Insurance Rant...

"CAR_IS_MI" (car-is-mi)
11/26/2013 at 12:25 • Filed to: None

Preface: I was in a minor accident over a month ago now. I rear ended a guy who cut me off and jacked on his brakes. He was cited for reckless driving. Then he tried to file an insurance claim against me.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, his agent called me (we both have progressive) and told me he had just received the police report and the citation for the other driver, and due to the fact that he was cited for reckless driving, he would probably be found 100% at fault, he just needed to get back in contact with the other driver, and then he would call me with the result.

Well two weeks have gone by, and I have not heard a peep. Today I get a call from the girl who is supposed to by handling my side of the claim. She tells me that, as an update, they are waiting for the police report. Well the other agent had called me and said he had it, so how is it that two weeks have gone by and you don't?

Oh, well we don't share case information.

Okay, so you're telling me, the same company representing both sides of the same case, and you can not get the same information???

No, because I have to represent you, and he has to represent his client.

I explain that I understand that, but if it were two different insurance companies, would one agent not call the other to discuss the most recent updates, like per say the arrival of a citation?

The response is of course, yes.

So how is it that in two weeks, neither of you (who work in the same office building) have contacted one another? How is it that neither of you are even remotely on the same page?

To say the least, I am not impressed with the way this is being handled. I have now been transferred between four different agents, given my statement 3 different times, given the accident report info to two different people, and NONE of them are on the same page. No one has a straight answer for me. There is a major lack of professionalism being displayed here, and I do not like it.

/Rant

DISCUSSION (16)

Forgetful > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 12:30

The rant is justified as that's some ignorance on their behalf, but I'd get proactive on that shit and send her a copy of the police report.

ddavidn > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 12:31

Insurance claims are the worst. Hopefully it gets resolved properly for you. I use Progressive but have never had to talk to them.

CalzoneGolem > Forgetful
11/26/2013 at 12:33

I doubt he has a copy of the police report.

Brian, The Life of > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 12:43

Progressive in a terrible carrier ... one of the worst for customer service/post claim satisfaction. My best advice is to call them at least twice a day for an update until they give you a satisfactory answer. The squeaky wheel, and all that.

jlmounce > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 12:48

Crappy situation for sure. But Progressive's post claim satisfaction numbers are kind of indicative of that. Insurance companies don't like double widths (your situation) becaue it costs them double. But one person doesn't have to pay their deductible. As a result, they usually try to find some sort of comparative negligence which would allow them to charge a deductible to both parties and possible surcharge policies as a result.

This has the effect of slowing down the claim at the insured's expense. If it's really been a month at this point, I would be going straight to your state's Department of Insurance and filing a complaint.

CAR_IS_MI > Forgetful
11/26/2013 at 12:53

Made a few phone calls, waited 30 min, and boom. Case settled, other driver 100% at fault.

CAR_IS_MI > jlmounce
11/26/2013 at 12:55

It was a month, accident was 10/23, today is 11/26. I made a few phone calls and 30 min later I got a call from my agent saying it was resolved, other driver 100% at fault.

MMinSC > Brian, The Life of
11/26/2013 at 12:55

As a former Progressive adjuster, I will tell you that calling 2 or 3 times a day doesn't do anything but make the adjuster shuffle your shit to the bottom of his/her pile.

The OP has an odd situation, and they are likely waiting on the Police report/citation so a decision can be made. These decisions are rarely made by the adjusters themselves. This double overage stuff gets kicked to a team leader, or maybe even the branch manager.

Brian, The Life of > MMinSC
11/26/2013 at 13:04

What's amazing to me is the fact that auto carriers in general are awful at handling claims. It costs 10x as much to replace a lost customer with a new one and a claim event is the #1 reason consumers switch. At some point carriers like Progressive should figure this out.

David Gabel > MMinSC
11/26/2013 at 13:47

calling 2 or 3 times a day doesn't do anything but make the adjuster shuffle your shit to the bottom of his/her pile.

This is exactly why people get miffed. If a person is being nice about it but calls to try and get an urgent situation handled and the adjuster just puts them to the bottom of the pile, then the adjuster should expect to get an earful. However if the person calling 2-3 times a day is being an a-hole then I'm ok with them being moved down. Either way though it's a shitty way to do your job and the #1 cause for shitty customer service in any profession: "I don't want to deal with people because I've my own crap going on even though it's my job to deal with them. Oh well I'm getting paid."

MMinSC > David Gabel
11/26/2013 at 15:37

Progressive (and I'm not trying to defend anything, nor anyone) works the SHIT out of their adjusters. Most last less than two years. The sheer number of claims each adjuster works is borderline obscene.

When I was there, I did regular claims, and was the PD Specialist. Yeah...double dipped baby! I had anywhere from 50 (low) to 80 (high) claims per month. Figure that you work 22 days per month...you do the math.

I know that at some companies, adjusters sit in a cubicle and handle paperwork and phone calls. At the Big P, adjusters handle every part of the claim, from initial contact of the parties, to looking at the vehicle, to handling injury claims, all paperwork, including chasing paperwork from Law Enforcement and involved parties. I normally did this from the front seat of my Explorer.

And yes, sometimes the involved parties ARE, in fact, dickheads. Shocking, I know! And some, not ALL, adjusters are shit...have bad attitudes...and dole out poor CS on the regular. Others bust their asses to get people made whole again, and paid. It's probably 80/20.

Honestly, I was the latter. Not my money...here's a check. I got in trouble for it more than once. My goal was closing features, and going home. Some of the younger adjusters would crank out 60+ hour weeks regularly. Not me...here's a check...

Realize that adjusters aren't sitting around taking bong hits all day. They have numbers to meet, and so many bosses above them, it looks like a pyramid scheme. Some are good, some are shit...just like in ANY workplace.

David Gabel > MMinSC
11/26/2013 at 15:52

While I understand that completely, it's the poor attitude (that you also referred to) that seems to be a bad trend these days amongst most businesses, and that is what I was mainly getting at.

conrader > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 16:06

When I got in my wreck last month I went down to the police station and picked up a copy of the report and faxed it to progressive myself. I had my check in 3 days. Idk if anyone else said anything like that, but it worked out for me. They were different insurance companies though (I have progressive, they had american family).

CAR_IS_MI > conrader
11/26/2013 at 16:35

NHP will not make a report available to a private citizen until 30 days after an incident. So unfortunately this would not have worked for me.

jlmounce > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 17:16

Glad to hear you've now been taken care of! I've worked the servicing side of Auto insurance for State Farm. A case where there is a police report on file and a driver was ticketed, should never take anywhere near a month to get rolling. Whether that's to get a car in the body shop, or a total loss settlement.

conrader > CAR_IS_MI
11/26/2013 at 18:54

Wow, thats ridiculous. Sorry you have to go through all that crap, it sucks.