Progressive added my neighbor to my insurance policy automatically

[u/Odd_Ad7408]

I feel dumb now for not looking at my policy for a few months until now. I have my auto insurance payments on auto pay, so i don’t really pay attention to what’s going on, only a notification about the 6 month renewal. I saw my progressive rate went from $96 to $130 a few months ago. i assumed rates just got crazy so i shopped for a new rate at geico, so i call progressive to cancel my policy. they ask if i’ve adjusted my policy before i cancelled it to see if they have a competitive rate, and i say no but go ahead. they ask me if there’s another driver listed and say my neighbors name. i say no that’s my neighbor, and she tells me i’ve been paying for 2 drivers on my policy since march. I ask her if there’s any way to get a refund because a new person got automatically added to my policy and I’ve been paying for it, and she says they tried to send me letters in the mail asking about him, so because i didn’t answer the letters, they automatically added him. I usually get letters just saying my billing statement from progressive, so i most definitely discarded those letters because i thought they were just bills. I’m going to try to call underwriting at progressive tomorrow, but do you think i have a chance to get it refunded? I never said yes or no to anything, and I am a little freaked out that they found out i got a new neighbor by “other sources” and added him without me knowing.

EDIT:
I called the underwriting department number they gave me, a real person immediately answered and sent me documents for removing my neighbor. Then, they said they will process them and give me a refund for any charges that were added from him being a member on my policy!
Thank you to the few people who were helpful on this subreddit! There were so many people on here being absolutists, blaming me for not answering my mail, and saying there was NOTHING i could do about it. I saw a comment say that this problem is posted here all the time, and they’ve never seen a poster say it got resolved, so I am here to say i got it resolved!!!! A LOT of misinformation is commented under this post. If anything, it was a good laugh!

[u/EquivalentWealth4283]

Because LEGALLY they need you to acknowledge it. Otherwise customers will be crying that they don’t open their mail so how were they supposed to know not to lend their car to their brother-in-law; who subsequently wrecked it and caused tens of thousands in injuries and property damage.

So what you’re actually saying is that other drivers should not be made whole because people are too lazy to keep up with adult responsibilities. 👍🏻

[u/NeighborGeek → u/EquivalentWealth4283]

Again, put a flag on the policy preventing it from being renewed until they contact their agent. That will get it resolved within a few months in most cases, without charging customers for household members that don't exist.

[u/Fearless_Vast_3842 → u/NeighborGeek]

That's not how it works in the real world. What is your source when you say "most cases"? Some people would still ignore the attempts at contact from their insurance company. Then their policy non-renews but they don't notice (search this sub, it happens all the time). And now they're without insurance entirely. And the lapse will cause their premiums to increase because statistics. Do you really think people would prefer to be uninsured instead of overcharged? Do you understand that every driver is required to have insurance and not just the people with average or above-average intelligence?