California Insurance

[GrendelsTwin]

The insurance industry in CA is highly regulated.  While I doubt it's state law they have to auto renew your policy, I wouldn't doubt the state of CA requires them to offer you a policy renewal as long as you meet guidelines outlined by the state.  A company must give (or at least attempt to give) fair notice before cancelling a policy.  Regardless, sending a policy renewal offer by mail is pretty standard for every company.  

Renewals include a bill and usually state that payment is considered acceptance of the policy renewal and terms outlined in any addendum.  If you were on an auto-pay service or allowed Geico to auto bill a credit card and never cancelled either, and never gave notice to Geico, you may be out of luck as well as money.  If you didn't pay (or didn't inadvertently allowed them to get paid), you've got a better case.  

Either way you can contact the California Dept of Insurance ( http://www.insurance.ca.gov/ ) to ask them about your situation and it's legality, or to file a complaint.  You can also call Geico, ask (demand) to speak to management and mention filing a complaint with the DOI to see if that gets any results first.  

The release of credits is highly recommended as it will not only save you from parking tickets, but could also save you from being named in a law suit if the new "owner" gets into an accident with a vehicle still under your name.  We also take a release of liability as proof of sale, but I can't say if Geico will...

[Popeye the Sailor]

Also recommended is checking statements monthly 

[TCK!]

TCK, you had to have both an offer and an acceptance for a contract.  An offer that says that it'll be deemed an acceptance if you don't respond doesn't pass muster.

Yeah I didn't say it was on the up and up, just that people try this all the time because the majority of people don't want to bother with the hassle.

I was recently told by an Arbitrator that my statements during a deposition were so ridiculous that they had to be true.. haha. At least we won.

[desmoquattro]

Also recommended is checking statements monthly 

I don't think they have mail forwarding in New Jersey. Wait...do they even have mail in New Jersey?

[johnc]

vinnie ... you have not been really screwed, until you have dealt with DMV for an entire morning, cleaning up their triple charging you for reg fees by using the state tax board's lean against your bank account (and getting popped by your bank each of the tree times, with a $100 surcharge).

after listening to lame excuses from the dmv supervisor that the state tax board does not communicate effectively with the dmv when they grab funds (duh ... i had THAT figured out after the first money grab) ... and how it was my fault that this has happened (wtf? ... really?) ... i believe i am actually getting the money that the tax board clipped, sent back to me as a refund.  no luck on getting the tax board to cover the bank fees i was charged due to THEIR errors. oh well.

[r_ciao]

i didn't catch how exactly you "paid" for the insurance.

if it was charge against a credit card, i'd call your credit card company and tell them those were unauthorized charges and get them reversed.
if it was an autodraft from your checking account, it may be more difficult dealing with your bank.

either way, the credit card company or your bank should go to bat for you and try to keep you as a customer, assuming you are a good customer.  you'd be amazed how easy it is to get a credit card company to reverse charges. you might want to keep closer tabs and review your monthly statements regularly.  every once in a while, some strange charges appear, i dispute, and said charges are removed.  no questions asked.

Ciao!