Commission warns N.B. residents against using Toronto insurance-related company
CBC
Almost a year after a Miramichi woman spoke out about how dealing with an insurance-related company left her in financial ruin, a watchdog commission in the province is formally warning people to stay away.
The Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick published an alert on March 10 about Assureway Protection Corporation after the commission’s equivalent in Ontario, where that company is based, issued a similar warning.
A news release said the commission was issuing the warning after New Brunswickers had complained to the Consumer Advocate for Insurance.
“In some cases, Assureway GAP products name an insurance company even though no licensed insurer issued the policy,” the release said.
Assureway is a third-party administrator — a bridge of sorts between a licenced insurer and a company. A third-party administrator is not the underwriter of an insurance policy, but like with Assureway, it will investigate and rule on claims made by customers.
In the case of Miramichi’s Samantha Anderson, they accused her of insurance fraud and denied her claim after a deer collision totalled her car.
“It still haunts me,” Anderson said a year later.
The single mother said she remains about $27,000 in debt from what she still owed on the loan for her car that she had purchased GAP, or Guaranteed Asset Protection, insurance to help cover in the first place. Now, she has filed a request to clear the debt from her name with an insolvency company.
“I can't buy anything I want," she said. "I'm trying to save for a house.
"No banks will even look at me.”
Anderson purchased GAP insurance from Assureway. GAP insurance is a tack-on that drivers can buy. It’s meant to cover the full value of a car loan as opposed to the depreciated value at the time if your car gets totalled.
While both the actual underwriting insurance company and the dealership in New Brunswick offering the product have to be licensed, the third-party administrator does not.
Marissa Sollows, director of communications and public affairs with the commission, said in an interview that anyone in the province can look on the commission's licence database before purchasing any insurance policy to see if the company is licensed to do business here.
If someone in New Brunswick has a policy with Assureway, Sollows said they should look over whatever documents they have to determine if they are still covered.
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This First Person column is the experience of Mehdi M. Kashani, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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