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  #1  
Old 04-06-2002, 10:46 AM
Palangi's Avatar
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Insurance settlement

Last September, we were rear-ended at about 50mph. My Toyota 4-Runner was totaled (rolled completely over). My injuriies were minor, but Linda's were more serious.
My insurance company (State Farm) has been great. They wrote a check for the vehicle on the 3rd day after the accident. At that point, we had not yet obtained the police report, so we didn't even know who hit us or if they had insurance, but State Farm took care of us anyway.

When we finally got the police report, it turns out the at-fault driver is insured by Progressive, so we contacted them. When their adjustor came to see me, she was a total bozo. She was loud and pushy and stupid. On about the 3rd visit, I basically told her to get lost. She left the company and a supervisor took over the case.

Linda's total medical expenses to date are about $3,500. My insurance company (State Farm) has paid each bill promptly under my Personal Injury Protection as part of my policy. Progressive hasn't done squat. Linda still has ongoing problems as a result of the accident. Ongoing headaches (the roof came down on her side when the vehicle rolled) and a bone spur on her elbow (elbow went out the window into broken glass when the vehicle rolled). Progressive has offered to settle her claims for $4,500. Since the total amount of her future medical expenses is unknown, this does not seem like a reasonable settlement to me, but they refuse to budge on that figure.

In checking around with a few folks we know in the insurance business, they say that their rule of thumb is to settle for about 3x the known medical expenses. At this point, it appears that we are probably going to have to sue the bastards in order to obtain a reasonable settlement. We're not trying to get rich here, but I think we should receive more than what they are offering, just as a hedge against future medical expenses, if nothing else. We're not interested in making any lawyers rich either. If we hire a lawyer, and he obtains a settlement of, say, $10,000, and the lawyer gets, say, $4,000, we haven't really gained anything, considering all the time and hassle.

Can anyone out there offer any advice on how to proceed with this? I'm not really looking for free legal advice, but more interested in BTDT advice. Also, if anyone out there is in the insurance business, I would greatly appreciate their input.

Thanks

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  #2  
Old 04-06-2002, 01:22 PM
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My SD was rear-ended about 6 weeks ago, pretty minor damage, but I'm getting VERY fed up with his insurance company...not surprisingly, it's Progressive.

Their customer hit ME, but I'm the one having to do all the calling and communicating, getting estimates, and yet they act like I'm a big inconvenience to THEM, and I STILL haven't gotten a check from them. It's getting a bit ridiculous and I'm about to start threatening them with a lawsuit if I don't get some results this week.

Don't budge man. Don't cave in....get what you need from them!!! Crooked bastards. For what it's worth, Progressive will NEVER, EVER get any insurance business from me.

Mike
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  #3  
Old 04-06-2002, 06:57 PM
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Thanks Mike. FWIW, when I got tired of them not returning my calls, I went to Progressive's web site and posted a message. They returned the call the next day.

I visited with my insurance agent about this. He showed me a picture of a blue and white Progressive truck at an accident scene. It wasn't delivering a check, like in the TV commercial. It was there because it rammed another car in the rear. The caption read "How can you beat claim service like this?" LOL
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2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
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  #4  
Old 04-12-2002, 10:30 PM
smalltime
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Let me start by saying that I am not an expert, but I share a home with one. Paul, the bone spur is not caused by the accident. Bone spurs are not related to trauma. They take a lot of time to develop. The headaches on the other hand, probably are related. Your wife needs to see a specialist, probably a neurologist.

I am glad to hear State Farm has been taking care of you. Their motto often holds true doesn't it, especially if you have a good relationship with your agent. Your claim rep should be the one receiving KUDOS for taking care of you though.

As far as the other company goes, my wife guessed which company it was on the first try. :p

So, before seeing a lawyer, go see a neurologist. Have your family Doctor recommend one, if it needs be. Do not allow the family Doctor to try to diagnose it, unless he or she is an expert in that arena.

One thing to keep in mind is a threatening a lawsuit will not get you anywhere. You can just get in line when it comes to filing suit. As a matter of fact, threatening a lawsuit will often cause them to drag their feet even more, and will often bring negotiations to a standstill. Once a lawyer is involved, the other party's insurance company can't talk to you about it anymore.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from contacting a lawyer, because you might need to. You need to establish what the problem is first. Bare in mind, not only will a lawyer take a large chunk of the settlement, he may take it all. A lawyer will get a percentage, plus expenses. The expenses can often be more than the claim itself. Plus, in most cases, the at fault status is not 100% and 0%. A jury may determine that you did not do everything you could do to avoid the accident. They then decide that you are 40% at fault and the other person is 60% at fault. That $10,000 claim just became worth 6 grand. Now deduct your lawyers 40% and you get $3600. Now deduct expenses, you see where I am going. But like you said, you are not trying to make some lawyer rich.

You should ask your claim rep, not your agent, but your claim rep what the statutes of limitations are in Texas, assuming the accident occured there. The claim rep may tell you that he or she cannot give legal advice. They also may tell you it is a year or two years, or whatever it may be.

Good luck with it. Let us know what happens.
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  #5  
Old 08-03-2004, 01:56 PM
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what ever came of these situations with progrressive? My car was bashed in the rearend by an unattentive driver, and the owner of the car she was driving is insured by progressive.

Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

JMH
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  #6  
Old 08-03-2004, 07:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally posted by JHZR2
what ever came of these situations with progrressive? My car was bashed in the rearend by an unattentive driver, and the owner of the car she was driving is insured by progressive.

Any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

JMH
Persistence paid off....they finally relented and paid to repair my car, at the body shop of my choosing.

And I also let them know what a ridiculous amount of time and effort and headache it took on my part, when I was completely not at fault in the accident....and I also said that, as a result of the experience, I would NEVER be a Progressive customer, and that I was going to recommend that others do not either.

....as if they care.... But it made me feel better.
Mike
__________________
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1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

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www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
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  #7  
Old 08-03-2004, 07:07 PM
MedMech
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I recently concluded a spat with progressive, they intially offered me about 1/10th of what was needed to repair my quad.

It took a month but I have a brand new one now...........get a lawyer.
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  #8  
Old 08-03-2004, 09:28 PM
Palangi's Avatar
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Progressive absolutely sucked. Getting fair price for the car wasn't the issue in this case. My insurance company (State Farm) had already written me a check for fair value for the car. Then they went after Progreesive for reimbursment. I think they call that subrogation or something.

Progressive stalled as long as they could on the medical expenses above what my policy covered. We finally got tired of their stalling and E-mailed their HQ. Within a few days we had a meeting with their adjuster honcho. We sort of had him by the short hairs. We had detailed pictures of the wrecked car and the site. We could prove that their adjuster had been jerking us around. He knew if he didn't settle it right the next step would be the state insurance board, and we also had indicated that we would happily sue their customer, so they settled on the medical expenses.

The one area where we got screwed was on the contents. Wife's dad's microwave oven was destroyed in the wreck, along with some other stuff (like my genuine Australian bush hat), but they would only pay depreciated value (peanuts) on contents. We ended up having to buy daddy a new microwave.

My advice when dealing with Progressive if they start screwing you around would be to make liberal mention of state insurance board and let them know you would sue their customer if need be.

Good luck. Sorry your car got crunched.
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2004 C240 Wagon 203.261 Baby Benz
2008 ML320 CDI Highway Cruiser
2006 Toyota Prius, Saving the Planet @ 48 mpg
2000 F-150, Destroying the Planet @ 20 mpg



TRUMP .......... WHITEHOUSE
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BERNIE .......... NUTHOUSE
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  #9  
Old 08-03-2004, 10:09 PM
Benzman500
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If I remeber the law correctly you can take the person that hit you to small claims court even if you were paid off by the insurance company. There were some stipulations on what you can sue for but it covered odds and ends like you reffered to if I recall correctly.
Do think about the future, in 1995 my dad was hit a car that pulled out infront of him in his Sierra and he slamed his shoulder against the door post resulting in 3 surgerys, endless bills, prematurea ging of the rotator cuff and pain that still occurs today. In the end they settled for a decent sum of money but in the long run it will never be enough.
Hope your a little better a few months later

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