Redding, CA asked in Insurance Bad Faith, Insurance Defense, Consumer Law and Car Accidents for California

Q: can liberty mutual say (lie) that i called in to change my collision insurance (only the collision portion) to an older

car that i had, which was paid off. why would anybody do that? one car is 30 years old and the newer car is still on a lien with the bank!They switched it from, my bank owned mind you, car just when i get in an accident and file claim. all of a sudden they wont pay a dime saying 2year prior i called into switch it, which i never did! there paying on the other driver my 100,000 bodily injury coverage just screwing me over on my paid collision coverage. is this legal or bad faith?

3 Lawyer Answers

A: Your position sounds logical, but I do see some flaws in your argument. You say this happened 2 years earlier, right? So, are you saying that for the last 2 years, you never looked at your insurance bills, and never noticed that your rates and coverage had changed? I find that hard to believe, if that's what you say.

Also, transactions like this are always recorded. You should ask the company to produce the recording. That recording ought to settle the issue, don't you think?

James L. Arrasmith
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Answered

A: If Liberty Mutual is denying your claim based on a change to your collision coverage that you did not authorize, this could potentially be a case of insurance bad faith. It seems unlikely that you would voluntarily switch coverage from a newer, bank-owned car to an older, paid-off vehicle, especially if the newer car is still under a lien. If they are asserting that you made this change and you did not, you may have grounds to challenge their decision.

You should gather any documentation you have, such as phone records or emails, that could prove you did not request this change. It may also be helpful to request a copy of your insurance policy history from the company to see exactly when and how this change was made.

If Liberty Mutual continues to deny your claim without valid reason, you might consider taking legal action to protect your rights. This situation could potentially involve an investigation into whether the insurance company acted in bad faith.

A: As my colleagues correctly state, the recordings here could be used to verify what was agreed to here. Another other communications or proof would also be helpful in such a setting, where it's one party's word against another's. Good luck

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