How To Fight Insurance Companies

So, we’ve covered some of the agencies that can help you out of situations. Let’s cover some of the agencies that can help you out with dealing with companies that give you a difficult time. So, the first industry I want to cover in this is the insurance industry. It could be the life insurance, automotive insurance, homeowners’ insurance, health insurance. You name it? If it’s an insurance, this organization is the one you definitely want to keep in mind to have your back pocket. It’s the NAIC the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Basically, what they are is they’re the police that is in charge of the insurance industry. Whereas the insurance company may have power over us. The NAIC has power over the insurance company. So, definitely a good ally to have in your back pocket if you ever need it. True story, this really happened. January of this year, 2022 I bought my wife, a brand-new Honda CRV. I called the insurance company. I’m not going to the insurance company’s name, but the insurance agents name was Jake and he wore a red shirt and khakis. I’ll leave it at that.

So I called Jake, I said Jake I just bought my wife, a CRV. Let’s get it insured. He said fine took the VIN number and all this information put in a system and sent me an insurance card. I got the insurance card. It didn’t say CRV it said HRV, so I called Jake back and said, ‘Jake, we have a problem. The card says, HRV not CRV’. He goes, ‘oh you should be okay, as long as it has the right VIN number, you’re fine.

I said, ‘no Jake, I’m not fine. Because if I get pulled over for whatever reason, burnt-out taillight, rolling through a stop sign, the cops having a bad day. For whatever reason, I get pulled over the police officers, going to look at the vehicle make and model. Look at the insurance card make and model, and if they don’t match, he’s going to say, here’s your ticket for no insurance. Have a nice day. He’s not going to compare VIN numbers. Plus, if I’m in an accident, whether my fault or the other person, I know the insurance company is going to try every effort to get out of paying a claim. They’ll look at the insurance card. They’ll look the insurance policy and say, well, this policy covers an HRV, you had a fender bender with a CRV. We’re going to deny the claim. Because insurance companies are notorious for taking month after month payments, but when you file a claim they look for every little nook and cranny detail to deny the claim. That’s just how the industry works.

So, Jake, I need a new card that says the right make and model on it. Okay. He said, okay. Let me let me look into it and get back to you. Shouldn’t be more than two days he says. So one day goes by ,two days, nothing. One week, two weeks, nothing. A month later, I’m at an event finishing up an event out of town and I had some have some free time between meet and greets. I called Jake and I said, hey Jake, what’s with the insurance card? You told me two days, it’s been a month. He goes, well, he looked in the system, the corporate looked in the system and the VIN number comes back as an HRV. I say well, we need to get this fixed. He says, ‘let me get my manager involved, and uh, two days tops’. I said, Jake, you told me two days a month ago.

Tell you what Jake, you get your manager involved. Okay, I’ll get the NAIC involved. And we’ll see who’s fastest, your manager or the NAIC. Next thing I know, before I even left the event, I get a phone call voicemail from Jake, saying I apologize, everything will be taken care of. I guarantee it’s going to be done as fast as possible. Probably by tomorrow morning it’ll be taken care of. He sends me an email, sends me text messages apologizing, says it’ll be taken care of. I get home. Go to bed. The next morning, I wake up. My plan was to go and to contact the NAIC.

Before I even had a chance to contact the NAIC. Jake had sent me a new card via email with all the correct information on it. The right VIN number, name, everything. CRV was on there, everything was perfect. Okay. He called left a voicemail apologizing again, another text message apologizing again another email apologizing again. So, what was the NAIC comment? Why was that so effective? Here’s why. The NAIC, like I mentioned before, is the police authority over the insurance industry. Okay. If you contact the NAIC and tell them, you’re having a problem with your insurance company, tell them your dispute, the operator will take your information and hand that information over to an insurance analyst. The insurance analyst for the NAIC is like a, like a detective, like the police detective. The insurance analyst will contact you to get your side of the story and your documents and your information. Then the insurance analyst would contact the insurance company to get their size story, their documents, and so forth. Here’s something to note. I know for a fact that the NAIC, when they call the insurance companies, they don’t call the customer service number that you call all the time. When the NAIC calls, the insurance companies, they have a different number to call, which is higher in Corporate, way above Jake’s, pay grade level, and there’s a reason for that. Insurance companies, practically almost, not all the time, but the majority of time, give way to the NAIC because the NAIC was originally designed to help consumers with disputes with insurance companies, not help insurance companies with disputes, but to help consumers, with disputes against insurance companies. Now, the NAIC tries to be on the fence and hear both sides before they make a ruling, but they typically lean towards the consumer. Typically. Not all time the time but typically. And the NAIC has authority over the insurance company. So, the insurance companies listen very well to with the NAIC tells them. Not suggests but tells them. So, definitely a good Ally to have in your pocket if you ever have to face a Dispute with the insurance company. Like I said, I put the NAIC website, naic.org I’ll put that in the chat as well. But definitely have them in your back pocket.

About Paul Calhoun

Chicago based Professional Speaker Paul Calhoun is a 3rd generation Power Broker, multi-published author and mental health advocate. He’s also a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. A title accredited him by The National Council for Mental Wellbeing. For more information, CLICK HERE  to download Pauls’ Speaker One Sheet.

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