| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 08:38:12 AM
I told you about dh's bizarre accident - now the real trauma begins apparently! The last time we had an accident (a 93 year old man T-boned me!) my insurance company stepped in from the beginning, told me they would take care of me and then they would worry about recouping their loss from the other guys insurance. I had a rental car the same day, (and had it the entire 6 weeks it took to fix my car), they paid all my medical/therapy bills without a peep, and made my car like new. They made me "whole", which is what an insurance company was supposed to do. This, apparently, has changed in the last few years. Granted, I have a different company now, but if the way this new company is treating me is the norm, it's a sad situation. It has been two days since the accident, no adjuster has shown up, noone has called to ask if we need a rental car, and when my husband talked to them on the phone, (this is our own company mind you) they said not to bother to ask for lost wages on the day of the accident because if he wasn't injured, the other company wouldn't pay anyway. I thought our own company was supposed to advocate for us, but they sure aren't. What are your recent insurance experiences? Should I shop for a new company or is this the norm now? The reason I changed from the old one who treated us so well was the cost but if this is what I get for a couple of hundred bucks less, it's not worth it!
Farmgirl Sister #98
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 06 2008 : 06:17:14 AM
Amie- That is really rotten! Did you contact the Better Business Bureau? I am so sorry you got stuck with such a rotten deal. Even though the car was worth "only" so much, that was money that your family shouldn't have had to lose! Things like that get my dander up. I even had to threaten the agent in my situation in March with starting a lawsuit before they started to co-operate.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
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| Amie C. |
Posted - Nov 06 2008 : 05:25:47 AM
Alee, the NYS Insurance Commission was no help in our situation. It didn't even fit into a category of the work they do. Sounds like Washington does a lot more for residents.
Good luck, Sherri! |
| K-Falls Farmgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 7:20:30 PM
Keep at them.. the squeeky wheel gets the grease ( no pun intended)
http://www.k-fallsfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Cheryl #309
Farm girl sister
Enjoy the little things in life....someday you'll look back and realize they were the big things. |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 3:41:03 PM
Oh and you might want to talk to the supervisor of the person who said "Don't bother". Let them know you understand the information they were trying to give, but that the tone set with "Don't Bother" made a stressful situation even worse for you and that you don't pay premiums to be treated that way (In a nice tone of voice of course). I have had to do this with some companies in the past, and while not all supervisors were understanding, many are and feel bad. Sometimes I think people get stuck in a rut and need a reminder to be civil!
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 3:35:22 PM
Sherri- If they are required to replace the car, they are required to give you the market value of the car.
When my car was totaled, the insurance tried to pawn off only about 2k on me. Which is ridiculous because my car had been well maintained (engine) only had damage on one spot (driver's door) and the exact same car was selling for 8k in Spokane.
The insurance company has to give you an appraisal of the market. Make sure it is actually a real market for you. The appraisal they gave me was from down in Boise. There was no way I could get 5 hours down just to look at/get a car. So look around on the internet. Try E-Bay and www.carfinder.com
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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| mikesgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 3:00:24 PM
They haven't told us what they're going to do yet - it was a commuter car with a lot of miles on it - but still getting 40 mpg, so that's the toughest kind to replace. I doubt if the'll give us enough for it to get something as well kept and as reliable - but we'll see. We haven't looked around for little cars for awhile because we haven't needed to. This was a '99 Mazda Protege - maybe I'll take some time and cruise the internet for a replacement. Any favorite sites?
I guess what upsets me so much is that we were treated so well last time someone ran into us. They "made us whole" - with no hassles at all. Sad to think the industry has changed that much in a few years.
Farmgirl Sister #98
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| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 2:55:33 PM
Sherri-
Yes if the tire was attached to the other car and it was a fluke accident, the other driver will probably not be listed as liable for the accident. That stinks for you, but your insurance is going to replace the car, aren't they?
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 2:44:00 PM
Wow Alee - you are a woman of action!! The tire was attached to the car and came off, so I don't know what that means for us. But, thanks so much for finding that out - I guess it's been a good learning experience for us. It goes under the classification of Bad Luck I guess. I guess the most important thing is that Mike wasn't hurt and I need to remember that!!!
Farmgirl Sister #98
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| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 2:41:06 PM
Sherri-
I just spoke with the insurance commission. There are a lot of things that go into it- was the tire being hauled or was it attached to the vehicle and just flew off? If the driver of the other vehicle is found to be "at fault" your husband is more likely to get lost wages.
However, if he wasn't hurt it is going to be hard to get lost wages. Also he has to be out of work for something like 14 days and have personal injury insurance.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 2:32:23 PM
Sherri- You are certainly entitled (in my mind) to lost wages. Really- call the Washington Insurance Commission-
1-800-562-6900
http://www.insurance.wa.gov/
They will be able to tell you exactly what is allowed and required. They are there to protect the consumer (you).
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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| mikesgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 2:26:40 PM
Well, the adjuster was finally here. He reiterated that there was no sense asking for Mike's time lost as they just didn't pay "incidental expenses". Am I wrong in thinking we are owed this from the other insurance company as it cost us nearly $300 for him to miss a day of work? By the time he got the car towed home and he would have driven back up there, he maybe would have gotten an hour of work in, and that would have been driving my car. What if I hadn't been home? It really burns me - we are the innocent parties and we're the one getting burned. Why should we have to lose that much money when I thought that was what insurance was for? Sorry ladies for the rant - but I feel like we're being cheated here - not asking for anything extra or something w're not owed are we?
Farmgirl Sister #98
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| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 12:37:37 PM
Amie- Just so you know, each state has an Insurance Commission. Their job is to oversee and regulate the Insurance companies and one key way they do this is by having the insurance customer call to complain/ask for help. I am sure the statute of limitations on the 2004 incident has passed, but you might want to call just to make sure.
Oh and also record the name, phone number and employee id number of anyone you talk to. Record the time and date and keep it all in a file. Sometimes the information is needed later, especially if they are jerking you around or making you swim in circles.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
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| Amie C. |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 12:21:46 PM
I had the same kind of night and day experience with my insurance company in two separate incidents a few years apart.
In 2000, my husband was involved in an accident where (traffic law speaking) he was at fault. Not a complaint from our insurance company. They shelled out for the other people's cars and injuries, and our rates didn't even go up.
In 2004, my car was stolen from the street in front of our house. When it was recovered, the transmission was cracked on the bottom (like from going over railroad tracks at high speed, perhaps). The insurance company kept me waiting for 4 months, saying "We have to have another meeting, so and so is out on vacation, etc." Then they denied our claim and accused us of orchestrating the theft to make a fraudulent claim. The only evidence they could come up with? We'd gotten the transmission serviced a year before, so obviously there was a longstanding transmission problem and we wanted to unload the car.
I looked around for some way to bring this to a higher authority, but found nothing. And the insurance representative I spoke to told me that if we tried to bring this to another supervisor within the company, the company would press charges against us for fraud.
I'm really not sure what the insurance company was trying to pull here. The blue book value of my car was only $1200. That's less than one year's premium that we paid for our 3 vehicles, and we'd been customers for over 15 years.
All I can advise is: be very careful what information you provide them, and don't assume that your insurance company is working for you. I made the mistake of thinking that they were supposed to provide me with customer service, and in the words of their own commercial be "on my side". I should have been more wary. |
| mikesgirl |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 12:13:49 PM
Well, I just e-mailed my agent to tell her how we're being treated so we'll see what happens. We still have not seen the adjuster - and I'm walking everywhere. Good for the thighs, but losing a lot of time from my business!
Farmgirl Sister #98
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| willowtreecreek |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 10:50:46 AM
Insurance companies will ully you becasue they can get away with it with some people. If you keep bugging them they will give in eventually just to get you off their back.
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
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|
| wild daisy |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 10:44:39 AM
I agree with Alee. It's not fair but we as the customer have to fight for compensation. Let us know how things go.
Madelynne |
| Alee |
Posted - Nov 05 2008 : 09:15:33 AM
Sherri-
Don't let the insurance people push you around at all. That sounds like horrible customer service to me. Call the Washington State Insurance Commission if you have _any_ questions. They really like to help consumers get what is supposed to come their way and they know all the laws. The Idaho Commission was very helpful when I had to deal with my car getting totaled in March. I did have to fight for it through small claims court, but I did get about 1/3 of my lost wages, combining that with Unemployment it came out to be almost what I would have made had my car not been wrecked.
Your insurance isn't acting properly. For them to say don't even ask about lost wages is _WRONG_. If you have full coverage, they need to be working really hard for you. If your adjuster isn't working for you, then you need to ask to speak to his/her supervisor.
Make sure you are following up on everything. They like to wiggle through a loop hole and claim you did not do everything in your power to rectify the situation.
If you need to, give me a call and hopefully some of the other things I learned from my insurance nightmare can help you.
Alee
Farmgirl Sister #8
www.awarmheart.com
Please come visit Nora and me on our blog: www.farmgirlalee.blogspot.com
Put your pin on the farmgirl map! www.farmgirlmap.blogspot.com |
