been charged commission at the inception of the policy, the full amount or so I assumed)...I obviously wasn't supposed to see this, as I had just been told that my premium was unpaid...

at this point, my renewal was up and while I still intended to argue it, I wasn't going to be dealing with this agent...I brought the paperwork to my new agent (new agent in a different office but with the same insurance company) and she said she would fix everything, because as far as she could see, this was all due to an agents mistake...all was fine for years...was able to reup my policy, renew my license, registration, etc....nothing listed on my dmv record, no fines, no increase in insurance....in fact, over the years it went down

FF to five years later....2005.....6AM, and I am on the parkway on my way to work... a cop is following me for about 5 minutes before he pulls me over...he tells me that I am driving an unregistered vehicle...I tell him I am not and that I just renewed my license, insurance, etc, paid up to date, ask him to look at the stickers, as they are valid...he tells me that my registration was revoked the night before at 12AM...I ask why and he wouldn't or couldn't say......he just smiled and gave me a ticket for knowingly driving an unregistered vehicle...

again, I go to the agent and tell her she was supposed to take care of this...as far as we were both concerned, everything stems from an agent error...for two years, I mistakenly assumed everything was OK...even motor vehicle stated there were no violation or suspension...I am still able to renew insurance, registrations, etc....

Two years later, I get something stating that I need to go to court to take care of the 2005 unregistered ticket.....finally , I decide I need to consult a lawyer, I did, and was told to speak with the DA and show her my paperwork...I did this and both she and the judge agreed to remove the suspension and reduce the original charge to the equivalent of a parking ticket without any points....my whole reasoning for fighting this was so I wasn't put in assigned risk and charged a whopping premium...which is why I consulted the lawyer in the first place...at this point, I have no way of arguing the guilty plea of a lesser charge...I was led to believe it would not effect my insurance or driving record...obviously not true..

I did go to DMV and was told that even though this was pleaded down and there were no points, I cannot go back and argue the plea to change it, since it has been over a year..(13 months have passed)...

this past weekend I get an ammended auto policy with a 50% surcharge for a Miscellaneous Major....

the kicker is that one of the cars on the policy died and I junked it...the new bill is for both cars,so they are basically charging me the increase rates for a car that isn't even on the policy...the agent claimed it takes 45 days to remove...I am not even sure if she did the paperwork yet...

I had planned on going to buy a used car this past weekend and am financing a small part of it, but with this surcharge, I don't think I can afford what the premium would come to, until this is cleared up...


Bottom line....even though I have made mistakes in assuming everything was taken care of, I still think this goes back to the agent...I believe NY State regulates the amount of commission. I need to find the amounts that an agent can charge and compare it to what I was billed for...If the legal cap was the same amount I paid, then I would think the overcharge of $17.00 unpaid commission would give me a pretty nice bargaining chip...if for some reason he undercharged me, and didn't realize it, I can only hope that there has to be some sort of regulation on when the charge can be billed...



a) Is it legal for an agent to charge a paid in full account an additional commission fee? Finding the allowable rates would also be helpful so I can gage if he even overcharged.

b)what is the legal time (in days)an insurance company/agent has to actually take the car off my policy once I give the DMV receipt for surrendering my plates, and the days they have to have the actual credit?

c) what exactly is a Miscellaneous Major?

d)is my only recourse suing the agents/company.

e)since the violation is not a moving one and there are no points attached, can the insurance company actually redo my policy if I call to advice them that I will be forced to hire a lawyer and go to court? Is this something they can do on their own or is it a NYS Insurance requirement?

I appreciate any answers at all, even if to direct me to another site to answer any/one question(s) above..

Thank You

[retro12]

I still need some answers, but at least I found some info that would perhaps help someone else...


I found this on the NYS Insurance site:

For NYAIP business, the producer's fee is limited to $40.00 per year plus the actual cost of the use of the Electronic Submission Procedure (TML), DMV Reports for non-New York operators, Express Mail, and Certified Mail.

according to this, I should have been charged the base rate of $40.00, plus whatever was used for my policy to start...since I was always a New Yorker, the reports for Non NY drivers does not pertain to me...as far as I can see, all I need to do is find out if there is a set charge, or cap for the other three, and in what circumstances the mail and fax services would be used, and I am set...

as far as I can tell, TML is some kind of company that deals in faxes...I can't see how the charge could be too high...as far as I know nothing was ever expressed to me or sent certified...I assume those services would be for the dealer or bank, f it was a car that was financed...

If I am correct in the above, and the additional charges do not amount to $37.00, all the problems associated with my driving record stem from an illegal charge and the last resort would be to sue the agent/insurance company...

I have my original policy with rates and breakdown showing the original charge of $60.00 for commission...I have the checks and statements showing each payment and then the subsequent statements crediting my account...I have the statement that says my account is paid in full...and last but not least, I have the printout from the brokers office stating that the charge of $17.00 that was billed, was listed as a commission...

My logic says this is enough to bring a very strong case...am I wrong? If I am not wrong, can I recoup the monies I was forced to pay...