Blueskylaw

Seriously, if you are that upset, file a complaint with the insurance commissioner. For the time you have spent here at least make them answer you and the department of insurance.

Good luck.

Terrelowens

I'm on 3 different migraine medications because I get about 2-3 migraines a day. One of the meds has a side effect of anorexia and I've lost 30 pounds in the last 3 months since I've gone it. This stress just amplified so much more, it wasn't even funny. I have an appointment this week a half an hour away, plus my daughter has an appointment in two weeks in the same place and there's no way my car will make it even after repair. Basically, they royally messed up my car. I'm going to have to reschedule those appointments once again, and hope to God they don't dump me as a patient, because I can't afford to lose this neurologist who treats my migraines, or my daughter's seizures.

Thankfully, my husband is looking at a refund check from college in the amount of almost $1000 and his GI Bill at the beginning of the month in the amount of almost $1034. If it gets us something to get us out of town until tax season, I'll be happy. He's looking at a 4x4 truck for himself and between now and tax season, I'll save roughly $300 a month, plus what we get from taxes, which is roughly $3500, to get something better. From the way this Neon is driving, I give it about a month before it craps out completely, if that, if we're luckly. Again, thank you for those who were kind to me. I'm sorry if I snapped. Stress and I don't always mix lately. It's also been suggested I file a complaint with the better BBB, your thoughts?

Happy Homemaker

riggs

Also, as far as the check goes, the whole, "signing the check is the end of the claim" is a myth. If that check does not say "full and final release of all claims" then that check is NOT going to end your claim. Cash the check and at least get the gas tank repaired. I am shocked that no one brought up the fact that your car could, you know, explode, due to the leaking gas problem. Ever heard of static electricity?

Finally, anyone who doesn't think insurance is regulated to the extreme needs to go to their state insurance commisioner's website and look up all the rules and regs. Don't read them, that would be insane, just look at them. And, if you really have a complaint against them you can file it with the insurance commissioner, for free, and the insurance company will be required to respond within a few days. Any time an insurance company has a complaint filed against them it goes against their "history." Enough complaints and they will be audited to be sure they are treating their customers (insured and claimants) fairly.

Good luck with your car.

Terrelowens

I like your story, and as a person with an autistic cousin, I can see how you already have a lot on your hands. A lot of people who read this site no doubt sympathize (as seen in most of the comments here) and are willing to offer pretty spot-on advice to help you deal with your situation.

Not everyone at the consumerist is a grammar nazi and the website is still entertaining/informative to read... don't kick it for some of the commenters! That's really throwing the baby out with the bathwater!

I'd personally like to hear updates on what happened with your car (and whether you're getting a new one, this time with collision insurance)!

P.S. Though, if you do want to make your email/responses a little easier to read, try making sure each paragraph only contains three sentences. That'd probably help eliminate the needless "MYHEADHURTSREADINGTHAT!" comments.

P.P.S. Wow, I sound like a Consumerist fangirl... which I guess I am. :P

Elaine Chow

If you win your case and are unable to collect, sell the judgement to a collections agency. You will end up with less money but you get the added satisfaction of unleashing bloodthirsty collection agents on the offending party.

good luck.

pantsonfire

Happy Homemaker

Tonguetied

When I was hit by a USAA-insured driver, I was in a battle for over two years with them. They totalled my car, but the money they gave me was not enough to buy a car as good as mine (I took excellent care of my car and did not want to buy a used car). And they refused to let me get it repaired. I ended up having to buy a used car anyway that was supposed to be just like the one that was wrecked, but it was a leased lemon. Point is, will you be happier with a check or do you want your car back?

No one's made this point yet, but these companies are not in the business of giving money away; you've got to fight for it.

Lesley

the next morning, i got a call from progressive. i took my car to their place, they gave me a rental, and two days later i had a new tail light and a new bumper. it looked better than before the accident. so i was pretty happy with them. not happy enough to switch to them, because their policies are very expensive, but happy that they fixed my car, and did a good job.

konstantConsumer

I was nice and very polite to begin with when I started dealing with Progressive. I'm a military brat who was very, and I stress very, strictly raised. I kowtowed, I yes sirred, no sirred, you name it. That it, until I began dealing with the supervisor Craig Paquette who began treating ME like I was the criminal who caused the accident and began flat out calling my machanic a liar then claiming he didn't say that.

Backstory on my car, when I first bought it, 3 days after the one month warranty wore out, the tranmission blew and took engine with it and the dealer tried telling me, good luck. I told the dealer had this happened 3 days prior he would have been looking at full repairs, and I asked if he would help with repairs to the engine and transmission to the vehicle. (I was willing to file lemon law with our state if necessary as there were some things we found out he lied on us about the car I was willing to use as leverage.) I had to pay the tow fees back into town to the tune of over $100 to a garage that he chose and they repaired my engine. He called me 3 days later and told me the car was ready. I went to pick up the car and I swear to you, as soon as you shut off the engine, the battery died. The way they hooked up the battery, if you wanted to start up the car, you had to twist the battery cables back and forth over and over. Then, if you went over a bumpy road the starter came loose, and guess what kind of road my daughter's school was on? So everytime I went to pick her up for an appointment, I had to have school maintenance come out and help me fiddle-fart with the starter cables. On top of that, when I bought the car, the engine had very little visual rust, this engine they put in was so rusted, it was bad. OMG was it bad. The way they hooked up the transmission line, a week later it came loose again and the car had to be retowed into town, again to the tune of another $100. So yeah, when Craig began to try and screw me over just like the car dealer, I'd reached my boiling point with people screwing me over with cars.

I tried being nice with Craig in the beginning. Craig apparently decided nice wasn't the way to go. He decided to threaten me by removing things off of my estimate until I gave in. Maybe he felt since he was dealing with a woman, he could do this. To me, threatening to removing things off the estimate "if I don't back off of what I want done" is tanamount to blackmail.

I do have the check in my possession but according to the lawyer I should not sign it because if I do, I'm agreeing to not sue their client for more damages, ie, the gas line and the bent rims. Now according to the Progressive agent supervisor/mechanic that he used to be, I must have bent these rims miraculously while driving nonchalantly one day and my mechanic messed up my gas line and we just didn't know it and for the last 6 months to a year we've been leaking gas teensy tiny bits at a time and didn't know it all this time then BOOM the accident happened, I filled the tank that day to 3/4 of a tank and noticed two days later that we went through a half a tank of gas in two days and there's no way it's related to the accident, it's just coincidence. It's really my mechanics fault and he'll tell you himself. My mechanic had a good laugh over that one. That and the "not being straight with him". He even stated that what Progressive forgets is that he was very professional with him and they work together again sometime on another car, and maybe next time it'll be their client's car, and he'll remember Progressive's attitude towards him the next time.

After what happened with my engine, there are very few mechanics we trust. I mention this because we have very good friends of ours and we started asking around with a "who do you go to?" It's a smalltime shop on the outskirts of town, my father from out of town even remarked at how low his prices were. The repairs are well done. There's none of that "I'll pretend to fix this, charge for that..." crap, that you usually see. Everytime we've needed repairs, guess who's the first person we've taken it to. It's just too bad he doesn't run an insurance company too.

After hearing all the crap the insurance company is trying to pull, he asked me who I have. I told him, I have http://www.nycm.com/ he said they're the best in NY state to deal with after an accident. No fuss, no muss in his opinion. I've had them for 7 years now off and on and I personally agree. I have liability for now because our car just wasn't worth colision.

For those complaining about the readablity, please try to understand, I'm dealing with a TON of stress here. I have health issues of my own to deal with, I'm dealing with an asshole insurance agent and on top of that, I have a daughter who was born missing part of her brain (agenesis of the corpus callosum). Because of this, she lashes out physically and I'm the one she lashes out at. I have a rod fused to my spine that two months after they put it on at the age of 15 in 1985, the US stopped using it in this country because it tends to snap in the patient and paralyze the user. I could risk paralysis and have them take it out, or risk paralysis and just hope for the best and not take any hits to my back. Meanwhile I have a daughter who may or may not be autistic who is 11 but is mentally 6. She gets picked on at school, and cannot write well because of severe dysgraphia. Because of her frustration, she gets mad and guess who she hits and guess where? Yup, if you guessed me in the back, you win the prize. Everyday is a challenge for her and myself. Everyday she lashes out I just pray to God it's not a day she doesn't have to call 911 because she didn't accidentally paralyze me because I know she would feel bad, I don't want her to live with that, even though she wouldn't fully understand it. (Does that make sense?) So yeah, I'm under a ton of stress and the agent really didn't help at all that last 2 weeks of almost harassment. In my profile, is my Myspace explaining more about my daughter's situation for those interested.

Again I'm sorry for any offense my grammar may have caused. It's been 15 years since college as an Education major with a minor in English, so forgive me.

Happy Homemaker

mfergel

In early summer my husband was in an accident in which the other driver was deemed at fault (in fact, he admitted as much to the responding officer who included that statement in the report). My husband started with our insurance company which, by the time they got things rolling, discovered that the other driver had since recanted his culpability (we're talking within the space of a few hours here). Our insurers sent out one of their estimator guys, as did the other guy's company and then we got a repair estimate of our own.

The upshot? Our company offered us 2/3 of THEIR estimate, which was substantially lower than even the other company's and somewhat lower than our own estimate. We later found out that they were pursuing the highest estimate from the other company. So that meant lowballing us- their own customers - so that they could keep the difference between the 2/3 of the lowest they offered us and the higher amount they were looking to get.

We ended up doing an end-run and filing against the other guy's company in small claims. We had a check for the full amount of their highest repair estimate within one day.

We've since changed insurance companies, natch. It's a damn shame, but with this kind of outcome, it's clear that the only sane course of action is to file and bypass one's own insurance altogether. We didn't want to be in the position of being part of the problem and not the solution etc., etc., etc., but when your own dicking you there aren't many other options.

neveryoumindthere

Former Pemco client here... My parents and I were in an accident (NOT OUR FAULT) and we all had Pemco... they screwed up so royally that they tried blaming us for the accident and didn't even try to correct it after we submitted proof from the police that the other person was at fault. They fought us on all out PIP coverage and still haven't paid all our bills, the accident was a year ago.

The at fault driver is insured with Progressive who admitted fault and even tried explaining to Pemco that they would be getting all the money from our medical bills back.

Soon after that I called to get a policy of my own and the sales guy tried to give me the claims service is excellent claim... when I had experience otherwise.

I now have Allstate, which I can't say is any better, but I do pay about $250 less per 6 months for the same coverage.

3 weeks ago I was rear ended on I-5, Took a day for the Allstate claims people to get their act together and call me back, No troubles yet. The at fault party has Farmers who never remembers to call anyone back, I have to stay on them like a bad telemarketer to get anything done.

As to Patty C. lawyers are not the end all be all, there are many lazy lawyers out there that just want to sit back and take their cut while doing the least amount possible. Try and find one that someone you personally know has used.

The only thing worse dealing with than insurance companies is lawyers.

natemc

Write your angry rant. Sleep on it for a day or two or three. Calm down, then edit the letter to be more readable and THEN send it in.

Kat

Sadly, this does more or less put you in the hands of a company that cares nothing for you.

dwarf74

And Patty, if you're reading this, get your insurance involved, and let them fight for you. It makes things a lot easoer.

Elara

I most especially got a kick out of the gas leak theory of his. Ugh! The he basically tried telling me for the last year I must have had this teensy tiny leak of gas that I never knew about and never noticed, then all of a sudden, the day of the accident, when we put gas in and noticed we were going through a half a tank of gas two days later, it was all just a massive coincidence, and not at allll related to the accident. Yeah, my BS detector wasn't going off at all. (Please note sarcasm.) And yes, I did get hostile with him, only after he began treating me as if I were the one who caused the accident and he got hostile with him and actually threatened to reduce my estimate if I didn't drop going after the gas and rims. Mike Z. started off being nice, but never could return a call to save his life. Everytime he said he was going to call me, he never did, even when it came to telling me it was time to return the rental car aparently (according to Craig P. anyway.)

No I am not a client of Progressive, I used to be a long time ago, and am so glad I am not now. This confirms why I never will be again. The laywer advised me to NOT sign the check as I will be agreeing to not sue their client. So that I will not do. I will be going to the courthouse tomorrow to pick up the paperwork to file the small claims case against the owner of the car and the driver of the car. The lawyer was unsure, however, as was the court clerk, whether I sue for the amount that is not on the check, the $436 to be exact, or if I sue for the full amount of $1094.64 since I did not sign the check. I also have to swing by the Plymouth dealership to get an accurate estimate of my car in case it's less than $1500-1094, it might be considered totaled in the eyes of the court.

If it matters, I am covered by liability only as my car is worth so little. Otherwise my insurance would get invovled. I already asked. Normally, if have full coverage, they go after the other insurance company for the remaining amount. This is my insurance company and according to my car mechanic it's one of the best to deal with in case of an accident. At least in his opinion anyways. http://www.nycm.com/ I've had it for 2 years now, and a 3 year span I didn't own a car and before that I had it for about 4 years. I highly recommend it to anyone in NY state.

Again, I'm sorry Outlook messed up my paragraphing and my frustration also got the better of me. I've been under a great deal of stress lately.

Happy Homemaker

Is there somewhere I am missing that allows you to edit a post?

ACurmudgeon

Unrelated to Patty's story but regarding the comments posted, I believe that we should be supportive of the people who take the time to write in. Constructive criticism is great, but bashing people for not using paragraphs or for not editing their submissions doesn't help anyone.

ACurmudgeon

She could have:

* Rationalized calmly to the progressive agent that the car has been through maintenance being a relatively new car and there were no indications of damaged wheel rims or damaged fuel lines.
* The fact that a mechanic recently worked on her fuel line and it had a problem immediately after the accident is always going to sound suspect to an insurance agent. The damage described in her post indeed doesn't sound consistent with a damaged fuel line on top of the whole mess, but accidents can often cause unforeseen circumstances.

Instead she blathered like a maniac about what Progressive owes her. The real lesson here is that as a consumer, getting a frustrated "You owe me" attitude often gets you nowhere in life even when you are legitimately due something. The correct approach in a situation like this is exactly what Sam said, she should have contacted her own insurance and had them work out the nitty gritty details and have them work on her behalf.

Afterwards, if the amount of money that they received back didn't cover the costs, you go after the faulty party for the difference + expense paper trail + time wasted. They're the ones who made your life miserable, not the insurance companies.

/Insurance companies are still government enforced scams, agree with Mary Marsala.

something_amazing

Triteon

pantsonfire

your insurance company should be dealing with this and fighting for you, not you personally.

any such name

nweaver

dwarf74

AcidReign

(2) PARAGRAPHS ARE YOUR FRIEND.

dwarf74

Electoral College Dropout

And yes, the post was pretty hard to get through, but I'd like to think that the Consumerist doesn't just exist for people with college-level composition skills. I enjoy reading these accounts first-hand, even if some make my brain hurt at times. I'd hate for a good complaint to be ignored on account of it being written in one rambling paragraph (in all-capped Comic Sans.)

del_ruby

When I get hit, I call MY insurance company (USAA), whether it was my fault or not. Then they pay for the repairs and go after the other insurance company. And they return me my deductible when they get it from the other insurer. All I'm out is my deductible, usually only for a week or two. If they get the other insurer to take responsibility right away, they don't even ask for it in the first place. Even if this affected my rates (it doesn't), I would rather they incurred the hassle of getting me my money.

Sam Glover

And the fact that their initial estimate of my damages completely missed the mark--by several thousand dollars--doesn't exactly improve my feelings towards them.

creamsissle

Amy certainly stayed on top of them, though! I hope she gets a decent attorney, because a good one could get her a new car over this.

Mary Marsala with Fries

They tried contacting the other party to resolve the problem, got blown off and cut me a check the next day for the repairs and sicced their lawyers on them for it.

My involvement and cost: zero.

Kornkob

farfle

bravo

Luckily, I never had to submit a claim with Progressive, but with the various horror stories (including the one in this post) that I have heard, I am extremely happy that I never did.

adamondi