Auto Insurance Claim nightmare, how I am getting raped by them.

[Jim B.]

THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU, IF YOU HAVE INSURANCE FROM THIS LARGE WELL KNOWN COMPANY, on your car, if you have a accident or damage claim.


This In my * new * Mercury Grand Marquis, I had a mild accident, bashed the front bumper and put a one inch gash in the plastic grille, no injuries or anything.

I found an excellent body shop, that does good work. Made the appointment to drop off the car, rental to be delivered, and the claim adjusted and repairs to start.

~~~~~~~~~~
Then the nighmare begins.

~~~~~~~~~~



For the past week, I have been wrangling daily with the Insurance company about the parts for the Mercury, which needs a new front bumper and cover.

The insurance company, in the fine (small) policy print somewhere, has lawyer written language allowing them, evidently, to save money at the policyholder's expense, by letting them authorize repairs, at their option, using "recycled" (politically correct term for "junkyard") parts, or worse - ones that are prepped in Communist China, where the wage that the 6 year old chinese children laborers is about 3 cents a year.

Great for their profit margin. Terrible for a brand new car, and for a 30+ year insurance premium paying consumer up against this for the first time ever.


And, I have been informed, I don't have rental coverage either. What I have, is only 80% of the daily rental coverage rate, up to a maximum of $500 and then it is gone.

Furthermore, they ONLY will pay even THAT amount if, according to the claims rep, the car is UNDRIVEABLE and IN THE SHOP.

I set up the appointment to have their adjuster look at the car and at that moment leave it for repairs, and the rental company bring the car there where I rented it.

But the insurance adjuster never even showed up or called until the next day, apparently.

The body shop says that was on purpose when good body shops, not the captive ones that "co operate" with them, are involved, and use all manner of tricks like this to get the policyholder to take his car to cheaper, insurance approved shops.

(But under CA. law the consumer bill of rights allows the customer to choose the shop but NOT to insist o new parts now, even on a new car like mine.)

The insurance company claims rep has told me that the "recycled" or Communist chinese parts are like NEW and "we guarantee that, and if they fail, THEN we will replace them with brand new ones"

Oh great!!! I get to sue my own insurance company and try to enforce some warranty written by their lawyers with 1000 escape clauses; I paid policy premiums for "THIS" all these years?


It gets worse.


In response to a LOT of angry policyholders, that found out about this, who simply let their cars sit in the shop for weeks while they battled with the insurance company, the Insurance company's policy was simply to refuse to pay their rental car costs.

Wonderful.


Faced with this, the body shop, to assist the adjuster - that did not even bother to show up on time ( a common ploy to get the customer to go to a captive, insurance company approved ie, cheaper shop, ) the shop removed the bumper and lights, thereby making the car UNDRIVEABLE and IN THE SHOP already so the insurance company would be forced to allow rental coverage to start even then under its restrictive conditions.


As the consumer, under their policy, I am allowed to select new parts BUT have to pay the price difference between them and what the body shop allows, which is only the cost of cheap junkyard or Chinese parts.

In this case, for a bumper and bumper skin, which I went the cheap, non OEM route would be a bumper skin that is badly prepped for paint,(that good body shop painters hate) -- in communist China, which would start cracking again in a year or two after a stone chip hits it, and used, junkyard bumpers or other non OEM ones of dubious strength.


Screwed by the Insurance company, when they need you. Thank god I was not injured.


I shudder to think how they would use their policy language to save themselves money on serious medical claims.


One more reason this country is down the toilet. Another example of corporate greed and trickery.

If my local agent had not been so helpful and supportive here (though they can do nothing about corporate claims policy) I would be out of there, (it is one of those huge national companies) I would simply dump them and seek coverage elsewhere.


I think though I might find that they all are the same, though, with the fine print allowing them to totally cheap out on everything.

The difference between the "remanufactured", junkyard or Chinese part was only $250, in the case of the bumper skin, all that was at issue here.

But the Insurance company will fight me, and YOU and anyone else over it, and stand willing to lose a 30 year customer over it, to save a few dollars.


It would be like winning a battle to lose a war.


I am hopping mad, as YOU would be, but then I would not be surprised if ALL insurance companies are like this.

~~~~~

To make things worse, on another front, ALL used front bumper skins for a new Grand Marquis are on back order now, and so far no dealer within 500 miles has one; and Ford Motor company only ships them new, wrapped in one layer of ordinary bubble wrap, and then most are damaged in transit,


And a used one can't be located yet anywhere, so far, in Communist China, the junkyards, anywhere. (Maybe a good thing, if they want to pawn off some taxi or police car bumper that has really got beat up.)


And in other news, I went shopping yesterday for a flag holder to put on the front of my house so I could fly the American flag outside my house.

Today is the forth of July.

Naturally, I wanted to buy a house flag holder that was proudly made in the USA.

But every single one for sale, was made in Communist China.


You heard me.


THAT one really pegged the irony meter.

[layback40]

Try finding a flag that is not made in China !!!

[Stretch]

In most countries the law requires that you have insurance - unless you are able to show that you have sufficient funds to cover all reasonable outcomes. On the face of it this makes sense as from a moral and social stand point you should receive justice for an event that was not your fault.

However, this means that all consumers who behave within the constraints of the law end up in a captive market, which in practice means that insurance companies behave as though the flow of money should only go one way (that's to them). All insurance companies play a game where they pay out as little as possible.

In the case of this post when you have made a contract with an insurance company to cover the costs of your accidents they should honour their agreement. Furthermore I think that in the case that they have sold you a policy with the statement or even suggestion that they will repair / replace your vehicle regardless of blame they should also honour their agreement even if they have sneekily added some small print in their contract that says otherwise. I think this because as a consumer you have very little choice - there is very little difference between the small prints of these contracts. They all approximate to the same, as within the insurance industry the policies get adjusted in accordance with the experiences of all insurance companies. So if one insurance company catches a cold as a result of one loop hole they will all adjust their policies so that it doesn't happen to them.

In the UK a campaign (backed by the government) promoting clear and simple worded English was introduced in the 1990s. This has helped to make contracts clearer - but it has not helped the abysmal private vehicle insurance situation there... it seems that it is quite similar on both sides of the Atlantic.

I believe that governments should work harder to protect individuals from the bullying tactics of insurance companies. Governments need to remember that they are actually representing all of us and not just the large corporations that apparently make the money. (With out the little people who work for the corporations they wouldn't be half as rich!)

[POS]

I don't have a rental clause because I own multiple vehicles; I've never heard of the 80% rule. That's a new one to me, but I imagine it was created because some people's rental cars are nicer than their own cars and they end up bleeding the insurance company for 60 days of rental on a one-week repair. I've personally seen some people do this.

As for the "substitution" clause, that's a common addendum to insurance policies these days; my policy has the same clause. One way around that is to take the car to a dealer for repairs; some dealers won't use that cheap Chinese crap (b/c it takes longer to fit and fix the imperfections), and they'll end up bullying the insurance company for you to get their maker's parts. We did this with the wife's Lexus.

In Texas, we have the Texas Dept of Insurance; if you sick those guys on an insurance company in Texas, their attitude changes amazingly quick. I have never used the Dept of Ins for an auto claim, but we have used them for some health claims and it was amazing how well all went once the Dept of Ins was notified.

Lastly, Jim, I'm surprised that after all that ranting and raving, you feel the need to protect your insurance company by not naming them in your post.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by POS

As for the "substitution" clause, that's a common addendum to insurance policies these days; my policy has the same clause. One way around that is to take the car to a dealer for repairs; some dealers won't use that cheap Chinese crap (b/c it takes longer to fit and fix the imperfections), and they'll end up bullying the insurance company for you to get their maker's parts. We did this with the wife's Lexus.

The car was taken to an expert body shop that specializes in cars that fix and repaint damaged high end autos like Ferraris, Porsches ande Rolls Royces.

Compared to that, the dealer's body shop work would likely be indifferent and inferior, despite quick access to FoMoCo parts.

However your remark about their possible refusal to use non factory new parts sounds like a good one....

Originally Posted by POS

In Texas, we have the Texas Dept of Insurance; if you sick those guys on an insurance company in Texas, their attitude changes amazingly quick. I have never used the Dept of Ins for an auto claim, but we have used them for some health claims and it was amazing how well all went once the Dept of Ins was notified.

Lastly, Jim, I'm surprised that after all that ranting and raving, you feel the need to protect your insurance company by not naming them in your post.

While I am surprised you have chosen to dismss my remarks as "ranting and raving" and by implication worthless, they are offered as a snapshot of current industry policies, and therefore meant as cautionary....

The reason the company, (who you'd recognize instantly!)was not named.... is because given their practices (they tried to bully me away from this shop by claiming they would reinburse "only at the PREVAILING local hourly labor rate", but, when pressed did NOT know what it was in my area.)

....and they have an in house army of constipated lawyers that would like nothing better than to sue for defamation or libel or slander, everything but the kitchen sink.

I don't need that.

[TheDon]

got a problem with perfectly good junkyard parts?

[Hatterasguy]

Why do you need a rental you have the Mercedes? Its only going to be in the shop for a few days.

[davestlouis]

I'm no fan of aftermarket parts, but have NO objection to salvage parts...after all it is a used car, like EVERY other car on the road. I have used salvage parts on just about every car I've ever wrecked or otherwise damaged. The thing is this...a new bumper cover just needs to be scothchbrited and painted, but a salvage cover needs "clean up" time, which would be an hour or two to knock the existing finish off to remove stone chips and other imperfections, which will sometimes drive the cost of the salvage part above the cost of a new part.

I was an estimator in a body shop for 4 years, and a shop that is worth a hoot will duke it out with the insurance company...they don't want to apply their shop's warranty if they're working with crap parts any more than you want the shop using crap parts.

There's an aftermarket vendor locally called "Certi-Fit" that is referred to as "sorta-fit", which is pretty close to the truth.

Two observations:

1. It sounds like all these provisions are in you policy, did you read it?

2. I haven't heard the term "Communist China" since .....well, since the place was actually run by communists.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Why do you need a rental you have the Mercedes? Its only going to be in the shop for a few days.

Because the policy (sort of) pays for one, Enterprise found a rental that is EXACTLY the same year make and model that my red Grand Marquis is, already, except it is silver, my
portion is only $9.91 a day, there is NO wear and tear, on the Mercedes, the Mercedes is black, its AC crapped out a week ago in 104* weather, and it is summer here and a misery to drive a black car with no working AC, because the body shop can't find a brand new bumper cover anywhere at all in California and can't find a used one either, even though he put in an "emergency order for one" and the Ford Lincoln Mercury dealer is scouring the state for one, this may take more than a few days, and because the rental Grand Marquis has good AC, is comfortable and familiar to me, no mileage limit applies and I have to use it to go to LA and back this week, and don't want to suffer in the summer heat in my black, AC conked out Mercedes, and put a needless 1,000 more miles on it.


Are those enough reasons, yet, or shall I keep going?

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by TheDon

got a problem with perfectly good junkyard parts?

Yes, there is often hidden or hard or impossible to spot, old damage on them.


It is a practically a brand new car.

Why should it have junkyard parts on it?


Would YOU like driving around in an almost new car you just bought, with junkyard parts on it? Let me ask you THAT.

[Txjake]

Originally Posted by layback40

Try finding a flag that is not made in China !!!

there is a company in Oklahoma City that makes US flags of all sizes.

[Txjake]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Why do you need a rental you have the Mercedes? Its only going to be in the shop for a few days.

that's not the point. He has been paying for what he thought was for a straightforward rental car program during a time when his contracted vehicle was unavailable. That was not what he found out that he had. While one could say that he should have read his policy, the way th erental policy, as described, is implemented sucks and is unfair.

Originally Posted by Txjake

that's not the point. He has been paying for what he thought was for a straightforward rental car program during a time when his contracted vehicle was unavailable. That was not what he found out that he had. While one could say that he should have read his policy, the way th erental policy, as described, is implemented sucks and is unfair.

If someone is unable to understand a contract, they should not sign it untill they ask questions. The insurance agents are generally more than willing to explain the policy options. If someone simple chooses the cheapest policy available, there will be limitations in the coverage.

[TnBob]

Not to hijack the thread ..but how about a company name Txjake ?