Insurance Companies Suck!

[tofu]

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[Brucom]

What's the insurance company of the guy who hit you?

[tbn.al]

I've been the insurance business for 30 years. All insurance companies do not suck. Unfortunately the story you just related proves that at least one does. In fact suck is a mild term to describe what they are putting you through. Place a call to your state insurance commissioner's fraud/complaints department and file a formal complaint againt that company. You might file one in their home state as well. Don't worry about pissing them off. They have already proved what they are made out of and the screwing has already started. Your company is really powerless to help you unless the guy really didn't have insurance and you can claim under uninsured motorist coverage, or unless you had purchased physical damage coverage on your car. I doubt the latter because you said it was 30 years old. Getting an attorney may be the only way out, but you will have to pay them somewhere around 30% of the settlement. If I can help advise or whatever pm me.

[TubaRay]

SICKO
I hate michel moore but this is the 2nd most impoarant movie
of our times behind an inconvient truth.
Just be glad your not one of the MEDICAL INSURANCE COMPANY VICTOMS.
Of course, get lawyer who specalizes in this stuff and
CALL THE BETTER BUISNESS BURAU

Ah! Now we have an intelligent, well-worded response from the left side of the audience. I believe have all been enlightened. Whew!

[windshieldbug]

Insurance companies don't exist to give you good service; insurance companies exist to make money!

[MartyNeilan]

In the last couple of weeks, my wife's car was hit twice and mine once. We have full coverage on both cars. None of the accidents were our fault, according the police, insurance companies, and other drivers (in 2 of 3 cases; third took off after causing major body damage in a parking lot.) Of course, this nonsense cost me $,$$$.$$ out of pocket anyway including deductibles, rentals, and rental insurance (a scam my wife fell for on her car.)

I do not have health insurance through my "temp" job that has lasted over 15 months so far, and my wife only has an insurance "debit card" through her permanent employer. I looked into private insurance, but once she was pregnant it was too late for coverage. So, our recent addition to the family cost us $,$$$.$$ out of pocket.

Now, my wife is diagnosed with an enlarged spleen and Pleurisy. The cost of the tests alone have been high; not to mention what the treatment, if any, will cost. Private insurance is once again not an option, as these are now "previously existing conditions" and will not be covered.

So, much of our "house fund" from savings coupled with selling all my instruments has now dried up. And our marriage has taken another rachet down because buying a house is now off the table for at least another year or two.

And to top it all off, my closest maternal relative, my grandmother, passed away recently. So, with the passing of my grandfather, step-father, and now grandmother I have virtually no roots except for a wife that hates me more days than not. (My mother and I disowned each other at 14)

My solution to all of this...
Take what is left and try to get a BAT.
(although I think my wife misunderstood me today when she brought home a second CAT).

[MikeMason]

This will sound trite and maybe insensitive,though not intended.I was in Starbucks today and noticed all employees,even part time,are eligible for health insurance.My wife has had multiple health problems.Insurance coverage comes before pay in any job decision we may make...It might even be worth teaching band...(for you,not me ).

[MartyNeilan]

So, shouldn't your insurance company be handling all of this?

I can't speak for anyone else, but in all three of my cases, my insurance company told me to contact the other person's company. In the case where it was unknown, it fell under collision.
The other insurance companies were less than friendly to me about settling the claims and in one case were downright rude, even though it was obvious their client had hit me.

[LoyalTubist]

For what it's worth, Joe, in Vietnam the drinking age is 18 but the ages for marriage are 20 for women and 22 for men. Most people don't drive cars. Traffic is 99.9% motorcycles.

[LoyalTubist]

What did I say? If I meant motorscooters, I would have said motorscooters.

Motorcycles!

[MartyNeilan]

This will sound trite and maybe insensitive,though not intended.I was in Starbucks today and noticed all employees,even part time,are eligible for health insurance.My wife has had multiple health problems.Insurance coverage comes before pay in any job decision we may make...It might even be worth teaching band...(for you,not me ).

That's why I got a music ed degree a couple of years ago! Too bad I can't find a public school job anywhere near where my wife wants to live.
Unfortunately, when doing computer contracting, there are usually no benefits. The hourly pay is supposed to compensate for it, but mine is a fraction of what it should be due to my 4+ year hiatus from the field to pursue my ed degree. The company that farms me out keeps half of what I make and does not currently offer the option to buy health insurance directly through them. I haven't had a paid sick day / personal day in the last 15 months, either, and many "standard" holidays have gone unpaid. All the regular employees at where I work are very well taken care of, however. The company still does not want to hire me on, because as a non-profit they try to maintain a small headcount at the home office to please their board. The contractors are "off the books" as employees and noone outside our building even knows we exist; we come out of a totally different "special project" budget.

[tubatooter1940]

Most homeowner policies in our area have been cancelled because of two hurricanes in 2006 and the fact that we live too close to the beach.
My insurance company offered to continue wind and hail coverage on my house for and EXTRA $4000 per year. I thanked them for throwing us under the bus for one claim paid and decided to purchase homeowners coverage from another company without wind, hail or flood coverage.
Since I nailed another roof over my old one and all trees that could get me are already down, and my house is brick, we decided to pay a contractor rather than insurance companies and pay half what we were paying for homeowners insurance.

[tbn.al]

I believe it is your insurance company's job to represent your interests in this case. In other words, you should be bugging YOUR insurance company not his. You pay YOUR insurance company. If you are unhappy with the service, you can stop using them. The same is not true with the other guys, so they are going to do everything they can to blow you off.

Unfortunately, if he had not purchased physical damage on his truck, which he probably hadn't since the truck was 30 years old, his insurance company is powerless to help. There is no coverage under the liability portion of the policy to cover his truck damages, rental car, loss of wages, etc. When you don't purchase the coverage they can't pay a claim.

[Alex F]

If you continue to have major problems with the other guy's insurance company, contact the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation - Division of Insurance, which can be found here:

http://www.idfpr.com/doi/default2.asp

This Division will determine whether the other insurance company is authorized to operate in Illinois. If not, they can refer to to the state counterpart in whatever state they did operate.

From my experience, the DOI is fairly good about addressing and resolving consumer complaints, assuming that they have proper jurisdiction. Insurance companies get letters from lawyers all the time. They have to respond to the agency that determines whether or not they can operate in Illinois and failure to do so can get their authorization to operate pulled.

You still may wish to consult with a lawyer to determine what your legal options might be. No offense meant, but well-meaning friends, neighbors, and the TNFJ are no substitute for a professional who deals with this stuff all the time.

Good luck.

[MartyNeilan]

In the last couple of weeks, my wife's car was hit twice and mine once.

My wife's car was clipped today by someone who crossed the line and didn't even notice it was there. This is getting freakin' ridiculous! Fortunately damage this time was very minimal. And, of course, the other car just kept going. She is probably going to trade her dark green (aka invisible against blacktop) little Civic tomorrow for a bright RED Ford (we will give you any deal to not go out of business) Fusion with a stickshift.