3257 Insurance trap

Does anyone know how to deal with this problem?? We have had our house insured with one agent for two years but thought that his premiums were too high. The policy was due to expire in April 2006, so the previous October we went to see him to say that we were thinking of changing to another company unless his premiums could be reduced. He said come back and see me in April and we will reassess the situation.There was no mention of cacellaion procedures or the need for these. Just before the policy was due to end, we found a better deal reducing the premium by 50%. We signed up for this and payed the new company assuming that the original agent could not cut his premium by 50% to match - a point that he later agreed was impossible. At informing the original agent of this he told us that as we had not given him a formal disdetta then we owed him his premium as well. The original agent knew that our command of Italian was limited but still at no time warned us of the implications of the disdetta or even pointed it out in the insurance manual. We understand that the Codice Civile,highlights the need for agents to be transparent about the contents of their manuals which certainly didn't happen in our case.

In England, no such cancellation arrangement occurs - in fact people regularly switch from company to company to obtain better deals when their policies expire. We had no idea that what is normal practice to us, would cause so many headaches!

We are now trapped between two agents and cannot afford to pay for double insurance. Does anyone know the legal implications of not payning the original agent??

Thanks Gill

Category
Legal

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 04/13/2006 - 12:01

Unfortunately this "tacit renewal" habit for insurance contracts is still around, although there are many companies which do not impose it anymore. It may be that your agent is "trying it on", if the company which he insured you with has given up this practice.
Personally I would wait and see what happens if you ignore his pleas for money - probably nothing. On your side you have the (unfortunatly only verbal) notice which you gave to the agent 6 months before the renewal date.
I got caught by a similar contract in the UK (not insurance) and managed (by dint of a few sharp letters followed by total silence) to "get away with it".

Good luck, and for anyone else - try to get an insurance without this tacit renewal clause, Genialloyd, Royal Sun, and most of the banks' insurance schemes do not have this clause, to name but three sources of transparent contracts.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 04/14/2006 - 05:38

I hate to add to your problems, but I have been told that it is also illegal to have double insurance, at least on a car. I would ask your new agent if they can do anything, or what they advise.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 04/14/2006 - 10:21

Hope you manage to get things sorted out . I now ask for everything in writing it's the only way.
It sounds lovely having word of mouth agreements but they tend to be one sided I'm afraid.
I had a problem with car insurance after they paid out after an accident which wasn't my fault. A tyre lying on the motorway went under my car and then hit another 2 vehicles (could have been a lot worse) we all got away with minor damage but one car owner instead of hitting the autostrada which would have taken yonks, decided that it was much easier to go for mine as I had a good comprehensive cover.
I informed my insurance company that I was not going to be held responsìble but none the less they paid the other claim and so my bonus went up.
They make me pay the old price but if I change companies I will be faced with a higher policy so they have me by the what's its!!!
Get things written down you never know.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 04/15/2006 - 11:09

In some countries e.g. France, you must, by law, give at least 2 months notice in writing to cancel an insurance agreement. On the positive side the insurance company, unlike UK, cannot squirm out of their obligations if you are late in paying your insurance premium. Is there a similar system in Italy?