Very upsetting day today......my poor z =[

MacCool

There was a suggestion earlier in the thread that the OP bought his insurance from Progressive online and didn't have an agent. If the OP did buy his insurance from an agent, it's hard for me to imagine that that agent doesn't have a file on the insured, and in that file at the top of the heap is the declarations page. The declarations page tells the entire story. It clearly details what insurance the OP bought and exactly what coverage has and with what limits. Likewise, it's hard to imagine that his finance company doesn't have a copy of the declarations page. When the finance company asks the insurance company for proof of insurance, what the insurance company sends them is a copy of the declarations page. And of course, the insured gets a copy too. It's amazing to me that none of those three entities can produce that very basic, absolutely fundamental, insurance document, the introduction of which would literally eliminate this entire discussion.

I don't disagree that the primary role of the insurance agent, if the OP has one, is to guide the consumer in his/her insurance purchase. As a customer service, that's the point of their existence, IMHO. As you note, however, the insured is ultimately responsible for that purchase. If the agent gives bad advice, that doesn't automatically shift the burden to the insurance company he represents, it merely gives the insured legal recourse to sue the agent for his bad advice after the fact (if he can prove it) -- after the insured has already covered the loss himself. The only thing that matters is the paperwork.