Founders Insurance Co.
1645 Birchwood Ave.
P.O. Box 5100
Des Plaines, IL 60018
(847) 768-0040
On the evening of Friday, September 9 in a parking lot in Elgin, IL., a vehicle insured by the above insurance company struck our parked van and fled the scene.including myself, there are two eye witnesses to the accident. The license plate of the offending vehicle was recorded and immediately reported to the police. Within minutes, the Elgin, IL Police Dept. Tracked the plate down to a nearby residence where they discovered the vehicle parked in the owners' driveway. Upon further investigation by the police, they talked to the passenger of the offending vehicle who was at that residence and he admitted to being in the vehicle at the time the driver backed into our car and drove away. However, he claimed he only knew the drivers name as "Jesus" and that he had left minutes before. The police also discovered that the registered owner has a suspended drivers license. Neither myself nor the other eye witness could identify who was driving the vehicle that struck ours.
We reported the incident to Christina Kane at the above insurance agency when they opened on Monday 9/12 and filed a claim to repair the damages caused by their insured clients' vehicle. The above insurance agency had requested copies of the police report and a letter stating the events of the accident. This alone is odd because any insurance agency can obtain police reports of their insured themselves. Later, they had also sent us a Founders Insurance form to fill out that resembled a police report. Some of the information they requested was our Social Security number, our insurance policy number, our coverage type, our deductable and where we worked. Needless to say, we did not give them that information as they have absolutely no relevant need for it. We have taken our vehicle to the body shop that Founders Insurance Co. Suggested for an estimate. The recommended body shop seemed shady and had a large calendar with scantly clad women hanging in plain sight of the customers. I will say that my wife was uncomfortable with the establishment.
It has been over three months and in excess of 10 phone calls have been placed to Founders Insurance Co. Checking on the status of the claim. When they actually returned our calls, each response has been that "they are still investigating it and can not reach the owner". To this date, absolutely nothing had been done to pay for the damages caused by their clients' vehicle. We have also filed a complaint with the BBB, The Illinois Division of Insurance and Professional Regulations, and the Des Plaines, IL. Chamber of Commerce.
It is in our opinion that Founders Insurance Co. Is clearly avoiding paying a claim in their hopes that we would have our highly reputable insurance company take care of it. Regardless of who was driving the vehicle, the fact of the matter is that the vehicle that Founders Insurance Company insured, struck our parked vehicle in plain view of two separate witnesses and fled the scene. This form of business practice is fraudulent as far as I am concerned and should be eradicated from the insurance business.
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