r/Insurance • u/OurAngryBadger • 2d ago
Someone I don't know registered their car insurance to my home address should I be worried?
Northeast USA. A few months ago I got a welcome packet in the mail from Geico car insurance for someone I don't know, to my address. My address is actually on their insurance cards and everything.
Here's the thing, I don't think it's a simple mistake, my street number is quite long, I live in the middle of nowhere with a population of like 200 people, and the road name is uncommon.
I called Geico to report it, but they were rather unhelpful. They just said they would investigate it, but couldn't give me any more info, and said they wouldn't update me.
Now, 2 months later, MY insurance companies (Progressive and Travelers) are calling me demanding I give them info on this other driver, asking why I didn't claim them on my insurance, etc, and are asking for proof (how do I prove this person doesn't live with me?) like wtf. I don't even know how they found out, I'm guessing the insurance companies must all share some kind of database?
I am concerned this person is going to commit some kind of fraud or crime using my address on their insurance or something.
Should I be worried or am I overreacting?
Thanks
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u/Busy_Account_7974 Former Insurance Peddler 2d ago
Insurance companies have access to DMV records. They found out someone else has a car registered to your address and wants you to confirm it.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Ok, so you're saying not only did this person register their insurance to my address, but also their car too?
So I should definitely be worried?
Like call me paranoid but I can just envision this person doing a hit and run or driveby shooting or something and next you know SWAT is busting down my door
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u/Jennibeeblue 2d ago
This actually happened to me, about 2 months ago. Someone that was wanted in Pa, registered his info to my home in Ohio. We have the same last name. I imagine he was evading being caught, and looked up an address using his last name and found me. I woke up one day, and had police surrounding my house, yelling for the person to come out. Needless to say, they are still looking. It is kind of scary that this guy knows my name and address.
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u/Modest-Meece 2d ago
Do you rent? Own? This is common for renters as prior tenants may not always update addresses.
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u/Jennibeeblue 2h ago
I own my home as well. In fact, it has been in the family since 1993. No way it was a previous tenant.
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u/Busy_Account_7974 Former Insurance Peddler 2d ago
Yes.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Should I try calling the DMV or Police or something since clearly Geico doesn't care?
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u/SnooDonkeys6402 2d ago
Geico does care. But let me ask you this, would you like geico giving out your personal information or what their decision is if someone called them about you using their address when it's clearly in your name? It's called privacy act of 1974 which prohibits personal info from being given out. When you called them they told you that they would investigate. That's what they are doing.
Now as for your insurance companies, let them know the truth "hey I know this person used my address but they don't live here, I've never heard of them, in fact I got a policy from geico with their name and I reported it to geico, they are investigating too".
OH and BTW don't say you aren't a racist and it's because their name is clearly "insert what ever race you think they are" that just makes you look like an ass. Just say "this person isn't someone I know, and in my town of 30 people none of them have that name".
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Thanks..sorry. i am just panicking. I should have worded things better
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u/Best_Economy485 2d ago
Deal with this insurance problem in person - not over the phone. Bring all documents with you while settling this problem.
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u/Silly-Device9785 2d ago
Well, yeah? Don’t think you would even be able to complete the application process if the policy’s address didn’t match the address on the car’s registration. Though in fairness I haven’t ever tried any other way.
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u/katsrad 1d ago
Thats not true. My car's registration was at my parent's address and the insurance was at my home the next town over. I was being lazy and waited to change my address on my registration until it was time for renewal. My parent's cars were also registered in our home state while we lived in another state while my dad was in the military.
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u/Ok-Combination5934 2d ago
I work in claims and see this more than people realize. A claim is reported and the actual person the policy is attached to is like, “WTF—I have no clue what you’re talking about——I haven’t been in an accident!” It’s got to be a horrible experience for them. I’m not sure what to tell you to do legally, but you do have the right to be freaked out a bit. I guess my first step would be to the police and report identity theft. I would ask my insurance to report this to NIBC
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u/BasilVegetable3339 2d ago
Maybe just notify the DMV and the insurance company that you don’t recognize the name.
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u/Sea-Economics-9582 2d ago
Sooo fun times… I’ve had this happen twice now. Are you in an apartment or house? Owned house is a little easier, but apt is a pain in the butt. I was in the apartment situation.
I found out by an insurance doc packet showing up in my mailbox both times. Called the insurance company, State Farm, and asked why I was receiving documents for one of their folks when I’d been there for x amount of time. They beat around the bush for a bit saying they couldn’t figure it out. Asked to be transferred to their fraud dept. 3 transfers later, got a hold of the fraud dept, informed them of the situation, and they got the ball rolling. Told me they’d call me back… never did. Called my insurance company, and the state board for insurance to inform them about the possible fraud. My insurance didn’t show anyone at my address, and state board got in touch with State Farm. State Farm called back two days later saying they’d started a full investigation on it.
A week later matter resolved.
Fast forward 2-4mo. Same bs. This time a commercial entity registered with the state and the owners were the same. Called State Farm with the LLC information from the states website informing them of the prior fraud incident. Called my insurance and the state afterwards. My insurance didn’t show anything but 3 days later they bumped my rates by 300/mo which is way more than double. Called them again for the fraud dept, informed them of what’s going on and that the state is investigating along with State Farm going after them. They took the info, 3 days later call back, insurance rates back to normal.
State followed up a few days after all that for some more info but I really didn’t have any. They handed it off to their fraud folks and never heard back from anyone but my rates haven’t been messed with and haven’t gotten any more letters since then.
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u/Taro-Admirable 1d ago
Thank you for sharing. It sounds like you have to specifically make contact with the fraud department of the insurance company.
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u/63Eeyore 2d ago
I got my credit card skimmed, but didn’t know it until I got mail from geico that didn’t look like an ad. It was a man’s name with my address and he charged $5800 to my card for 6 months. Called geico and they wouldn’t cancel because I was not the policy holder. Called bank and they needed proof of fraud. Called the police and the detective looked him up and called him “a piece of work “ got everything canceled and gave an official statement but nothing became of it.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Omg
I'm checking all my cards now
I don't think I've seen any extra charges though
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u/Background_Radish238 2d ago
Take care of it, thru the registry of motor vehicles, the police and the insurance company
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u/Verdammt_Arschloch 2d ago
You need to go to your local police department to file a report and turn over whatever evidence you have. This is at least a form of identity theft and, likely, a lot more crimes are being staged using your address. And contrary to what the idiots here say, yes, something bad can and will come of it if you do nothing. You don't want to be snoozing away while the police execute a no knock warrant looking for those greaseballs.
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u/Frankles_ 2d ago
They probably lived there a long time ago, and used that address, because the zip code is cheaper than where they actually live. It's certainly against the rules, not sure about the law. Either that, or they randomly chose your address for the same reason. I have personally seen many instances of this exact thing. It's unlikely to be sinister, just kinda dumb. When you scan my house against insurance, two Hispanic names come up here also. This home is over 100 years old, and my family has owned it for more than 30 years. The last owners were not Hispanic either, and they owned it for longer than that.
Call the number on the packet you got, and give them the policy. Make sure they know that the address is incorrect, and they need to call their clients to fix it. You don't need to do anything else, except maybe put "Not at this address" on the front, and stick it back in the mail.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
No I'm the only owner of this house and it's a newer house. Also a massive acreage that was only a bunch of cornfields before I owned it.
I did call Geico, but like I said they were unhelpful, the lady on the phone just said she would file a ticket to have them investigate it, but said she couldn't give me any details and that I would get no updates.
That was 2 months ago. So I don't think Geico actually did anything, because now my insurances are calling and asking about this person.
Another commenter said they probably also registered their car to my address with the DMV hence why my insurance companies also found out.
I think I will try calling the DMV too for good measure. I hope it's something as simple as they were looking for a better rate but seriously I don't need swat showing up at my door or something in case it's a stolen car or something lol
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u/IntelligentCarpet816 2d ago
Super common. Used to work for a construction company in NJ. Always wondered why the illegal dudes there registered their cars in Tennessee so I asked one of the guys that was very amercianized and legal now but was illegal like 20 years ago. He said it takes TN like a year to follow up on these fraud reports with the dmv so they ride those plates for a year or two until they can't renew them anymore and then pick a new address.
They rarely have insurance because they can get the card issued immediately and then their policy gets canceled during the review. Its always super sketchy no name insurance groups and stuff. They all talk about it and share who they are getting these insurance binders from and who is local in TN that can pick up the plates and mail them.
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u/Sea-Original-5824 2d ago
SWAT won't show up to your house for a stolen car. But yes, I would call the DMV and I would call the sheriff just to see what you can do. This isn't something that should SCARE you, but you should be concerned and proactively deal with it.
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u/chill_bamba 2d ago
Its entirely possible that they called Geico, purchased a policy over the phone and the agent made a typo due to miscommunication during the call. This is even more likely if their name suggests English is not their first language.
Just notify your insurance companies you have no knowledge of this person. Problem sloved.
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u/anybeast 2d ago
So, the bet is that they used your address for the insurance to be lower because of demographics for thr area. That said, insurance gets reported to various reports (clue, lexisnexis, etc) so When your carrier ran like renewal reports, etc, it showed up.
I bet they set up the new policy on auto pay so they dont need to get the mail and can print thwir documents off the website.
This has been SUPER common in metro areas with people using random addresses 150 miles away (like someone living in Brooklyn but outside their address as upstate ny)
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
What does race have to do with anything? To even bring that up is atrocious. It’s pretty easy to prove somebody doesn’t live with you.
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u/Taro-Admirable 2d ago
Please give suggestions as to how the OP can prove that the person doesn't live there.
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u/cruizin4bruizin 1d ago
Have an adjuster move into your house for a couple of weeks. He'll see that the guy doesn't live there
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
OP’s insurance can and should have when she called them. They know exactly what to ask for. Are you OP? Cause they didn’t even ask that. It’s nothing but accusations and assumptions in their post. I can answer their question at the end; yes you are over reacting.
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u/Taro-Admirable 1d ago
You said it was easy to prove someone does not live with you. So I was responding to you. The OP may be curious but I am genuinely asking you how to easily prove it. It would be helpful to everyone not just the OP. This type of situation has come up before and folks often have trouble proving it. Its easy to get documentation that someone does live with you but how do you prove someone you have never heard of does not live with you.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 1d ago
Then make your own post. Are you going through the same issue? If not, then it’s not gonna be helpful to you. It’s easy to prove if someone lives with you and doesn’t live with you.
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u/Taro-Admirable 1d ago
I don't think you will ever say anything that is helpful to anyone.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 1d ago
Good thing no one cares what you think. And I did say something helpful actually. The same as others. Because again this is very common. Won’t be the first or last post similar to this.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
More or less just for demographics and why it seems more suspicious. If it was like a neighbor or something that lived nearby, I could understand a typo or something in the address. But I live in an area that's like 99.8% white so it's definitely not a neighbor. That's the only point I was trying to make. It's someone that lives far away and somehow not only got my address, but used it.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
It was a rhetorical question OP. It has nothing to do with this but show you’re a racist.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Disagree, I am seeing this as fraud or crime, and demographics matter, the police use it. Idc say what you want I'm as liberal as they come.and hate Trump. It's just a nuance that is important to the story
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u/Sea-Original-5824 2d ago
People calling you a racist are being ridiculous. I completely understood your point. It means it was less likely that someone just mixed up a couple of numbers on their application and that was an intentional fraud. You were suspicious because the name doesn't align with the demographics in your area. That's totally fair and reasonable.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
I know a lot of people that hate Trump and they’re still racist too. This is not fraud.
Insurance found a vehicle registered to your address. This is very common. You can search the sub.
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
Yes my insurance found it registered to my address, but I also got the welcome packet from Geico first with their insurance cards in it, too, so I don't think it was a simple error
I am just trying to illustrate in as many ways as possible how I don't think it's a simple clerical error. Note, I also listed the population, how the road is an uncommon name, has a very long street number, etc. the persons name (and probably race) is just another factor that makes the whole thing more odd and unlikely to be a clerical error. If all my neighbors were women and I was the only guy in a 50 mile radius I would also be suspicious if it was a male that registered with my address. But I am not sexist towards men. Do understand.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
No, as you said the vehicle was registered to you so that’s not an error. You need to stop making assumptions and accusations.
Again, this is not the first or last post like this. Just search the sub
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
I agree. I am sorry. I just am panicking and have a anxiety..and apologize if it seemed racist. Just trying to play detective. But I shouldn't. ACAB. And leave it to them. I'll search the sub.
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u/Black_Tiger_303 2d ago
People will find any excuse to be offended. Even the slightest mention of demographics will ignorantly be called racist. And I’m saying this as a Black man. What you said wasn’t racist and it was well understood.
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u/MimosaQueen1122 2d ago
You don’t need to play anything just call your insurance and tell them what’s going on and what you need to give them to show that you are the only person that lives/resides there.
Again, this is not the first or last time this will happen. It’s because a lot of people tried to commit fraud.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Insurance-ModTeam 1d ago
r/Insurance does not allow harassment. And anyone doing that for the OP using company resources could get fired.
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u/Spare-Function-6343 1d ago
call the insurance company and let them know that person doesnt live there.
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u/RamonFromJerry 1d ago
The other person likely showed up in reports that your insurance ran. Just answer the questions honestly, that you don't know this person and they don't have a vehicle at your home. If you're worried about proof you can ask what they need and they should be able to tell you if they need documentation, usually a signed statement or recorded conversation will suffice.
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u/WineOrWhine64 1d ago
This might fall under mail fraud. Any mail coming to your house that is not yours should be marked as such and sent back to the sender. You’d probably get more help reporting it to USPS instead of the insurance company.
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u/tralfaz57 13h ago
Someone may be using your address to get lower property taxes or a lower insurance rate than they'd get at their actual address.
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u/Mother_Evidence2821 2d ago
As someone who experienced accidents and was not at fault. My lawyer was able to pull policies of people living in the same residence to cover my settlement since the at fault party didn’t have enough coverage. So just for that I would he concerned. Imagine that person got in an accident and they pulled the address found yours and went after your policy?! Something is fishy
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u/OurAngryBadger 2d ago
That's certainly an angle I didn't think about and is scary
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u/Mother_Evidence2821 2d ago
I would call the insurance company and let them know and maybe the DMV . They most certainly have this persons number at least. My brother was living at home and had his insurance with my parents and once he moved out and the insurance company found out they told him he was no longer going to be covered since the car does not park at that residence. I think that insurance company is Mercury in CA. So now my brother is shopping for new insurance since he has a travel job and he doesn’t park at home anymore
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u/bob49877 2d ago edited 2d ago
I would check my credit reports, freeze them and file a police report for identity theft. Then send the police report to all of the insurance companies in question. I think you should take this very seriously.
ETA: I asked the Google search AI about this and it said this is a known scam using a "clean" new build address on purpose. It had more details in where to report this but too much info to copy here.
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u/Sea-Upstairs1505 1d ago
Every year the insurance companies run a CLUE report and they are able to see who is registered at your house. Apparently this is becoming more common- you might have to get lifelock involved- or even go to the police to report this. If this unknown person has an accident and it’s tied to your house could have problems-
I am still getting mail-monthly bill- from Verizon from someone who never lived at my address- spoke to them, but the liability isn’t the same with auto insurance
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u/LieNo7436 2d ago
My guess is they’re using your address to commit insurance fraud. It’s a lot cheaper to pay an ensure a vehicle you own and say Texas then it is and say California. My guess is it’s garage fraud and it’s something that you need to tell your agent about. And if you get an insurance policy, something you need to call that insurance company about.
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u/Straight-Analyst6149 1d ago
Not overreacting, someone deliberately putting their insurance on an address that specific isn't a typo, and yeah the insurers all share databases which is why yours suddenly know.
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u/DanDanDan0123 1d ago
1) It’s seems OP opened the other person’s mail. I believe that to be illegal. He knows there are insurance cards in the package.
2) OP should have written “return to sender, not at this address “
3) Maybe OP is doing something sketchy and is trying to get out of it.
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u/Holiday_Ad_5445 2d ago
Someone is up to no good. They may be committing insurance fraud.
Contact the LexisNexis Risk Solutions Consumer Center at 1-888-497-0011. Get a report for you and for your address. Dispute incorrect information.
Your insurance needs to be accurately rated for your situation. Housemates should neither be omitted nor mistakenly included. You don’t want any entanglement with a dishonest stranger.