Like a Good Neighbor? BUYER BEWARE!

I am headed out to run some errands, but I wanted to alert you to a possible fraud situation, to alert you to watch your insurance policies and be ready to verify official records.

My husband and I currently use State Farm as our car insurance provider. Well, my husband got a letter in mail yesterday telling him that our rate was going to increase. He called our local office to ask why. Our agent said that the company had received a report that one of us had been in an accident on Sept. 1, 2007 and that the person we'd hit had claimed $1,000 in bodily injuries. We were like, "We weren't with you on Sept. 1, 2007 nor were either of us in a wreck during that time."

The agent was like, yes, you were in a wreck and based on that we're increasing your rate.

So, even though it was like 4:45 p.m., I called the DMV in the state capitol. An exasperated lady told me, when I explained why I was calling, that we probably did NOT have anything on our records, that people had been calling all day with the same issue. She checked our records just to make sure. Go figure, there was NOTHING on our records like that. I was in two wrecks last year. One was my fault -- I was sneezing and tapped a lady's butt, but there were little-to-no damages on either side and I know for a fact that claim wasn't filed for any injuries. And one wasn't -- a teenager came flying out of a parking lot, talking on her cellphone and not looking before entering the highway, and hit me. I had minor neck and back sprains (Even though we were strapped in, I twisted to put my hand in the back seat to somehow shield Bella ... I don't know why I did that ... but it caused a muscle sprain). However, it wasn't a $1,000 claim. Heck, it was half that ... on HER insurance. My husband didn't have a wreck at all during that time period.

She said that a couple of companies were using a placed called CHOICE POINT for their information and that CHOICE POINT was reporting wrecks that never happened. She was like, "They [Choice Point] did NOT get their information from the DMV."

I called my husband and told him. He called State Farm back and left a message.

State Farm called us back a little while ago. When we explained that we called the DMV and what the DMV said, the agent said, "Oh, then, it must've come from your previous insurance carrier." We disputed that, because the previous company would have reported it to the DMV. While he was on the phone with State Farm telling them that they need to check their records better, perhaps call the DMV (which they are too lazy to do), I called our old carrier. I explained the situation. They pulled up our file and said, "Nope. This is what we have on your records. We do NOT have either of you being in a wreck on Sept. 1, 2007 and certainly nothing with a bodily injury." Progressive's information matched the DMV's.

Incredulous, I called Choice Point who kept saying that they receive their records from the DMV and our previous carrier. I was like, "NO, you most certainly did NOT. I have talked to both and neither have any such accident on file." They never confirmed or denied what was in our report. She just said that we could obtain a copy of the report through www.ChoiceTrust.com.

Futhermore, this isn't a one-time mistake as the lady at the DMV yesterday said that we were not the first people to call with such an issue.

How many people are going to pay huge car insurance rate increases due to "previous accidents"? How many people are going to believe that someone on their policy might have been in an accident and go ahead and pay the fees?

If you get such a letter, don't just pay the increase. CALL THE DMV. Verify your driving record. And if your insurance carrier is too damned lazy to call the DMV and fix the problem, change carriers. We most ceratainly plan to do so. We weren't in a wreck. We have made the calls to verify our records. Why the hell can't State Farm pick up the phone and call the DMV, too?

Oh yeah ... to do so means that they won't get that rate increase.

"Like a good neighbor?" Perhaps in the hood, but definitely not in my neck of the woods.