Progressive Insurance adding features and coverage to your premium without consent Atlanta Georgia

Hi,

Just FYI, in most states auto insurance companies are required to give you uninsured/underinsured (UM/UIM) coverage unless they have a signed exclusion on file. I don't know if this was just passed recently in georgia but here in florida it has been the law for a long time. When you opened your policy and requested to exclude that coverage the agent should have told you about this. Keep in mind that since you have switched providers, they will also need a signed exclusion or they will probably end up adding it all over again. Hopefully when you took out the policy someone explained this to you, but if not you should call them about it to make sure this doesn't happen again.

I personally have never utilized the services of Progressive Insurance since their rates have always been the highest of all quotes I seek out when I buy a new car, but I know several people who have used them. None of them are ever very happy about their service.

I will point out that "uninsured motorist" coverage is a very important coverage to have. In a world filled with motorists driving uninsured and those that hit your car in a parking lot then drive away, I would not consider driving without it. However, it is supposed to be a coverage that you elect, and not something they just force you to have. I remember that when I initialized a motorcycle policy (through a company that will go unnamed), both uninsured and underinsured motorist coverages were automatically added to the policy unless you signed, in front of a notary public, a form to decline those coverages. I found that to be a little ridiculous, but, fortunately, those were coverages I was seeking at the time. To hear that an insurance company would just automatically add such coverage to an existing policy is outrageous. The only reasonable explanation for such a thing would be if the laws in the State changed to require such coverage, but the insurance company would be required to give the insured notice in advance if such a change was imminent.

Another issue I have seen in Progressive Insurance involves their Electronic Withdrawal for automatic bill pay. I have known someone who had the problem where Progressive pulled their funds twice in the same month. When this occurred, they removed the automatic withdrawal option from the policy to prevent this further. In the next month, not only did the company still withdraw the month premium again, but it pulled two withdrawals in the same month again. I have never used Progressive insurance for any insurance needs, and, if I keep seeing and reading about problems with them like this, I doubt I will ever even consider it.

Recently there has been changes to our contract with the state of Georgia. When those changes are filed with the state and approved, there is a date where we have to make changes to the policy. Sometimes the changes are effective the renewals and sometimes not. But because we are bound by the information we have provided to the state and got approval on, we sometimes have to have the customers take a few minutes to do something. If you do not like something that Progressive does and you believe you have been wronged, please contact your department of insurance for your state.

Most insurance companies require a signed paper denying uninsured motorist bodily injury and property damage. It also appears in Georgia they changed the law which required ALL insurance companies to make the change...maybe you should be current on your laws before jumping the gun.

http://www.georgiainsurancedefenselawyer.com/2009/01/georgias_uninsured_motorist_ac.html