Grandmother told she owes $8500 to insurance company. Not received bill in over 2 yrs

[dylanguitar]

My Grandmother, who is 80+ years old, had an insurance contract that ran from 2007 to 2008. At the end of the contract in 2008, she never received another bill and stopped paying, since she stopped driving. My mother took over paying her bills about 4 months ago. About 3 months ago, the insurance company sent her a letter saying that although they never received another bill, that the policy had still been in effect and that she owed the insurance company $8500 or they were going to send her into collections. Also in this time frame they raised her premium rate with no consultation. The insurance company has acknowledged on the phone that her failure to receive any bills from them was a "glitch" in their system. So my question is, is my grandmother responsible for the full amount or do we have some legal recourse? She did renew the cars registration, which leads me to believe that she was in fact insured, but she's 80+ years old and did not connect the fact she had a policy in effect. Thanks for any advice!

 

[Betty3]

old thread - answering for reference/google purposes only.

Generally when you don't pay your premium, the car ins. company automatically cancels your coverage. Even though they are saying the coverage was still in effect, it makes me seriously doubt that if she was still driving & submitted a claim, they would pay it since no premium was paid.

I would not do anything at this time & see what (if anything) further the ins. co. does.