Question for auto insurance guru

[HiSpec]

So I recently changed my insurance company, and I asked the agent over the phone whether they will have access to all the information regarding about my vehicle that my previous insurance company had in their system. Such as any at/non-at fault insurance claim, cost of repair and what was replaced and the damaged areas.

Surprisingly he agent said, no, they don't have access to all those information; and since I switched to their insurance company, they do have records of my previous claims, but in terms of details, they will not have any access to it. So that got me wondering, if he just didn't know what he was talking about? Or that clients are able to do a cash settlement from their current insurance company and switch insurance company and tell them they got hit and run, and collect more cash. Because the new insurance company will not know where the damage was previously.

[Zewind]

Originally posted by HiSpec
So I recently changed my insurance company, and I asked the agent over the phone whether they will have access to all the information regarding about my vehicle that my previous insurance company had in their system. Such as any at/non-at fault insurance claim, cost of repair and what was replaced and the damaged areas.

Surprisingly he agent said, no, they don't have access to all those information; and since I switched to their insurance company, they do have records of my previous claims, but in terms of details, they will not have any access to it. So that got me wondering, if he just didn't know what he was talking about? Or that clients are able to do a cash settlement from their current insurance company and switch insurance company and tell them they got hit and run, and collect more cash. Because the new insurance company will not know where the damage was previously.

Due to the privacy laws no insurance company can see the specifics of each claims. The basic information we need to rate a person on a claims is a Claims Experience Letter from your previous insurance company.

As for a specific claim with damage - if you took a cash settlement, that means you didnit repair the damage. If you still didnt repair and there is another accident in the same area, some adjusters can tell other cant.

[Masked Bandit]

Let me see if I've got this straight. You're wondering if the following could possibly happen:

- guy has accident
- guy takes cash settlement from insurance company instead of repairs
- guy switches insurance companies (vehicle still damaged)
- guy has tries to claim the damage again later saying it was something like a hit & run
- guy takes cash settlement AGAIN, waits for a year or whatever and repeats the cycle

Is that about right?

[tom_9109]

Close masked bandit. Its gonna be a hail claim.

[HiSpec]

Bingo. So I called back my previous insurance agent to see if she will give me the same answer, and this is what she said,

"sir, I know it is a 'what-if' question, no offense, but do you think we are stupid?" (LOL!!).

So then I called back to my new insurance company, and spoke to another agent, and he said pretty much exactly the same thing as Zewind up there.


If you still didnt repair and there is another accident in the same area, some adjusters can tell other cant