California auto insurance company widely accused of unfair claim denials

Southern Californians say National General relies on denial loophole

Policyholders of National General in Southern California have sued their auto insurance company, accusing the insurer of using a loophole to avoid paying claims.

Policyholders claim that the insurer would have saved millions

The suit alleges that National General is using a loophole to avoid being required to respond to many of the claims filed by its policyholders.

According to a recent report from NBC LA, one of the auto insurance company’s policyholders filed a claim after her 2011 GMC Yukon was totaled while she was driving at night and crashed into a light pole in Corona in order to avoid an animal that had escaped. In front of her. In this case, Jennifer Darconte, the driver, contacted the insurer and was surprised to learn that this situation was not covered and that she would not receive compensation for her damaged vehicle.

According to Darconte, the insurer informed her that the reason for the denial was that when she first applied for insurance, she did not disclose that she had a 14-year-old son. To be clear, it was not the son who was driving the car.

The car insurance company allegedly denied the claim and then canceled the policy.

In the aforementioned media report on this topic, a team investigated Darconte’s story and Allstate, National General’s parent company, said the allegation was “dismissed after careful review.”

The California Department of Insurance advised this team that it is not abnormal for an insurer to require a policyholder to disclose other household members, even children or adolescents who do not drive , for subscription purposes.

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“They have a business process in place that allows them to avoid paying thousands and thousands of claims after the fact, based on information they never asked for in the first place,” said l attorney Justin King.

King also said the online application process for National General was unclear, only requiring the applicant to list all drivers. That said, King said that later in the auto insurance application, the digital form asks the applicant to confirm that all household members over the age of 14 have been disclosed. Since it wasn’t asked in the first place, and the question auto-fills with “yes,” King said it could be confusing or easily overlooked.