SAN DIEGO – Susana Moreno and Gerardo Aguilar have celebrated several birthdays together, however, on this last occasion they did it in a different way. Moreno’s birthday was in May of last year, so the couple visited the Courtesy Chevrolet dealership in Mission Valley where they saw the truck of their dreams. That’s where they bought a 2023 Chevy Silverado.
They told us that they could not use their car insurance at that time to cover the new truck, so they say that the seller recommended an insurance agent, Enoc Herrera. According to Moreno, the seller called him directly from his phone.
They agreed to pay $419 in cash to the seller and in exchange got a temporary insurance policy for the new pickup truck and a 2002 Mazda pickup truck they already owned. They add that the next day, Herrera texted them a receipt from Compadre Insurance Services for the amount they had paid.
A month later, they visited the Compadre Insurance Services office to finalize the auto insurance process. That’s when Herrera gave them a summary of insurance coverage with Progressive. A policy for which Moreno said that he sent the amount of $443 to Herrera through Zelle.
At that time everything seemed fine, the couple commented. “Until after my husband said, ‘Hey, these letters came, look, what’s going on?’” Moreno said.
He referred to a letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, DMV. In it he warned them that the registration of their new truck would be suspended due to lack of car insurance. Aguilar contacted Herrera.
“I called him and told him what was happening, and he said no, everything was fine,” Aguilar explained.
But in August a second letter from the DMV arrived in his mailbox. This time he notified them that the registration of their Mazda truck was suspended for the same reason. Moreno told us that at that moment he called Herrera to ask what was happening and he referred to this as “DMV things that happen, but everything is going to be fixed right now,” Moreno mentioned.
The couple said they believed in him, enough to add two more cars and their daughter as an additional driver to their policy in September. They showed us a receipt from Compadre Insurance Services, showing that they paid him $795.
To this day, they shared that they are a little confused about what happened to the money they paid for the coverage. All they know is that it never got to where it was supposed to go, their car insurance policy.
Later that month, they received another surprise. They received a letter from Progressive saying the policy was “terminated and deemed null and void.” The letter stated that “you did not have insurance coverage at any time under this policy. Unfortunately, your bank or financial institution will not honor your down payment.”
On this occasion they called Progressive directly and the company explained that the policy was never active. “He said, lady, you have never had insurance with us. So, at that moment you are like in shock, like, where is my money?” Moreno exclaimed.
And he ended up confirming that same information with an email sent to him by Progressive’s research department. Moreno said that because of this confusion she called Herrera asking to return the money they sent her. She told us that he did not refuse to do so, but she could no longer trust him and did not feel comfortable returning to her office.
Moreno said he decided to call the dealership where they bought the truck. “I told him how was it possible that all this had happened to us with someone who had referred us to the dealer.”
They told him that someone would contact them, but when that didn’t happen, they called Telemundo 20 Responde asking for help.
“I had also heard from you that you always help and I said well, I’m going to call and hopefully someone will answer. And they answered me quickly,” said Moreno.
Our team investigated and found that the California Department of Insurance, CDI, website shows that Compadre Insurance Services’ license expired in November 2020. Meanwhile, Herrera’s license expired in March 2021.
CDI confirmed the information in an email sent to us saying, “our records indicate that Mr. Herrera is no longer licensed to conduct insurance transactions.”
Telemundo 20 Responde contacted Courtesy Chevrolet to ask about their protocols when referring a client to an insurance agent. They told us that they use an independent company and the customer is the one who initiates the contact, not the seller. However, they recognized that this is not what happened with Moreno and Aguilar. They called this case a single error. They did not want to do an interview, but explained that they arranged a meeting with Herrera and the couple to get their money back.
A meeting that Moreno and Aguilar were hesitant to go to. “I am doubtful that he will pay. Because this is not the first time that he has told us that he is going to pay us,” Moreno said.
On the day of the meeting between them, the Telemundo 20 team spoke with Moreno and Aguilar near the area.
“He gave us our money back. Everything he had to return to us for all the problems we had,” Moreno exclaimed.
In total, Herrera gave them $2,186 for the insurance premiums they paid him and the fees they paid to reactivate the license plates of their cars.
“We came out with more money than we didn’t expect,” Moreno said. The dealership also gave them $2,990 for the problem. They reimbursed them for a monthly payment for the truck and what they paid for a maintenance package. In total they received a total of $5,176 .
The day after the meeting, our team called and texted Herrera. He called us back and admitted that his California license had already expired when he sold the insurance policy to them. He also told us that he attempted to pay his premiums, but the payments were returned due to problems with his bank, however, he did not file.
We invited him to sit down with us for an interview, but up to this point he has not granted one.
“Thank you very much to you, to Telemundo, because you helped us a lot,”
Susana Moreno
“Thank you very much to you, to Telemundo, because you helped us a lot,” Moreno said with a smile on his face and holding the money they recovered.
They told us they are happy to receive their money. They thanked Courtesy Chevrolet for their help in resolving the issue. They finally purchased a new insurance policy, this time, directly from Progressive.
In Last November they filed complaints with the CDI against Herrera. They received a letter saying they are investigating. The department confirmed to us that there is an ongoing investigation, but they cannot provide details of it.
Now, remember that if you do business with an insurance agent, always You must verify your license status with the California Department of Insurance.
2024-03-29 14:07:35
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