Switching Insurer

Have you got disappointed with your old insurance company ? or maybe you’ve found a new one that can give you the same level of coverage with a lower rate ? well, perhaps you should consider to make a cancellation of your old policy and get a new coverage from the new insurance company that might suits your needs better.

If you’re intend to switch insurer, make sure that you do this legally to avoid problems that you might be having with the old insurer, here’s what you have to do :

Cancel your old policy. The very first thing that you have to do is to inform the insurance company that you want to make a policy cancellation and tell them the date when you want the policy to be inactive. The company will then send you a cancellation form that you must fill and return to them, make sure that you receive this form in a short time after you contact them to assure that your policy cancellation process is keep on moving. Before filling up the form read it carefully and make sure that all the information regarding your policy is valid.

Don’t just walk away from your old policy. There are some people who just walk away from their old policy without notification when they decide to cancel it, they think if they’re just not paying the next bill then the policy will automatically canceled by the insurer. This is a mistake, because without a formal notification the insurance company will assume that you wish to continue your coverage and then charge you for the next bill, if you don’t pay the bill your policy will be terminated but it will be consider as a premium payment failure and they would think that you are a bad costumer. The insurance company could report this to your state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (if it’s an auto insurance) which can give a bad effect for your credit rating and your chance to get a new policy.

Get a New Policy First. Before the cancellation date make sure that you already have a new policy, don’t build a gap between the date of old policy’s cancellation and the new policy’s effective date because anything could happen on those days you pass without insurance protection. be sure that the date of old policy’s cancellation is the same as the new policy begins because having two policies in the same time is also against the law.

Cash back. When you decide to end your policy in the middle of the coverage period you shall get a cash back. It’s the amount of unused premium for the rest of the insurance period you’ve already paid. This amount should be counted proportionally based on the rest of the days after the cancellation after the end of the insurance period, you have to pay attention on this one an be sure that you have a fair cash back payment. But remember you also have to pay for a cancellation fee which is vary, you should ask your insurance company about this.

Good timing. The best time to switch insurer is when your insurance policy is about to be renewed, well if it’s just a month away from renewal time you better wait. This can avoid you from renewal payments such as printing fees or other start up expenses that you have to pay during policy renewal process. This will also avoid you from bothering the amount of unused premium that has to be paid back to you.

If you’ve done all this I guarantee that you won’t be having any troubles in switching from one insurance company to another. If you play it by the book the process will only take a day or two.