Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 19

I work in personal lines insurance. In our state, the DMV fines you for having a lapse of insurance if you have active tags on the car. Thus, our office, as a rule, tries to make every effort to ensure customers know they are about to lapse for non-payment so they can pay their premiums and avoid that fine.

Depending on expressed preference, our communications can be done via phone call, text, or email. Obviously, if a customer is at risk of lapsing frequently, like every single month, they get used to a lot of contact from our office. We also have a pretty effective caller ID system that will pull up the customer’s profile when we pick up a call from them.

I have been at this job my entire working life and, by default, keep an ear pricked up to my more junior coworkers’ conversations so that I can be ready if they need some help, but sometimes I hear real gems.

One day, a coworker picks up a call and starts her “Thanks for calling…” spiel, but she stops about halfway through, obviously being cut off by the customer.

Coworker: “You are late, but your—” *Pauses* “Wait, what?” *Pauses* “‘Following you’?”

She pauses for the customer to reply.

Coworker: “Um, ma’am, we don’t do that, but is it possible that you have missed some of your car payments?”

Pause.

Coworker: “Ma’am, I think that may be a repo man sent by the bank.”

Pause.

Coworker: “I’m sorry. Good luck. Goodbye.”

[Coworker #2] and I are now staring at the coworker for the story.

Coworker: “Well, it was [Customer]. She cut me off before I finished saying hello.”

[Coworker #2] and I nod; we noticed the cut-off, and this customer hasn’t paid without extra contact from us in recent memory.

Coworker: “Then she said, ‘I know I’m late. I’m gonna pay you as soon as I can. Just stop following me!’ Her account had popped up, so I was about to confirm that she was late and tell her the last day she could pay when I finally registered the last thing she said. When I questioned it, she clarified. She said, ‘Call off the tow truck. I don’t have the money right now. I’ll pay the insurance when I get paid again.’”

She looks concerned.

Coworker: “I mean, if a tow truck is actually following her, it has to be a repo, right?”

We nod.

Coworker: “So I asked; she said she has missed some car payments and seemed to think it through when I pitched that possibility. Then, she said, ‘Well, someone was knocking on my door this morning, but I ignored them and noticed the tow truck shortly after pulling out of the garage and onto the road. They followed me to the drive-thru, and now I’m headed to work, and they are still behind me!’”

She now looks really upset.

Coworker: “I felt so bad, but really, under what authority did she think the insurance company would take the car for unpaid premiums?”

All we could do was throw some well-wishes the customer’s way. I have had so many crazy responses from customers confronted with the fact that they do actually have to pay for insurance, but this one will stick with me forever, I think.

Related:
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 18
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 17
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 16
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 15
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 14