A client, who has their auto, homeowners and umbrella policies through my agency, asked if I still her had her auto insurance because of something she’d received in the mail. I couldn’t imagine what could possibly make her think her coverage had magically migrated to another company and quickly assured her I was still the “agent of record” on her account. Then she produced some paperwork which appeared to be quite contradictory of the fact.
If It Looks Real It Must Be Real
It became apparent upon examination that she had received a randomly generated quote prepared with a mixture of true and false personal data. The quote was unique in format because it was presented like an actual “dec” sheet – similar to the declaration page(s) you get when you receive auto insurance policies. At first glance, the documentation looked official, which explains why my client thought twice about it and why it raised a big red flag with me.
My client’s mailing address, marital status and the first 4 characters of her driver’s license were also included and listed correctly. Her birth date was made up, she was listed as retired, which isn’t true, and there were only zeroes listed for her social security number – definitely a relief there! However, the make/model/year of her car and the VIN number matched up exactly.
I asked if she had been shopping the market online or had talked to anyone about lower rates. She assured me “absolutely not” because she never does things like that and she “closes those little boxes that always pop up”. Though I was glad to hear she wasn’t displeased with my service, I became more concerned about the methods used by the solicitous company.
Deceptive Advertising
Discounts were applied for low mileage, anti-theft, defensive driver, good driver, multi-policy, miles one way to work and senior citizen (not applicable in this particular case, as previously noted). Naturally, the semi-annual premium listed was in the low-ball range.
Line items such as “new acct” and “new app” in the billing section of the piece made it clear this was neither binding nor legit documentation to the trained eye. But presented in the fashion it was, it appeared like coverage was already in place. This also spurns the likelihood for people to send in payment under the assumption changes had been made to their existing contract – or at the very least to call the company that sent the quote.
Marketing is a necessity for any business, but this type of approach violates the parameters for “truth in advertising” as described by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Further investigation with the Illinois Department of Insurance confirmed my suspicions: the use of unauthorized personal information (such as the VIN#) is a privacy violation.
Lesson Learned
The haphazard nature in which facts were presented (and misrepresented) for this quoted premium illustrates there is very little chance that actual rates would come out anywhere near those mailed. Combined with the fact that unauthorized use of personal information was used to generate the mailing, it is alarming.
Those that sell lists for marketing purposes such as these glean information in ways we have yet to imagine nor can keep absolute track of in the digital world. This situation serves as a valid reminder how crucial it is to keep a very close eye on the things we receive by postal and digital mail.
If you receive a similar type of questionable coverage letter for any type of insurance, complaints can be filed online through the IDOI. No one wants to do business with those that harvest personal information to obtain business underhandedly.
Kurt Rusch CLU, ChFC
