Sold my car, don’t own one now. But Allstate says I should continue to pay them to insure it for when the day comes that I DO buy another car.

They tell me if I don’t continue to pay for auto insurance—even though I’ve sold the car and moved to another country for the next year at least — I will incur penalties and premiums when I return that will make me blanch. And that in fact, they would not even be able to issue me a new policy at that point.

Can this possibly be true? It feels like extortion. Someone who knows, please advise.

(Edit: I should clarify that they’ve offered an inexpensive “insurance parking” premium of $42.39 for 6 months. So it’s the principle of the thing more than the cost for me.)