I am filing this report in order to prevent others from getting the shaft from Progressive like I did. I chose Progressive because they offered the lowest rates for car insurance, and now I know why.
A few months ago, another car swerved into my lane and caused a collision, despite my best efforts to avoid it. The police arrived at the scene quickly. After hearing the account of the collision from the other driver and me, and assessing the scene of the collision, they concluded that the other driver was completely at fault for the collision.
I notified my insurance company, Progressive, of the collision (as I was supposed to do) and that I was going to be filing a claim with the other driver's insurance company in case the other driver wanted to file a claim against Progressive. They automatically started a claim as though I wanted to file a claim under my collision insurance. Despite repeated attempts at explaining that all I wanted to do was to notify them of the collision and that I did not want to use my collision insurance at that time, they continued to say that their policy was to immediately file a claim under my collision insurance.
After much hassle, I finally got that sorted out only to find that Progressive was trying to give me the shaft again. To make a long story short... Progressive is claiming that I was partially at fault for the collision. Not only do the pictures of my car, the pictures of the scene of the collision, and my statement verify that I was completely not at fault, the police report, the other driver's statement, and even HIS pictures prove that I was completely not at fault.
Despite all this evidence (I even went so far as to meet with my agent in person to explain the evidence), Progressive refuses to agree that the collision was not my fault. They keep citing the comparative negligence law which states that had I not acted in the manner that a prudent driver would have, then I, too, would be responsible in part for the collision.
I have asked Progressive to find any evidence that I did not act in the manner of a prudent driver, but they cannot; whenever I question them about how the comparative negligence law applies to my case in particular, they either respond with hypothetical scenarios that do not apply to my case or they claim that because the other driver was hit directly in the rear (which is obviously not the case as proven by the pictures of the cars), that I am partially at fault.
To make matters worse, my body shop refuses to have any contact with Progressive (and I can see why!). Progressive has said that despite my right to choose any body shop to repair my car, they are unhappy with the shop I have chosen because it usually uses new parts to repair vehicles (by the way, my vehicle is less than a year old). They claim that they have, "in good faith", tried to negotiate with my shop which they have not.
While I have offered to move my car to another shop, Progressive refuses to pay the storage charges incurred by the original body shop. I feel that Progressive has not upheld their contractual obligations toward me.
They refuse to accept that I was completely not at fault, despite the obvious and overwhelming evidence that proves such, in order to avoid paying me my deductible of $1000. Along with this, they would only be paying me a partial amount of the total damages to my car, while surcharging my insurance rates.
This is obviously a win/win situation for both Progressive and the other driver's insurance company, while the other driver and I get the shaft. Quite a nice set up they've got, wouldn't you say?
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