I am acting as an advocate for a friend who was in an accident in June 2002. His car hydroplaned and rolled two times. He was not speeding. There were witnesses. He did not receive a ticket. The only good thing about this story is that we walked away without a scratch.
Allstate Insurance is the insured. They have denied totaling this vehicle for over nine months now. There have been multiple repairs to the vehicle, which is stil undriveable to this date (3/12/03). Repairs on the vehicle are at bout $15,000 to date. This young man has lost a full scholarship to college. His mother lives in one county and his school is in another county. There was no money for housing. His mother is the sole bread winner for the household and works split shifts as a nurse. After spending $1,100 in vehicle rental charges, the young man finally had to give up on having any kind of transportation.
I got involved, because this just made me sick to my stomache. The young man's comment: "...they have ruined my life for the past nine months. I don't even know where to turn from here." Their response: They evidently feel that they have done their part in upholding the contractual agreement with the unsured.
The story gets even more absurd. It has been 25 days since I first called their company to get agressive about demanding a quick settlment. No one seems to be moving very quickly here to me. If I were a Philadelpha lawyer, not a 20 year old Jamaican American kid with a kind hearted spirit, this claim would have been settled in 7 to 10 days. Wow, I wonder if that has anything to do with this? That would be despicable, wouldn't it.
We clearly communicated other issues as well. Why should this young man take back a vehicle that will be depreciated almost a full year's worth without having had the opportunity to drive it for that past year? It seems that there is another issue with "diminished value" of vehicles involved in accidents. In a few states, including Florida, Allstate and others have been sued. Insureds found that when they sold vehicles that had extensive accident-related work done on them, they were not able to sell them for a standard book price.
The vehicles had a diminished value. This stands to reason. Evidently, if you incur a loss of $1,000 or more on the resale of a vehicle that has been repaired like this, you may have a claim against your insurer. What you do is supply sales documents to them and make claim on the basis of "diminished value." They have the option of paying you the difference or getting sued via class action.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? For starters, read my diary. I have invited Mr. Liddy to do so (CEO). I am going to let you take this little nightmare of a journey with me. We'll give you daily updates, good information about class action suits, phone numbers of attorneys. Look for key words like "Allstate" "diminished value" "class action suit" "unfair auto claim practices"....and remember,don't be bullied. If they aren't playing fair, do two things: publicize what is happening to you and swiftly hire a lawyer for $250 to write a demand letter. While you are at it, ask them to pay the $250 as well. Make a report to the state insurance commissioner's office. Jump on any class actions that are suitable to your situation.
I havee written my insurance cronicles. I have entered them under my ficticious screen name (the author of this report). This diary is amusing. It has had a very cathartic affect on me in that it is a publicist's nightmare. And its all verifiably true.
There is no class action suit going in Florida for the stalling and bullying tactics that the company uses. Their methods are highly effective, from what I am told. A lot of folks just take what they dish out, from what others say. I think the attorney general's offices on the state level should start to get involved here. It seems that something severe should happen here.
Sarahbhardy (screen name)
33186, Florida
U.S.A.