Generally, the most painful part of a car accident is the crash. But for one Michigan woman, she was reportedly blindsided by her insurance company after the fact left her feeling like she was being “dumped”.
Cari McCaskill, of Oakland County, told ClickOnDetroit that she was involved in a traffic accident on May 2 of last year, when another car “went about 40 or 50. [miles per hour]I’m trying to turn around the traffic and we made the bones.”
At the time, McCaskill had two passengers, her 12-year-old daughter and her daughter’s friend. All three were, thankfully, unharmed.
McCaskill said she filed a claim with her insurance company, GEICO, and “The process went as usual.” The request, however, required the police report, which recorded McCaskill’s two young passengers.
And while she received notice that her car was worth more than $25,000, she said the insurance company, which she had been happy with since 2014, remained silent on her claim. It even got to the point, she added, that she couldn’t log into her insurance app to check the status of the claim.
Finally, weeks later, she received an answer she could never have expected.
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Instead of a standard update on her claim, the letter McCaskill received from GEICO noted that her policy was “under review for retroactive termination” for its most recent renewal, and cited McCaskill’s “failure to disclose all resident relatives” in her home.
In other words, they canceled her insurance because she had not listed her 12-year-old daughter, who is not legally allowed to drive, on the personal injury protection (PIP) statement for her insurance coverage.
Worse, because the girl’s friend, who was involved in the crash, went to the doctor for a post-accident check-up, GEICO served McCaskill papers for a complaint against both her and the doctor, claiming that they did not have to provide medical coverage due to the aforementioned failure to list McCaskill’s daughter on the insurance. The story adds, however, that the doctor in question had not even requested payment from GEICO (1).
The case, meanwhile, raises questions about who car owners should list on auto insurance forms, and whether insurance companies can cancel coverage if it fails to include a minor who isn’t even legally allowed to drive.
Direct Auto – a division of Allstate – notes that, “In general, insurers will ask you to list all household members when you apply for a car insurance policy” but that “small children (typically under the age of 14) should be exempt” (2). Other insurance companies suggest the same, including the Michaels Group, which added “Unlicensed children typically do not need to be listed as drivers” (3).
State laws, however, can complicate matters. “Some states require that all household members, even those who don’t drive, be listed on your car insurance policy,” says CarInsurance.com. “Ensures that any situation where someone else can drive your car, even temporarily, is covered” (4).
Michigan’s laws, meanwhile, have their own unique quirk. They state that “classifications and territorial base rates used by an insurer in this state with respect to automobile insurance” must be applied based on certain requirements, including “number of dependents of income earners insured under the policy” (5).
The law, then, seems to leave room for discretion on whether the insurance company should cover a collision, since there is no age requirement for the dependents listed in the policy. It also creates a potentially expensive situation for many drivers who may assume that only those dependents of driving age need to be included in their policy.
In a separate report from ClickOnDetroit, insurance provider AAA confirmed that, “Due to state law, everyone must be listed, even babies” on auto insurance policies (6).
That said, there is clearly wiggle room for insurance companies to provide coverage.
Another Michigan accident story involved a local couple, their two young children, and GEICO insurance. The couple told their local station Fox 5 that their car, with the whole family inside, was hit by a driver on Christmas Eve 2025. And while they luckily did not sustain any serious injuries, they say GEICO told them that their failure to list their one-year-old and three-month-old child on their insurance policy could “impact” their coverage. Anyway, in the end, the couple says that GEICO agreed to cover the damage to the car – estimated to be up to $ 15,000 – which allows them to avoid the same fate as McCaskill (7).
As for McCaskill, her attorney, Chris Camper, told ClickOnDetroit that the situation made her feel “like she did something wrong and that she could be stuck with a $25,000 or $26,000 lease.”
GEICO told the store that it complies with all state insurance regulations regarding claims and coverage, and could not comment on a case with pending litigation. Specific attorneys representing GEICO did not respond to requests for comment (1).
According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), in 2024, the average collision claim payout was $5,489, while the average bodily injury claim was $28,278 (8).
The costs of an auto collision, of course, can rise upwards depending on the severity of the damages and whether there were any injuries. And because different states have different laws — including about disclosing dependents on your insurance forms — it’s best to talk to your insurance agent about your household members to make sure you’re not denied coverage on the basis of incomplete disclosure.
However, if you find yourself in a dispute with your insurance provider, there are important steps you can take to help resolve the case.
III suggests reviewing your policy, as “Most companies offer arbitration or appraisal services to help resolve differences and disputes. Your insurance policy will explain these options.” They add that sending documentation with all the relevant information, along with a letter, to the insurance company can help make your case (9).
Law firm DM Injury Law says supporting evidence should include everything from police reports and witness statements to repair estimates.
Comprehensive documentation, they add, can significantly increase your chances of winning an appeal (10).
If all else fails, III and others note that it may be necessary to turn to your state’s insurance adjuster, an arbitrator or even an attorney to get what you believe you’re owed.
And although it increases the extra cost of legal fees, Employment Lawyers Babcock Tucker advise that “Most likely, once you have hired a lawyer and they contact your insurance company, the dispute will be resolved out of court” (11).
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ClickOnDetroit (1); Direct Auto (2); Source name (3); Carinsurance.com (4); Michigan legislature (5); ClickOnDetroit (6); Fox 5 (7); Insurance Information Institute (8); Insurance Information Institute (9); DM Injury Law (10); Babcock Tucker Employment Lawyers (11)
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