Shame on AMA Insurance!
by Dan Mowat on Aug 1, 2024
1 out of 5 stars
I recently phoned AMA to let them know I wouldn’t be renewing my auto insurance. I did this because when I didn’t renew my home insurance I was plagued with email messages, phone calls, and letters about renewing my home insurance. I wanted to avoid that.
The representative kept saying I was cancelling my policy. I clarified that I was not cancelling it - I wanted it to continue until the policy’s end date in December.
This week I received a letter confirming that I asked them to ‘cancel’ my automobile policy. I would have ignored this except at the bottom of the letter it indicated they had CC’d the company that I have a loan with for my vehicle.
Why did they violate my privacy? Do they own shares in that finance company! Even so wouldn’t that be an inappropriate conflict of interest?
If they were concerned I was going to break the law by not having insurance, why write to a company that can’t enforce that law?
It seems to me this was a kind of juvenile petulant tactic to show their displeasure that I wasn’t renewing with them.
I had insurance with another company which took effect a day before my AMA policy expired before even advising them I was not going to renew with them. That really isn’t their business and I feel it’s a breach of my privacy. Not professional or appropriate.
Y’all aren’t ready for this one
Okay, so one day I decide I don’t wanna be with AMA anymore so I call and cancel my insurance, and pay whatever I need to pay so that they can finalize my cancellation I think I’m in there clear, the same day I sign up with a completely different insurance company. A couple of weeks pass by and to my surprise, AMA was still taking money but it was completely within their rights too because of the insurance term BUT another month goes by and AMA was still taking money from me, so I called them and was just disrespected from the beginning of the phone call to the end. But this dispute went one for days, and I was only able to get less than $300 but I was paying insurance over $400.
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Last month got sideswiped on the passenger side of my one week old Jeep Wrangler and AMA claims I’m at fault even with a video, and pictures showing the others driver was trying to pass me in the right in the ditch. I was doing the speed limit of 50kmh and I had just turned off highway 18 onto highway 44 in Westlock Alberta, when I tried to pull off the road from the right-hand lane when a truck hit me in the back passenger tire I swerved left and the other driver turned left hitting me a second time the right front tire and the video shows all this but yet AMA says I’m at fault because apparently, the other driver has the right to pass you in the ditch. The video shows the other driver's tires kicking up dirt and also shows, according to the timer on the video, that he closed a 2-3 car length in 1 second... I've been paying thousands of dollars to AMA for insurance for over a decade I have a clean abstract and a 5 year clean commercial drivers abstract the last claim I had was a tree fell across the box of my truck during a bad storm in 2008 and AMA screws me... I've already told them when my insurance needs to be renewed I’m going elsewhere. I’ve got 3 vehicles, 2 quads, 1 Harley Davidson, a camper, boat, and house all insured with AMA and all paid in full until January 2020. Thousand of dollars a year AMA is loosing from me after this never have I been so disgusted with an insurance company in the almost 30years that I've paid insurance... Goodbye AMA, I hope no one else gets screwed like this, and for my adjusters, I hope they get treated with the same ignorance that they showed me!!!
Why was I cancelled for non-payment when I don't owe AMA anything? I cancelled my insurance because I sold the car. When AMA tried to force me to pay an extra month, I refused, so AMA put on me a cancellation for non-payment. Do you know that I can't get insurance anywhere without paying for the full year? Isn't it against the law to have insurance on a car when you don't own it?!!!
I notified AMA insurance that our house had sold on July 25th. When I was asked for our new address, I let them know that we are living in a fifth wheel until we figure out where we are going. I let them know we are going to spend a couple of months on Vancouver Island in the winter, and that we planned to go across Canada in the summer. I did not give time frames, nor did I say we would be leaving Alberta permanently. On Thursday, August 16th my husband and I both received e-mails and phone messages telling us to contact AMA immediately. The phone message said that because I had not sent in my confirmation of the primary driver, my auto insurance would be cancelled. I called them and asked what they meant. I've had the car since November 2014 and have never had to submit such a thing. I was told that a registered letter had been sent to my last known address on July 30th. I, of course, had not received that letter since we had sold that house. When I pointed that out, she then proceeded to tell me that I was moving to BC and would be travelling around Canada and the US, so, therefore, they could no longer insure me. WHAT? I told her we were NOT moving to BC and that we were not travelling to the US in our fifth wheel. I also told her our home base will be Alberta. She did not take my new address. I have several questions about this. 1. since when does an insurance company get to dictate where I travel? 2. Why would anyone send a registered letter to somewhere the person no longer lives? It took two weeks to contact us by e-mail and phone. Would that not have been the way to connect in the first place? 3. I was told that AMA is only licenced in Alberta so they could not provide us service in other provinces. My insurance policy went to the end of November. As of this date, I have been in Alberta for all but two weeks of the year. Does that mean we would not have been covered in the other province we visited? I am thankful that I have never had a claim. I suspect it would have been a gong show with how AMA has handled this situation. Total crap service! When I complained about this formally, I was connected with someone who was "reviewing" our situation. I was told our insurance would be reinstated. They acknowledged that they should have found another way to contact us for the information they required. So, the "reinstatement" is: a reduced liability coverage and no collision or comprehensive. Complete garbage. We are looking for alternatives since their reinstatement as it stands is not acceptable.
I have been a client with AMA for over a decade. This year I was thinking about working for Uber, so I called AMA to see what I would need to do if I were to work for them. They gave me information, great and I said I would call back if I decided to work for them. I failed my class 4 and opted not to work for Uber... several months later I get a call from some AMA guy asking me about what I use my car for, I advised him I used it to get to work and back and for personal. He asked me if I used it for business, I told him No, he told me that it was because I called inquiring about uber... and I let him know that I decided against it. About a couple weeks later I received mail, advising me that my Insurance will be cancelled and to seek insurance elsewhere. It was a good day.
Don't deal with AMA. They are extremely overpriced. I was quoted $250 a month for insurance for my car so 3 grand a year... for a car worth only $5500. I managed to get it down to $190 but that was with a $1000 deductible and took basically everything off my insurance except comprehensive and collision. Went to TD insurance and got insurance for $133 a month with $250 deductible, totally covered and accident forgiveness.
Please take my warning and do not deal with them. Their customer service is horrible. I paid my January's insurance (as my new one with cheaper insurance starts feb 1) and they want to charge me another $104 for I don't even know what to be honest and I don't know why it can't come out of my deposit I paid when I started with them. I spent 15 minutes trying to get the lady to explain it so I can understand and she basically told me "well it makes sense to us" after I said this makes zero sense to me. I still don't understand why I'm getting charged this but it's easier to just pay it then keep fighting it.
Seriously though do not deal with AMA. I am now with TD and they're a lot cheaper.... 120$ a month cheaper.
My mother had home and auto insurance with AMA. My mother passed away on May 18 and on June 2 I contacted AMA to cancel her policies. I was asked to submit her Funeral Directors Statement of Death which I did by email. In my email I formally requested cancellation of her policies and asked to be contacted if anything else was needed to complete my request. I received a confirmation email that they received my request and I heard nothing from anyone at AMA so I assumed everything was closed.
The following month I noticed that two withdrawals had been made from my mothers account. AMA had withdrawn payments from her account despite my request to cancel and submission of proof of her death. I called in and the agent I spoke with advised that yes they had received my documents and that their "legal department" was still processing my request. I asked the agent how they could take money from a client they knew was dead and she was quite rude in her reply that I just "be patient".
As of today's date they have withdrawn six payments from my mothers account, I have not heard back from AMA or their so-called legal department. They won't respond to my email and I keep being told that a supervisor will call me but nothing. I don't know what else to do and feel that they are actively and knowingly stealing from my late mother. The lack of compassion and responsibility to do the right thing is shocking from such a well known company.
Please do not use this company if possible, they are very selfish people. Just because my company is registered under my address, they declined my house insurance. Also, they refuse to cancel my car insurance and keep charging me for car insurance.
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DON'T BE FOOLED BY AMA INSURANCE!
I went in to get insurance on my 18 year old vehicle. My wife and I are senior citizens. We signed the paperwork presented to us, which included a statement about a $100 premium retention if we cancelled the policy within 30 days. We specifically asked the agent, before signing the paperwork what would happen if we sold the vehicle, and he clearly told us that there would be a $100 premium retention if we cancelled early. The quoted premium for 1 year was $2,267, which is fairly close to the value of the vehicle.
Less than 48 hours later, we found a national insurer who offered us exactly the same coverage for $450 for 1 year. So we went back in to the AMA office to cancel the policy (less than 48 hours of receiving it). The agent told us we would not only lose the $100 premium retention, but they would also be charging us a $100 penalty for early cancellation. This 'penalty' was not mentioned in any of the paperwork we signed, nor was it mentioned by the original issuing agent.
We spoke to a supervisor, but she didn't care. She just said we breached the contract and would have to suffer the penalty for it. She didn't care that we were long time members of AMA, and she didn't care that we are seniors on a fixed income. In the end, we had to leave without any satisfaction because it was clear that they were not going to do anything for us. Their ethical practice and behaviour in forcing us to accept a penalty that was not mentioned in any conversation or described in any contractual documentation for less than 48 hours is despicable. SHAME ON AMA INSURANCE!