Is CURE Auto Insurance Committing Fraud or ‘Fighting Fraud’?

The Detroit News recently launched a damning exposé on the number of customer complaints lodged against CURE Auto Insurance Company. As part of the 2-day series of articles about how CURE is treating its customers, The Detroit News interviewed several CURE customers who told the newspaper about how CURE had told them their vehicles had been “deemed a total loss” after their cars had been totaled in car accidents. CURE had these customers give CURE title and possession of these vehicles, and then, after taking possession and title, using what sounded like various pretexts to cancel their policies and not pay out on the underlying claims, CURE did not return their vehicles. When asked about this by the reporter, CURE Auto Insurance CEO Eric Poe told The Detroit News that they are “fighting fraud.” 

But, based on the real-life accounts of the customers being interviewed, a reader might be hard pressed not to come away thinking that the only one committing fraud here is CURE.

The Detroit News describes one situation where the CURE insured’s vehicle is listed for sale by CURE on an internet auction site, while the vehicle itself is in limbo in an impound parking lot.

In the other situation, CURE just sold its insured’s vehicle at auction.

CURE CEO Eric Poe was quoted in The Detroit News series as boasting that he and CURE will spend $10 to “fight $5 of fraud” and that being “vigilant fighting fraud” is “something that we have to live by, that we have to survive upon.”

But to readers of this exposé, this might sound more like hypocrisy.    

Or, as Shakespeare might have put it to Mr. Poe, “thou dost protest too much.”

When CURE CEO Eric Poe talks about ‘fighting fraud,’ is he projecting or confessing?

Readers of the Detroit News stories about CURE might have noticed that CURE CEO Eric Poe sounds a bit…defensive? He spends a lot of time in the news stories talking about “fighting fraud.”  

But is this “fraud fighter” and his insurance company actually committing fraud?  

Stepping back from what appear to be truly outrageous and appalling scenarios in the Detroit News exposé about CURE, this New Jersey-based insurance company has certainly seen its share of customer complaints.

In fact, since CURE entered the Michigan market, it has skyrocketed to the top in customer complaints. In Michigan, they are currently ranked #2 in customer complaints, despite being the 16th largest insurance company in Michigan. 

And CURE is doing no better in its home market of New Jersey. CURE Insurance was ranked the second worst insurance company in New Jersey for 2022 and 2023 by the State of New Jersey Department of Banking & Insurance.

Impound lot limbo

According to The Detroit News exposé, Jamie Harris filed a claim with her insurance company, CURE Auto Insurance, after her Land Rover Range Rover was damaged in a crash.

CURE declared the vehicle a total loss and, then, instructed Ms. Harris on how to transfer her vehicle to CURE, “including granting the insurance company the legal authority to take possession of the Range Rover’s title, effectively making the vehicle the insurer’s property,” according to The Detroit News.

The Detroit News reported that approximately two months later, CURE denied Ms. Harris’ claim and rescinded her policy based on alleged misrepresentations in her insurance application .

But, according to The Detroit News:

• CURE never returned the vehicle;
• CURE never paid her claim; and.
• CURE never paid off the car note.

Meanwhile, CURE has the vehicle listed “for sale on an internet auction website” and the “seller is listed as CURE Auto Insurance,” according to The Detroit News.

The Detroit News further reported that “CURE CEO Eric Poe said Harris was told how to recover her SUV after his company rejected her damage claim.”

However, Ms. Harris’ attorney told The Detroit News: “[S]he can’t regain legal ownership of the vehicle because a CURE claims representative already told her to sign over power of attorney for the insurer to take possession of the SUV, leaving the vehicle stuck in an impound lot near Grand Rapids and sending the dispute to Wayne County Circuit Court.”

Sold at auction

The Detroit News reported that Nameer Loussia filed a claim with his insurance company, CURE Auto Insurance, after his Grand Cherokee Trackhawk was damaged in a crash.

CURE declared the vehicle a total loss and, then, instructed Mr. Loussia to turn over the keys and sign over the vehicle to CURE – which he did, according to The Detroit News.

Subsequently, CURE denied Mr. Loussia’s claim and rescinded his policy based on alleged misrepresentations in his insurance application as to who would be driving the vehicle, according to The Detroit News.

The Detroit News further reported:

• CURE did not return the vehicle;
• CURE did not pay on the claim;
• CURE sold the vehicle at auction for $27,000; and
• CURE did not pay the auction proceeds to Mr. Loussia – it kept the money.  

It wasn’t until AFTER The Detroit News started asking questions about the case that CURE mailed Mr. Loussia a check for $27,875, according to The Detroit News.

In its third article, published on August 15^th, The Detroit News reports that “Michigan’s insurance law has a provision that outlines a scenario in which drivers are required to surrender the title to their vehicle ONLY AFTER the insurance company pays a damage claim — not the other way around.”

But from the situations described in The Detroit News stories, CURE has been operating on the “other way around” basis at times – taking money for insurance, then taking possession of the vehicles, then keeping the vehicles and never paying on the damage claims as the provision in Michigan’s insurance law seems to require.

“It’s almost, in a way, like a bait-and-switch.”

That’s what Erica Everson, an attorney and founder of the Automotive Education and Policy Institute, a consumer advocacy organization based near Akron, Ohio, told The Detroit News about “CURE’s practice of taking possession of a customer’s wrecked vehicle under the guise of the claim being approved before denying and canceling the policy.” 

The provision that The Detroit News referenced – MCL 257.217c(2) and (3) – establishes that the “total loss” claim process in Michigan proceeds as follows: (1) First, the insurer pays on the total loss claim, (2) Second, after the claim has been paid, the insurer is entitled to acquire ownership of the vehicle by having the insured/owner sign over the title to the insurance company, and (3) Third, the owner signs over the title to the vehicle to the insurance company.

Why does CURE really do business in Detroit when Eric Poe also claims there is so much fraud in Detroit?

But maybe there is another more troubling reason why CURE is so aggressive in marketing to Detroit residents. 

Because if the victims of CURE – like those profiled in the Detroit News stories – are to be believed, and CURE is indeed telling people that their vehicles are totaled and then having these CURE customers give CURE title and possession and then using various pretexts to rescind their policies and never pay on the claims – AND not returning their vehicles either – maybe the more obvious reason here is that it is easier for CURE to get away with this in cities like Detroit?   

The reality is that many people in Detroit don’t have the same access to justice when they are harmed in these situations. Many Detroiters do not have the same financial ability to hire an attorney after they’ve been wrongfully harmed as residents do in some of Metro Detroit’s more affluent suburbs. If they are not driving a car that is expensive enough to have a lawyer take their case on a contingency fee, and if they are not able to afford a lawyer by paying a lawyer an hourly fee, then what options are there to get help if they’ve been harmed by CURE?  

In the meantime, “CURE has experienced a disproportionately high number of customer complaints for a car insurance carrier of its size,” according to The Detroit News, and the “number of lawsuits filed against CURE by motorists and medical providers outpaced larger insurers such as Citizens, Farmers, Frankenmuth, Geico, Liberty, Meemic and USAA.”  

Which might leave readers of the Detroit News story wondering again – is CURE “fighting fraud” . . . or committing fraud?

Was Your Michigan Car Accident Medical Claim Denied by CURE Auto Insurance?

If CURE has not been treating you fairly and is improperly denying your medical claim in Michigan, you can file a complaint and share your experience in any of the following ways:

• To file a customer complaint against CURE with the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS), click here.
• To file a complaint against CURE with the Better Business Bureau, click here.
• To leave a review on the Better Business Bureau’s customer reviews page for CURE, click here.
• Share your experience on Reddit in any of the following subreddits: Cure insurance claims/customer service experience, Any experience with Cure Auto Insurance?, Auto Insurance – Metro Detroit, and Any experiences with Cure Auto?, Wrong VIN On Insurance, Customer Service, Rates Doubled, Nightmare, Incorrect VIN on Insurance, and Cancelled Policy.  

Injured in a car accident in Michigan? Call the attorneys at Michigan Auto Law for a free consultation!

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