So the insurance company called

They are canceling my umbralla liability policy as I have been involved in rallying in the past...

Nice - basically since I did rally at some point (not since 2006) they have decided I am likely a bad risk. I have no claims in the 22 years I have been insured...

Note that this is not car insurance this is just a policy that covers me if someone happens to sue me out side of car or home incidents or if the amounts are more then what car insurance would cover...

All you Dave Smiths are lucky your name is hard to seach on the internet!

Derek

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In the long run reality always wins.

Damn. I'm glad I have a nice common name too. Which insurance company is it Derek?

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-Brian

Geez, my liability exposure has got to be higher than yours. I am a practicing engineer meaning I put my seal on the design. It blows up or burns, I get sued. And I am a rally organizer too. Not to mention driving although some of you wouldn't call it that.

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RichardM

Sue for a return of every cent in premiums plus interest for defrauding you.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
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The insurance industry is just legalized organized crime. Don't even get me started...

True story, unfolding right now, one of my customers drove her 1990 Legacy into a deep puddle during the storm December 12?? or so. Ingested water into the air intake. No water in crankcase, no water in rugs, no water in transmission. Just water in intake , hydrolocked the motor for a few minutes.

She calls insurance company, tells them what happened, car won't start. They send adjuster a few days later. Ok, then they decide car needs to go to shop and get an estimate...1990 Legacy 200K...ok, she drags car in. Car now starts, has a tick, pressurizes radiator. Cracked head, head gasket ?? Shouldn't matter, either repair totals a 1990 car. I write an estimate, call insurance company . They reply the car is totalled don't worry about it and they will contact customer. 3 days later customer calls..hasn't heard anything. So she calls insurance, they need an estimate, this person says car isn't totalled. So I fax the estimate from a week earlier. Next day tow company calls to pay my bill and get car. I refused to release car as no one, including owner, has heard from insurance company here. Tow company calls next day again, same story.

Last Monday customers again calls insurance, wanting decision and buy back. They don't have answer but want her to remove car from here because the storage is running up ! She tells them to get bent and get the claim done. Sadly her house in insured with this carrier also...scarey.

Friday ( yesterday ) they finally all agree the 1990 legacy is totalled and the buy back is $300. 6 weeks to handle the claim. One car, one puddle, no injuries.

Liberty Mutual....

So sounds like a good time for everyone to remove their last name from the rally site registrations and just use the initial of the last name, or nothing.

Regards,
Mark B.

Ugh...

Sorry to hear that Derek, I am also afflicted with a unique name and expect I'd run into the same issue.

At very least I think you should follow up on John's suggestion of having your past premiums returned, with interest -- I'm not a fan of enriching lawyers but you can be a thorn in their side for free.

A polite series of phone calls to your broker's boss, his boss's boss, etc should either: A) get your policy (or a similar policy with different restrictions) re-instated or get your money back for the coverage you purchased from them in good faith and they're now denying you based on their arbitrary criteria.

There are regulatory agencies and state attorney general folks you can submit formal complaints to about the behaviour of insurance companies without incurring legal fees. Often, the realization that the customer is fully cognizant of their rights nets good results once you've pushed things up the food chain a bit.

It is particulary heinous that they're denying coverage based on an activity you do not currently participate in.

Cheers, Ted

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Pure mathematics is the enemy of every truly creative man -- Sir Alec

True story, when I was 20 I shattered my left eye at work while working on my truck. Shattered as in popped, all the insides ripped out.

Workmans comp didn't cover it becuase I was working on my personal vehicle (secureing a tarp over straw), despite the fact that I was on the clock and my boss told me to go do it because it started raining. I never asked, he just said "go do it".

Auto didn't cover it because they claimed that despite the fact that my policy covered me "maintaining my vehicle or it's load" I was at work so that should cover me, that or my health insurance policy.

My health insurance didn't cover me because they said the other two should have.

In the end they all fought me and each other long enough that the time frame in which I could do anythign about it passed. thank you torte reform laws. They tied me up enough that hiring a lawyer to get any of them to pay off on it would leave me with bills from sueing the others. It was a case that I had several lawyers tell me to my face was caused by "having to much insurance".

Needless to say at 20 years old I was stuck with one eye, $50K+ in medical debt, and long term medical costs until I die, all while not able to work for a full year.

Atleast it's what got me into rally!

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Winningest one-eyed co-driver in Rally America history.

Let us be realistic, the insurance company (Safeco) provided a service for a fee, then they stopped providing the service and returned all funds prorated by the length of term. There is no and nor should there be any basis for going after them for some sort of breach of contract.

But do not worry I will be removing the insurance for my two houses, 3 cars and 2 boats from them shortly.

I will also make sure not to help them in any way with any other business for years to come and I will likely get the chance to make sure they do not get millions in fees over time as I am one of those people in that type of position in the working world.

My last disagreement with an insurance company cost that company all the insurance for a 1000 emp company. I think that was about $280,000.00 a year in premiums lost for them.

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In the long run reality always wins.

Derek I'm interested to know which insurance company you replace Safeco with.

I'm needing similar coverage.

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JohnLane

Overkill is consistently more fun

Since Safeco is giving me the extra $$'s to build my rally car, I'm curious how they found out your rally experience?

I think we all know that if we were to call up any insurance company saying we rally race- they'll all drop coverage immediately. It's just one of those things they don't want to be liable for.

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-Jason

safeco dropped me once for a TSD rally....then I just signed up again online after a while...no questions

I think they check online

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-Tom
DemonRallyTeam | Fine Tuning | CTS Turbo & RP Turbos | RalleyTuned | JRM | Meister Autowerks
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True story. Years ago when my insurance company jacked my rates way up because some Al Qaeda sleeper cell dude in a taxi rear ended ME I told them to take a hike and went shopping for a better deal. So I call up some other company (I forget which one, but a big one) and the agent turns out to be a neighbor of mine down the street whose car I painted years earlier. I tell him the cars I want covered, including a 1986 Dodge Omni. The conversation goes something like this:
Him: "Oh, is that the car in your driveway with all the stickers on it?"
Me: "Umm, ah, yeah."
Him: "Hey that thing's pretty cool, is that a race car?"
Me: "Umm, well, not exactly. Umm, sorta. It's a rally car. It's all street legal and everything."
Him: "Wow, I bet it's pretty fast, huh?"
Me: "Umm, well, it's pretty much stock, really..."

Well, he didn't have any problem writing me a policy as it turned out but I think the best approach is don't ask don't tell. If you can find an agent you know or at least understands what rally is really about they shouldn't have a problem with it. Lots of rally guys over the years have had policies with John Forespring, for example because obviously he understands. You might try that, Derek.
Anybody with half a brain could figure out that a rally car would be a better risk than most other cars so it's BS that they cancelled you because you used to rally.

i have to admit I've been happy with state farm. they don't advertise 'accident forgiveness' like crazy like...who is it, allstate(?) that has that actor doing ads for them...but when I totaled my car back in 2004 (fell asleep) they didn't raise my rates a dime. I had been a long time customer with a great driving record up to that point so they just said, 'no one else involved, no one hurt....this one you get for free.'

for a single male in a major city driving a sports car, I get pretty good rates.

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Jon Burke - KI6LSW
Blog: http://psgrallywrx.blogspot.com/