Automobile Insurance
Sat., November 8, 05:26 PM
I know there are people who work in the insurance industry who are honest and efficient and aware of customer needs. I have met a few of them in the past. I have also met some of the stupidest and/or nastiest people imaginable. I can envision a Hell for them, being forced to deal with each other and enduring the same sick feeling that I get in the pit of my stomach whenever I hear about an auto accident. Even if it doesn’t affect me.
Many years ago Husband and I insured our home and our car with a Famous Large Insurance Corporation. The FLIC had come well recommended and, from the buyer’s viewpoint, there isn’t a whole lot of difference. I learned, however, that problems may arise when you put in a claim. On several occasions I waited on hold to talk to unresponsive representatives (after which, of course, I ended up paying damages out of my pocket). So I decided to look elsewhere.
I chose another Well Known Insurance Corporation that promised good customer service. (The prices were about the same.) I moved both house and car to the new company, as I was well aware that it was really the house insurance they wanted. (Someone in the business explained that to me, separate from anyone who was trying to sell me anything.) The WKIC was very good after some kids threw a snowball through our window, and I was pleased with my choice. And then (about twenty years ago) I got a letter from them saying they were terminating my auto insurance because there were points on my license! What?!
I told Husband that we needed an agent, someone to make all the phone calls and do all the research. It would be well worth the extra cost to take that responsibility off my shoulders. And we got the name of an agency and signed up with a woman who came highly recommended. She was all they said and more. She was great. First thing she did was call the Motor Vehicle Department, get the information and call me back: “There are no points on your license.” And with that I was happy to transfer my house and personal property insurance to her as well as the auto. Though occasionally she had to change the carrier for us, she continued to look out for our interests, and I was happy – a happy as I could ever be – with our insurance. And the person who handled our account after she retired was almost as good.
Well, our insurance carrier was sold, and resold, and eventually it became a part of – you guessed it – that same old Famous Large Insurance Company. It took them two years just to get the names straightened out; we were writing one check to the FLIC and one to the old company. I was apprehensive, to put it mildly.
Last spring they lost one of my payments; they warned me I could be canceled if I didn’t pay. It was paid, it had been subtracted from my checking account. The agency worked as my advocate – speaking with the company, giving them tracking information, following it on the computer. Eventually someone got around to posting the payment that had been made several weeks earlier, and the FLIC sent me a letter informing me that my policy would not be canceled and graciously telling me that, since I had always been a prompt customer, they would not charge me the late fee. Bastards!
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, U.D. had an accident with the geezermobile a couple of weeks ago. The FLIC has gone out of its way to perform badly. U.D. heard from one representative; I think that one had been contacted through her attorney. Then she got a call from a second representative. She had to straighten that out by faxing both of them. Then she got a call from an adjuster who was going to look at the car, which she had been driving despite its damage. He declared it totaled.
It took him another day to get her authorization for a rental car. The next day another representative called (that makes four) to say she couldn’t have the rental. (How did I know it was a different rep? They always call my number first, because it’s my policy. When she talks to them, she gives them her number.) They extended the rental two more days – in which she had to find another car and arrange everything in order to buy it.
Yesterday I mailed the title to the FLIC (they wanted her to drive to Hartford to bring it to them) and took the plates off the geezermobile. I went to the bank and got an “official check” for the payment. And U.D. signed up with another agent and company for her car, which we picked up this morning.
Then I went home and wrote a very satisfying letter to my insurance agent. “The 1990 Geezermobile covered by the above-referenced policy has been totaled, and the title has been forwarded to FLIC.” And “the driver U.D., assigned to the aforementioned vehicle, has elected to insure elsewhere.” I was writing, I told them, because I couldn’t be sure that FLIC would notify them, but I want an adjustment to my policy.
I gave this agency the first chance to find me private health insurance, but they took so long to respond to my inquiry that I used another agency. When I speak with them, I will spell it out for them, since they just don’t seem to get it. Just as U.D. has chosen to insure elsewhere, I will change too if they can’t do right by me.
