Car Accident Insurance Action

[royiv 9324]

14 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

This still applies. Always claim your own insurance and let them figure it out. They have way more lawyers and way more clout than you.

This is horrible advice. Making a claim on your own insurance should be your last resort unless you enjoy higher premiums.

3 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I just switched from usaa to progressive two months ago. This insurance company is theirs. 

And get better insurance. Progressive DGAF.

[Sam Lin 3559]

Sorry, I just read up and Texas has no law preventing rate raise if not at fault. I've been only used to states that do have that legal protection (many do).

I did give bad advice for Texas. Don't claim your own insurance unless other party's insurance is absolutely not working with you.

[Dbeasy 15066]

Appreciate the input. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

4 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Sorry, I just read up and Texas has no law preventing rate raise if not at fault. I've been only used to states that do have that legal protection (many do).

I did give bad advice for Texas. Don't claim your own insurance unless other party's insurance is absolutely not working with you.

You can always count on the State of Texas to side with its citizens over corporations

[Dbeasy 15066]

Well, the accident situation is rapidly growing dark. 

Even though the other party was clearly at fault and was cited by the police officer, and admitted it to him at the scene, the insurance company is just blowing me off so far. They took my statement but that’s it. They keep saying someone will contact me to assess damage but it’s been a week and nothing. A week isn’t too bad, but I can tell from my interactions their game plan is to stall forever. 

In researching it a bit further, there appears to be no state law requiring them to respond in a certain timeframe because it’s not my insurance company. It’s theirs. 

So, I’m left with either needing a lawyer to send a strongly worded demand letter, or going ahead and filing with my insurance. And because Texas has no law that prohibits them from raising rates even though it’s not my fault, I’m probably starting at rate increases due to someone else’s bullshit. Any ideas?

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

File a complaint with TDI or start going up the ladder.  When I worked at SF back in the day TDI complaints were taken very seriously and would be submitted by our Section Managers after the mid level Managers response.  

[Dbeasy 15066]

Update for those that provided advice. After another few days of no responses and not being able to reach anyone on the main claim line, I filed a complaint with the TDI. They responded within a day, saying that because it was not my insurance company, they could not investigate or intervene. However, they did forward my complaint to the insurance company, including my request for TDI to investigate them for bad faith practices.

That must have gotten their attention because an assessor was at my house within a day, and the settlement check was fedex'd to me two days later. Unfortunately, they are scumbags and low balled everything in the settlement summary. While I understand that it's up to the repair shop to work the parts and labor costs, I began to get concerned I wouldn't be able to get the proper payment from them to get a quality repair done.  So, I rejected the payment and filed with my insurance.

This whole situation is making me realize that the auto insurance industry is an absolute scam. They operate in a way to basically force you to file with your own insurance, even when it isn't your fault, so that they can all constantly raise rates for "reasons". I also got a sense I was about one person out of a hundred that even tries to not file with their own insurance when it's someone else's fault.  It's almost impossible.  Eff'em.

[C-Man 27230]

2 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Update for those that provided advice. After another few days of no responses and not being able to reach anyone on the main claim line, I filed a complaint with the TDI. They responded within a day, saying that because it was not my insurance company, they could not investigate or intervene. However, they did forward my complaint to the insurance company, including my request for TDI to investigate them for bad faith practices.

That must have gotten their attention because an assessor was at my house within a day, and the settlement check was fedex'd to me two days later. Unfortunately, they are scumbags and low balled everything in the settlement summary. While I understand that it's up to the repair shop to work the parts and labor costs, I began to get concerned I wouldn't be able to get the proper payment from them to get a quality repair done.  So, I rejected the payment and filed with my insurance.

This whole situation is making me realize that the auto insurance industry is an absolute scam. They operate in a way to basically force you to file with your own insurance, even when it isn't your fault, so that they can all constantly raise rates for "reasons". I also got a sense I was about one person out of a hundred that even tries to not file with their own insurance when it's someone else's fault.  It's almost impossible.  Eff'em.

For the industry as a whole, you're not completely wrong. This is why it's always best to have coverage with one of the handful of high net worth (this is kind of a misnomer as HNW doesn't mean the same thing to the insurance world as it does in the wealth management/advisory world) if you qualify. It will likely cost a little more but you'll be much, much happier in a claims situation as it will get handled much quicker and much more fairly than the "give us 15 minutes and we'll save you $500" companies that advertise more than beer companies. (The carriers I'm talking about are Chubb, AIG, PURE, Cincinnati, Nationwide Private Client, Vault and Berkeley One, currently.)