National General/Direct Auto

National General/Direct Auto Experience

I recently decided to drop Direct Auto on January 17th due to consistently rude customer service and unexpected fees that seemed unjustified. Here’s what happened:

On January 6th, 2025, I paid my Direct Auto insurance for the month, and I had autopay set up; however, I accidentally made my payment two days early. Understandably, mistakes happen. Unfortunately, this led to Direct Auto taking two payments: the one I made and the scheduled auto-draft.

The next day, I called to let them know my account was in the negative because of this second auto payment. The representative acknowledged the issue, confirmed that the second payment was being refunded, and I received that refund later that day, bringing my account back to a positive balance. I verified with my bank that everything was fine; they confirmed that my overdraft issue was temporary due to the denied auto draft.

Despite that, I wanted to double-check my Direct Auto account, and everything appeared fine; I was still insured for January. However, three days later, I woke up to missed calls and an email threatening to cancel my policy on January 29th if I didn’t pay $422. I was in tears explaining that I had already paid my insurance for the month, but the representative told me that my original payment had been refunded because they received an “insufficient funds” notification from my bank.

I expressed my willingness to repay for the month but argued against a $22 late fee, as I hadn’t actually been late—the payment was returned without my request. They insisted that I still owed the late fee. After speaking to multiple reps, receiving conflicting information, and enduring poor customer service, I decided to switch insurance providers to avoid any lapse notification from the DMV.

On January 16th, I went with National General, which partners with numerous agencies, making it somewhat challenging to distinguish between them. I called Direct Auto on January 17th to cancel my policy and received confirmation via email.

Fast forward to March 7th, I received a letter from the DMV stating that Direct Auto reported a lapse in my insurance and that I owed $150. I’m baffled—how could there be a lapse when I ensured I had new coverage before the cancellation due to non-payment? Isn’t a lapse defined as failing to make a payment before the grace period? I had until January 29th, secured new insurance on the 16th, and formally canceled on the 17th.

To add to my frustration, I’ve dealt with issues from Direct Auto since I was just 19 years old. They’ve reported multiple negative items on my credit, significantly harming my score, which prevents me from establishing anything in my name. It’s particularly frustrating because I didn’t even have a car at 19—my only credit was from my phone bill.

At this point, I feel like I’m being unfairly targeted, possibly because I tend to be gullible and want to resolve issues quickly, even if it means paying whatever is required. But now I’m starting to see that this company may be misleading me and taking advantage of my situation.

Does anyone have advice or tips on how to handle this?