Does this Sound Like a Red Flag?

[Still Green]

So this is the nutshell version (believe it or not)...

I recently insured a family who was leaving their agent because they felt like he was being shady with them. They are a Hispanic family and their English isn't very fluent, so after looking over their auto policy I think they might have been taken advantage of. For example; I noticed that the agent still had their 22 year old son on their auto policy even though he was married and no longer lived in the house. I asked them about it and they said the agent told them it wouldn't affect the premium. (Red flag #1) Then they told me they had just recently noticed they were still paying for insurance on a van they had sold over 6 months ago to their son. Their son was also insured through the same agent, and was also paying for insurance on the same exact van through his own policy with the same company. They had me run a quote for their son and daughter-in-law also, but when the MVR pulled, it didn't show any current insurance under the daughter in law and the only policy listed under the son's name was the parents policy #.

Here's the thing. The Son had a copy of the dec pg the agent gave him for his policy, So why wouldn't it show up in the system? As for the daughter-in-law, the system didn't show any current insurance for her.

So here's my question; Is it even possible for one insurance company to insure the same vehicle without noticing? wouldn't their system be alerted to the fact that they had the same VIN # for two different families on two different policies? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but is it possible that this agent kept the son on the parents policy on purpose, never putting a second policy in place for the son and daughter in law, and pocketing their payments? Am I being paranoid or does something just seem really wrong here?

 

[Josh]

Before reading anything: Yes.

 

[BlockO]

It is very possible for the same insurance company to insure the same vehicle on two separate policies. You'd be amazed sometimes with the glitches some carriers have with their outdated technology.

With that being said, I don't think you're being overly paranoid..... Something doesn't add up here.

How about this?.... Send a copy of the son's dec page to the company, and ask for a refund on his behalf due to duplicate coverage. That way, you won't have to get too involved into this. You're simply doing what's right for the customer.

If there is in fact fraud going on, that will be enough to smell out a rat. A fake dec page (if it is in fact fake), will be caught right away.

The people who investigate insurance fraud are very good at their jobs. Do your due dilligence as an agent and let them handle it from there.

 

[irishman]

Absolutely, something is not right there.

 

[insurance1822]

So this is the nutshell version (believe it or not)...

I recently insured a family who was leaving their agent because they felt like he was being shady with them. They are a Hispanic family and their English isn't very fluent, so after looking over their auto policy I think they might have been taken advantage of. For example; I noticed that the agent still had their 22 year old son on their auto policy even though he was married and no longer lived in the house. I asked them about it and they said the agent told them it wouldn't affect the premium. (Red flag #1) Then they told me they had just recently noticed they were still paying for insurance on a van they had sold over 6 months ago to their son. Their son was also insured through the same agent, and was also paying for insurance on the same exact van through his own policy with the same company. They had me run a quote for their son and daughter-in-law also, but when the MVR pulled, it didn't show any current insurance under the daughter in law and the only policy listed under the son's name was the parents policy #.

Here's the thing. The Son had a copy of the dec pg the agent gave him for his policy, So why wouldn't it show up in the system? As for the daughter-in-law, the system didn't show any current insurance for her.

So here's my question; Is it even possible for one insurance company to insure the same vehicle without noticing? wouldn't their system be alerted to the fact that they had the same VIN # for two different families on two different policies? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but is it possible that this agent kept the son on the parents policy on purpose, never putting a second policy in place for the son and daughter in law, and pocketing their payments? Am I being paranoid or does something just seem really wrong here?

Slow down there inspector gadget. First off I can say with 100% certainty that when language barriers exist, stuff gets lost in translation. Anytime I have a client call my office "because their agent screwed them" I almost always pass on that business. However lets go over some examples of how this ISN'T what you think. So let's assume jose gonzalez rivera rodriguez fernandez (the 22 y/o) calls the office for a quote and says "I'm going on my own policy and putting the car in my name on thursday" so the agent simply writes the policy. Now if the agent is a good producer (and not just a service lump on a log) he won't have time to follow up with the parents to see if the title transfer actually occurred so he can make sure the car was removed from their policy...That's their prerogative and their job to notify him. So let's say the parents are too busy learning English to think to call the agent's office to remove the car. BOOM....car left on policy. Is the agent "screwing" them? No...he's just not wasting his time to follow up on pointless crap that the client should handle. Should he just remove the car from the parents policy the same day he writes the new policy? NO...because what if they decide against transferring the car to the son? Now you just removed a car (and they'll conveniently forget) and that's an E&O timebomb. Now..the agent saying "it's not big deal to keep the kid on the policy? Ok, well that's obviously not true so either the agent is straight face lying...or something got lost in translation. And fact check here....the client telling you "it's all with the same company" could be easily mixing up state farm & allstate as the "same company" in their peon head. NEVER trust what the retail consumer vomits to you.

And btw the MVR wouldn't show current insurance...only moving violations. I'm assuming you're referring to the CCDB, and depending on their carrier there could be a 4-6 month lag with how they report to Lexis Nexis and/or when Lexis Nexis updates the info. Combined with a new marriage and address change...it makes perfect sense why it might not populate right away. Hell...if Lexis Nexis and CCDB''s were perfect...we'd never have to chase down dec pages to show proof of prior insurance!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're clearly new to the business, which is fine. Just understand that with personal auto insurance you can almost always be certain that the client is lying, mis-informed or just plain stupid (most likely a combination of all 3.) The idea of their agent pulling a massive fraud ring and pocketing their premiums is unlikely. What's more realistic is the retail consumer you're speaking to is under-educated, illiterate, ignorant, untrustworthy, stupid and misinformed. If they don't speak english well (and weren't dumber then a brick) they'd pursue coverage with a spanish speaking agency...PERIOD.

 

[Milkman1265]

just get the facts straight on what kind of insurance they want, how many policies and etc....

write them on those products, get a refund for them if refund is due because of duplicate coverage, dont bad mouth the other agent.

they save money, you make commission, you become their agent and win agent of the year reward and get their family and friend referrals.