On Tuesday March 3, my parked car (2005 Honda Civic LX) was hit by a Geico policyholder in the parking lot of my work while I was inside working at about 4:00pm. The driver of the vehicle also hit 2 other cars and injured a person. The accident was responded to by the Rockville Police Department. The drivers side rear of my car sustained a significant amount of damage, as well as a large scuff on the passengers side & later I noticed the vehicle was leaking gasoline. I called my insurance company and they directed me to call Geico to handle filing a claim. I called Geico around 5:30pm after getting home from the accident scene. Geico told me that there was nothing that could be done because my claim was handed to somebody that left work at 4:30pm. I asked them several times if there was anything they could do for me as I needed a rental car to get to work, and they said there was nothing they could do. I was directed to call Jacob Lease at 800-841-1003 ext 4089 as he would be handling my claim from now on. On Wednesday March 4 at 8:00am I called Mr Lease and he arranged a tow for my vehicle to Herson's Honda (my choice of body shop when asked) in Rockville MD, as well as a rental car from Enterprise in Rockville MD. The vehicle was towed in mid-morning and I also went to Enterprise to receive my rental car. Afterwards I went to Herson's Honda where I was informed that Geico would not be paying the full amount of the repair of my vehicle, that Geico would only pay up to $24/hr and Herson's charges $26/hr. I was confused as I hadn't heard of this before and I was under the impression that Geico would be paying the entire cost to repair my vehicle. My husband and I attempted calling Mr. Lease several times while at the body shop and he would not return my calls. My husband called the national customer service line for Geico and was informed that a woman named Maria Davidson was now handling my claim, and her number was 240-419-4689. He called this number while I was left haggling with the Herson's folks about the charges, and Ms Davidson had no idea who we were, what the case was, and kept yelling into the phone unprofessionally that she couldn't hear what he was saying (loud enough that all others in the waiting room began staring). He told her that he would call back Mr Lease and ask him again who was now handling the case. Mr Lease had no idea who Ms Davidson was or why she would be handling our case, but told us that Geico would pay for the entire cost of the repair of the vehicle, but also that the Geico adjuster had not even gone to look at the car yet. He instructed us to wait until the adjuster viewed the vehicle and that someone would get back to us afterwards to let us know the estimated cost of repairs. My husband & I left the body shop and went home to wait for a phone call. No one ever called. The following day, Thursday March 5 around noon I received a call from Robert Reid (240-372-6403) who identified himself as the adjuster for Geico. He told me that he looked at the vehicle and we discussed the damage to the car and he ended the phone call without any further comment about if repairs were to proceed or not. At around 3:30pm that day, I received a call from Hersons Honda from a lady named Michelle explaining to me that Geico was telling the dealership that they were still not paying the full costs of the repair, and that they also wanted to replace the original Honda parts that were on the vehicle with cheaply made aftermarket parts. I immediately became angry as I was told the entire cost would be covered just a day prior, and also because my vehicle had not been involved in an accident before this incident, I wanted my car to be restored to its original condition as it was prior to getting hit in the parking lot. She told me to call Geico and talk to them about it, and that the mechanics would not proceed in repairing the vehicle until everything was resolved. Since I was at work, I had my husband call Mr Lease again to ask what was going on with our claim. He was informed that any issues would have to be taken up with the adjuster, so he called Mr Reid. Mr Reid instructed him to call his supervisor, Eric Thomas (240-682-1498). My husband talked to Mr Thomas on the phone for several hours, as well as Mr Reid and Allstate Insurance Company (my insurance provider) and Geico finally reached an agreement that the car would be fixed and the entire cost of repairs would be covered by Geico, and that the parts to be replaced would only be Honda manufactured in good condition, not aftermarket parts. We called back Hersons Honda to let them know that the insurance company agreed to this and supplied the phone numbers of both Mr Reid and Mr Thomas so that they could call to confirm. On Friday March 6 my husband called Hersons Honda on my behalf to ask if work had begun on the car and Michelle told him that the insurance company was not returning her phone calls. It is now Monday March 9 and my car is still sitting in the yard at Hersons Honda in Rockville and Geico is making no attempts to begin work on my vehicle. Geico is also not answering any phone calls from my husband and I in regards to having the vehicle fixed.
Nicole
Gaithersburg, Maryland
U.S.A.
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