First of all, let me say that I in no way blame the insurance agents that sell Safeway Insurance. They more or less only collect the money and I understand that. Here is the situation:
On June 1 at approx: 8:15 PM I was involved in an auto accident in Jasper, Alabama. I was sitting in a line of cars at a red light near the Home Depot on Hwy 118 West. I was at a full stop for probably 30 seconds when I was rear ended and knocked into the car that was in front of me, in return knocking that car into a pickup in front of them. The vehicle that hit me was driven by two mexicans that got out of the car and took off running from the scence. Thanks to a great person that was nearby one of the individuals was brought back to the scene and handed over to the police. The police officer said that he had been drinking and put him in his car. The other one was never found. No one involved in the accident was injured.
As per on my insurance card I called Safeway to report the accident, I was given a recording stating that the office was closed and to leave a message which I did. On Monday I received a call from a representative asking what went on in the accident. So I went through the whole story. I was then told someone would contact me to talk about the damage to the car. On Tuesday this guy calls and I go through the whole thing again of what happened. He then asked where the car was. I told him and he said " Do you think the car is totaled?" I told him I did not know as I was not a mechanic or body repairman. He said that he would come out on Wednesday to look at the car and let me know if it was a total loss. Later Tuesday afternoon he calls back to tell me he will not be coming on Wednesday to check the car, because he has another one to check in Jasper on Friday and since gas is so high he will check them both on Friday. Jasper is about 30 miles from his office. I was very disappointed, but tried to remain calm till Friday. He told me he would call me around lunch time and let me know if it was a total loss.
On Friday, I wait till 1 PM and hear nothing from them, so I call him and leave a voicemail. He never returns the call, but around 2PM I receive a call from a woman in the "Total Loss Department" to tell me the car was a total loss and to make me an offer on it. Now I had done my homework on what this car was worth. The car was a 1997 Toyota Camry with 141,000 miles. Low mileage averageing less than 15,000 miles a year and completely clean on the inside. I talked with the Vice President of a bank, a car lot owner and looked up the values online via NADA and Kelly Blue Book. Both of the gentleman told me not to take less than $5500.00 - $6000.00 for the car. That the car was actually worth more now than when we bought it because of high gas prices. I was also toled if worse come to worse and we could not agree on a price to tell them to find me another car just like the one that was wrecked.
She makes an offer of 3700.00 for the car. I told her that I would not accept it. I then told her that the car was worth more than that. She said that they pull an ACC report that gives you fair value of the car and that all of the other reorts and people I have talked to are WRONG! That I can pretty much take it or leave it. I then told her that they needed to find me a car to replace it. I was told that they were not in the car finding business! I was so mad by this point that I told her I would call her back later.
I made contact with her again about 4 PM. I asked her if they had any intentions on going after the people that hit me? She said what do you mean? I asked if she had seen a copy of the police report - se said no! I then asked how they can make a decision on what to do with out it and if she would like for me to fax her a copy - she refused. I then asked her to apply the $500.00 deductible back to the offer as I did not feel that I should pay that since they had totaled the car. She said NO. I said then is it worth $500.00 to save a customer - she replied - "That's your choice". I told her then that I needed to talk with my wife to see what she wanted to do. The woman told me that she was leaving so she could go to her other job and could not wait for me to call back.
So here we are on Sunday - June 9 - No Car, No Money, and NO help from the insurance company. I guess I will have no choice but to take their pidley offer. And will have a whole $122.00 left over after I pay off the balanace. I want to know if this is the way that other insurance companies handle things like this? I wouls never reccommend Safeway to anyone. Why do I have to suffer the loss on this when I was not at fault in anyway?
A word of advice - If you sign up with Safeway Insurance and need to file a claim (even if you are THEIR customer - God help someone filing a claim against them!), be sure to take along a jar of VASELINE - YOU ARE GOING TO NEED IT!!!
Keith
Delmar, Alabama
U.S.A.
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