On August 3rd of 2006 I was involved in a car accident. Allstate determined that the fault was mine although the ticket was dismissed by the judge. My car, 1998 Honda Civic EX has a front end damage and repair would approximately cost $2000.00
My car was towed to the Allstate preferred body shop. A couple of weeks later, my Allstate agent called and stated that it's taking a while for Allstate to decide whether to repair the damages or to call it a total loss. Later, I was contacted by Allstate again, except this time, I was advised that there are problems. Around that time, I found out that my car was disassembled without my authorization. Body shop stated that it is a normal procedure.
Adjuster from Allstate decided that my car was involved in an accident previously to my ownership and that it wasn't properly repaired!
Allstate decided not to pay for the entire repair and basically shorting me by close to $1000.00 Later they also shorted me by not covering a week's or more cost of the rental.
I contacted my agent and asked for another adjuster to reinspect the damages. My agent stated that he will get the manager to come out and met with me while reinspecting the damages.
I received a call from the adjuster, except it wasn't a call to setup an appointment and meet with him. The context of the conversation came down to the fact that he had already reinspected the car. Adjuster stated that he knows exactly what he is doing, that he was in car repair business for a very long time and that I'm not going to get a check for the entire repair. Adjuster had also stated that my car was damaged and not properly repaired prior to my ownership! Then he stated that whatever wasn't properly repaired prior to my ownership Allstate is not liable to fix.
When I purchased the car, I was assured by the dealer that it wasn't involved in an accident and it definitely didn't look like it was.
I know that the car was in good condition and that it was drivable the second before the accident happened. I also know that the radiator core wasn't damaged before the accident on 08-03-06 and now it's damaged. I opened the hood so many times as well as the mechanics that did tune-ups and oil changes, are we all blind? Was there something for 4 years that was twisted and kept itself invisible until the accident?
What damage does Allstate expects to find when one car hits another car going 35 or 40 mph? I guess Allstate expects to find some cosmetic damages.
Body shop had agreed to put my car back together. Well, at least they told my wife over the phone that they will put it back together, before the hung-up the phone twice on her!
The car was never put back together, Crash One however managed to put the damaged parts inside the car (bumper, fender, grill headlight plus whatever else they removed).
The car was towed to my residence and dropped off in a front of the house in disassembled condition. What about the mandated by law obligation to get the car in condition before the accident?
The car is still in disassembled condition as I don't have the extra funds to repair it yet. I'm still liable to make the payments to the lender as the car is still financed and I'm still liable to insure the car that I can't drive! I had to purchase another car, to avoid similar situations. I decided that new car is a way to go.
I guess it's OK to collect the premiums for Four years and state that whenever something happens we will pay for everything minus the deductible. But in actuality, it turns out that Allstate is not paying up, not in every case anyway.
Above is just a brief description of the abuse I had to take from Allstate. I have a permanent medical condition and the last thing I need, is to suffer this kind of moral, emotional and financial distress!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
Alex
Lake In The Hills, IL, Illinois
U.S.A.
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