Branch Owner, TWFG Insurance Services, Fremont California and the Greater Bay Area Representing Dozens of Insurance Carriers
You can not back date a new policy. In other words if you wish to purchase a policy today you can not have the effective date be yesterday. If you have an existing policy already in force you may be able to add or remove a car on a backdated bases depending on the circumstances.
President, Insurance Associates Agency Inc., West Chester, OH
I have a hard time imaging how backdating a car insurance policy could ever be good for the insurance carrier so, all the carriers I am familiar with refuse and prohibit backdating.
I can think of a couple of reasons it is desirable to backdate insurance from the customer point of view:
1) To be able to prove insurance to a regulatory or financial entity on a certain prior date when coverage was not maintained.
2) To be able to obtain coverage for a loss and avoid out of pocket expenses on a certain prior date when no coverage existed.
Most carriers carefully underwrite the reason why any date but the present date is installed on an application for insurance. It is often also true that state law makes it illegal for an agent to backdate coverage. It doesn't matter if it is car insurance, home insurance, or even life insurance, backdating is a bad idea for the insurer and the agency or agent.
On this point, however, there are companies in the life insurance portion of my business that will permit backdating to save age. They won't accept this provision if the insured is not healthy or there are health events that create concern in the period of time back to the prior birth date. If you are not healthy now, they won't issue the coverage. Then, if they agree, all the premium back to the prior date will need to be paid but, the customer will enjoy a permanently lower rate based upon the prior age so this is the only time I am aware of when backdating - and I use the term very loosely here - is permitted on a written insurance policy. On car insurance, no backdating method I know of exists for all the reasons I have written (and some I haven't).
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I can think of a couple of reasons it is desirable to backdate insurance from the customer point of view:
1) To be able to prove insurance to a regulatory or financial entity on a certain prior date when coverage was not maintained.
2) To be able to obtain coverage for a loss and avoid out of pocket expenses on a certain prior date when no coverage existed.
Most carriers carefully underwrite the reason why any date but the present date is installed on an application for insurance. It is often also true that state law makes it illegal for an agent to backdate coverage. It doesn't matter if it is car insurance, home insurance, or even life insurance, backdating is a bad idea for the insurer and the agency or agent.
On this point, however, there are companies in the life insurance portion of my business that will permit backdating to save age. They won't accept this provision if the insured is not healthy or there are health events that create concern in the period of time back to the prior birth date. If you are not healthy now, they won't issue the coverage. Then, if they agree, all the premium back to the prior date will need to be paid but, the customer will enjoy a permanently lower rate based upon the prior age so this is the only time I am aware of when backdating - and I use the term very loosely here - is permitted on a written insurance policy. On car insurance, no backdating method I know of exists for all the reasons I have written (and some I haven't).