If that happend to my car, i would not want to part with it. Who knows what they might do to it. it would be scrapped for useful parts. poor G. *tear*

Can somone get me the info about this 50 car pileup? How did it happen?

 

I work in claims for a larger insurance company. Usually this type of post is a result of poor communication, but in this case I can see where people are coming from. State Farm is the biggest auto insurer in the country. At times they are too big for their britches & open them selves up to bad faith law suites.

Insurance companies do it by the math:
ACV less salvage bid = net total loss payment.
Estimate + potential supplement + rental = total repair.
We pay the lesser of the two. (this is a simple example that does not take into account any state specific statutes addressing when to deem a veh totalled)

However, in this member's case... they should NOT repair that car regardless of the figures. Get your damage photos, and file a complaint with your local departement of insurance. (or who ever governs insurance companies in your area)

Good luck!

 

Holy crap!

I wish you the best of luck!

 

Thanks for the detailed info shredX - definitely something to keep in mind if I (heaven forbid) ever wreck my car. Your note on the "do it by the math" philosophy reminds me of the scene in Fight Club on the airplane where the guy's explaining what defines a recall - lol

Seems to me that insurance companies and casinos work in a very similar way. You put tons of money into both, via premiums or bets, with a small chance of ever seeing your original money return itself. Though both insurance companies and casinos calculate their rates / payouts using very specific mathematical formulas, those formulas are not zero sum. In other words, the house is fixing the game for a profit in either case. Not necessarily a bad thing, since profit is of course the end goal of any business.

The difference in my mind is that I don't have to walk into a casino, but I do have to have insurance (unless I'm buying the car in cash - yeah right). Casino games have fixed payouts - if you win, you get exactly the standard payout or whatever was on the table, depending upon the game. Insurance companies charge you a very specific fee up front based upon extensive research, but on the backend they get the luxury of subjectively determining what their liability (your payout) will be. Theoretically those liabilities are explicitly spelled out in your policy, but there's really not much there to hang your hat on. Case in point, if you look at the formulas above, you'll notice that most of the values are subjectively determined by parties with much to gain from optimizing the output of these equations (body shops, insurance agents, etc.). Again, premiums are precisely determined based on extensive statistical models and formulas, but the after-the-fact calculations are much more murky.

Obviously not all (and hopefully not even most) insurance agents and companies are bad. I just think it's a flawed system that can give the insurance companies way too much discretion in certain circumstances.

 

Very nice.


Your right on for the most part. Note that how physical damage claims are paid are not subjective. All things are measurable & able to be verified. Your policy (in most states) is considered a contract. Most people, especially agents that sell policies, do not understand what is being agreed to. My company's policy clearly states they can write for "alternative" parts....and how the ACV is determined if the veh is a total loss. Of course no one ever reads their policy, and the agent never takes the time to point this out. Thus, once someone has a claim they are under informed.

What is subjective or better yet "grey area" is how the contract is applied. The intent of your policy is to put you back into pre-loss condition...or indemnify you. Have they done this when they're cutting your car in half & welding on a new *** end??? Sounds like a good question for the DOI.

I hope they reconsider & do the right thing.

 

My mom works at Allstate and she hates it when people make it seem like the insurance company is the bad guy. Because shes just doing here job. Progressive=high priced POS and are difficult to talk with
Geico=dont know what they are doing.

Its not all the insurance companys job. If all they did was take yur money, i'd be rich. My mom makes like nothing and she has worked there for 30 years.

 

^ You can't make blanket statements about any insurance company. They are just too big to do that. It's like saying all techs at the dealership don't know ****. Some do, some don't. Just fyi: State Farm and Allstate have opened them selves to more bad faith law suits than any others. Price is governed by local market trends. Everything you've listed is relative to individual experience. My company has a fairly high customer service rating, but believe me there are customers who are in complete disagreement. It depends if your complex claim is handled by a newbie, a disgruntled 30 year old employee or a young star performer on their fast track up the ladder.
Just my .02.

It's a tough career to be in. Accidents are unexpected, tragic events. We have to deal w/ people at their worst. That + people are underinformed can equal a very tough situation w/ the customer coming away unhappy.

You find very few people in the middle. They either had an excellent claim experience or a poor one. It's very polarizing.

I'm glad you stand behind your mom & what she does though. It's good.

 

Oops... Didn't mean to start too big a debate here.

STI&G35X - I didn't mean to insult your mom. She can't help that she works for an evil empire. After all, Dr. Evil's henchmen (random dudes in white suits) are just doing their job too.

Just kidding - but seriously, I think we all know it's not any individual employee's fault that sometimes things go rotten, nor is it the individual employee at the bottom of the ladder that's seeing any of the big profits. I'm sure you're mom is a very nice lady who does her work very well.

shredX - Personal experience can definitely influence people's perceptions, but in my case I've never had any problems with my insurance company. I pay a pretty reasonable premium (given my wife's driving record - lol), the customer service people are nice, etc. But I have a clean driving record and no claims.

I'm not trying to pin this on any one insurance company or anybody's mom or anything like that. If miseducation of insurance agents is a big part of the problem and lack of strict rules is not, then I'm all for getting more education and working within the existing system. Again, I'll just say that I think there's a lot of wiggle room available, either through loose rules or miseducation and miscommunication.

Now you guys get back to robbing old ladies and screwing 16 year old males!!! (JUST KIDDING, RELAX!!!)

And GRANITE_STATAH, go get'em! Have you talked to DOI or anybody else? Gotten the insurance company to budge on their own?

 

jees you were in the accident. I live one exit south from there. that sucks man.

 

huggs & kisses everybody

 

lol i wish my mom never went to work for Allstate lol she used to street race her old mustangs and cameros back in the 70s but then she went to work for allstate and turned into a big chicken. Its annoying =/


I hope my car never turns out like that, i might cry and hug my car, after all teh good experiences then..... BAM its all crunched up after saving your life and you cant do anything but lay on the hood and be like I'll miss you 3.5 ltr V6 *tear*

Lol it may be an inanimate object, but it was your baby! I mean come on, have some sympathy lo