Issue with auto insurance

[Cooked Rice]

Problem solved. cancelled with wawanesa, and went with Meloche Monnex. Lower premium as well.

[Xtrema]

Get a better job so you'll have more money in your account and not living paycheck to paycheck?

Seriously, you should leave some buffer in your account, like $500 or something in case someone screws up. Or get a personal line of credit and use it as the buffer. Paying interest is probably better than dealing with the hassles.

[Cooked Rice]

i don't live pay cheque to pay cheque. i just don't keep a lot of money in my chequings account. the buffer is a good idea, but i never ran into such a problem like this before. all because they didn't take the money out when they said they would, and when i was expecting them to.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by Cooked Rice
i don't live pay cheque to pay cheque. i just don't keep a lot of money in my chequings account. the buffer is a good idea, but i never ran into such a problem like this before. all because they didn't take the money out when they said they would, and when i was expecting them to.

Then keep MORE money in it. Really. Figure out how much money is being withdrew directly per month and keep at least that amount in the account and don't go under it.

This will happen again and again. Same with mortgages. If the payment date falls on a holiday, it's usually withdrew the next day or 2 after the holiday. There's no way around it other than building your own buffer.

[mobius]

Change insurance companies. Or pay up front.

I'm also with Wawanesa (just because I haven't made a definate decision on where else I should go), and I never know when they're going to make a withdrawl. That company is so scattered and screwed up that even they don't know what they're doing.

In fact, I set up a new bank account, and sent them my information a month and a half before closing my old account. According to them, everything was hunky dory. Next withdrawl date rolls around, nothing comes out of my account. I planned on contacting them, but it slipped my mind.

Then I get a statement from ATB, where I had closed my account. They had made the $300 some odd dollar withdrawl on an account which no longer existed. ATB subsequently opened the account again, and I get stuck with the overdraft charges.

I should get a move on changing companies, Dali Lama forbid I ever have to make a claim.

Who gives good coverage and reliable service for a sunny summer day car? :)

[Cooked Rice]

Originally posted by mobius
That company is so scattered and screwed up that even they don't know what they're doing.


Dude you couldn't have explained that company any better. The girl I talked to on the phone from Wawanesa couldn't give me a straight answer. And at the end she was like "uhh, so is that cool?" wow...

[Bimmer88]

Dude... your in the same boat as my gf...

Wawanesa is crap IMO. She was sooo ticked when this happened to her too. But thank god she works at CIBC so no fees!

Its supposed to come out on th 18th right? Well 18th rolls around. NOTHING! They didn't take a dime, so she calls them, and they said because its a friday or some bullshit like that... it takes a couple of days to be processed so the funds would be taken out. WTf?

And sure enough... like 5 - 10 days later the funds are with drawn, and what do you know? she's spent the money in there, and there really is no money for them to withdraw... but luckily she hadn't pay her CC statement yet so she was safe.

Ahh man... stupid car insurance.

[marko polo]

ask your bank about overdrafts.

[Cooked Rice]

i'm switching to AMA. And getting one of their Plus memberships at the same time, could pay for itself with one tow. Plus you can purchase insurance by week and such with AMA. Good for me cause I barely even drive my 240SX, mostly only on cruises and track days. I'm calling my broker tomorrow to cancel. Funny thing is I usually deal with the manager of the insurance broker himself, because the broker company is quite small. Hopefully the guy I talked to from TD actually gave me my 2nd NSF back. He said it'd take 2 days, but the first time around the guy was able to do it instantly.

Also, unlike Wawanesa. You deal directly with AMA, and not get bitched. When I called Wawanesa, the first thing the girl said was "uh, okay did you call your broker already?" Like mentioned before I never knew how sketchy Wawanesa was until I actually had to talk to them directly. You call them (Edmonton branch) and you get an automated menu. Then when you select Auto insurance, half the time you get this chicks voice mailbox.

[blownz]

You really just need to plan a little better I think. No one can take money out of your account on a Saturday or Sunday or holiday. I would just start keeping a bit bigger cushion.

And fyi the systems they use to pull the money out are completely automated. And if they try pulling money out of your account and it isn't there, the system doesn't know until the bank notifies the company and it can tell the system to 'try again'. The long wait was likely a combination of the bank taking its time to tell the company (my experience with this is it can take anywhere from about 2 days to 10 days - I use one of these systems at work) and the insurance company having to tell their system to 'try again'.

[Masked Bandit]

FWIW, the original payment date change has nothing to do with Wawanesa, it's the bank. Automatic payments are never pulled on a weekend, it will always push forward to the Monday (or next banking day).

You probably didn't get a lot of help from Wawanesa directly because they are not supposed to deal with the public, that is what the broker is for.

Live and learn I guess.

[SilverGS]

There always are delays and reasons why the funds weren't taken out the regular day. Holiday, US Holiday, Jewish Holiday whatever.

Easiest thing to do is if you know it hasn't been paid don't spend the money. Just because they haven't charged it on the regular day doesn't suddenly mean they aren't going to charge you at a later date so just leave the money in there so you will not have any problems.

[Schwa]

Lol at this thread.

You don't see them withdraw the money on the exact date so you go and spend your insurance money.

Do you not think you'll still have to pay it eventually? :rolleyes:

[Cooked Rice]

Originally posted by Schwa
Lol at this thread.

You don't see them withdraw the money on the exact date so you go and spend your insurance money.

Do you not think you'll still have to pay it eventually? :rolleyes:

Yes that is what I did. I meant on spending it, and missing my payment so I'd get NSF charges and have my credit rating raped... yes :rolleyes:

And to follow up. I cancelled my policy with them today and got a better rate somewhere else