We were in a car accident when an 84-year-old woman made a left turn 65 feet in front of oncoming traffic, which was me, in an intersection.
She had Allstate insurance, and so did we. We thought this would make everything so easy. How wrong we were!
As soon as Allstate realized that we were going to need to be paid, we became the enemy. Our new car was totaled and we were rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. It became obvious that Allstate was not going to cooperate with us.
We did get a lawyer in order to get what Allstate was reluctant to give us in the way of compensatory damages, and because of that they had to defend the woman, who had received a ticket at the scene!
Allstate has adopted a hard-ball attitude that simply delays at every opportunity with appeals and offers that do not even cover the costs of the accident and the lawyers. After two years I still do not have a settlement. They have appealed, and I could end up with nothing, or not enough to pay my costs, after paying Allstate for car insurance.
Allstate's new policy is that the longer they take to pay, the more likely you are to settle for whatever they offer you, just to end the drama. The net outcome for them is also that, over a year and just for the USA, they could save over $50 million. I can see their motivation, but whatever happened to the "good hands" you are supposed to be in?
So if you have an accident, pray that the other party does not have Allstate, because they will stonewall you even if their insured is at fault! And it won't make any difference if you also have Allstate.
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