Anybody know how car insurance appraisals work?

[Edonidd]

Insurance companies are the absolute worst.

I was in the accident 1-28 and started the claim process that evening. It really didn't start until the 29th though because that's when I went to the impound lot, signed over the vehicle andgot photos for them to start the preliminary process. 3 weeks later before they gave me their best and final offer and I had to go with the appraisal clause.

Another 3 weeks later and my appraiser tells me they're dragging their feet and now insisting on getting an umpire to arbitrate the dispute of the 2 "neutral party" appraisers. My insurance company is trying to insist on using one of their small select list of approved umpires, while my appraiser sent back a list of nationally approved actual neutral 3rd party umpires. It doesn't sound like this will even get done this week at this point.

Meanwhile I've been without a car for 6 weeks now, have already made 2 payments on the car that's been considered totaled for a month and a half, and I'm not in the financial situation where I can just go out and buy another brand new vehicle while waiting. Its getting pretty frustrating.

Ha ha ha! It's funny how naive I was.

So to update from that point, my appraiser tried to insist on using a page full of people as mediators. All of them were approved by other insurance companies and/or the actual manufacturers to be the sole appraiser for them. Progressives hired appraiser refused to work with any of them. They gave us a list of 4 names who were the only people they would accept as arbitrators. My appraiser said I had to call them and pick whichever I got the best feeling from, and then I had to pay them.

1. I called on Monday. No answer, went straight to a generic voice-mail (you've called such a d such number. Leave a message after the tone.) I was assuming it was the right number but had no way to know for sure. I left a message with my name and number and the details. I also called and left messages on Wednesday, Friday, the following Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, and Fri. To this date they have never returned my calls.
2. The guy I called flat out refused to do it. He said he was based in Pennsylvania and didn't want to travel to Michigan. He did recommend a different guy, but since my Insurance company would only accept those 4 people I didn't call him. 5 minutes later the recommended guy called me and offered to take the job. He said he was in New York, but could do it all over the phone. He seemed like a complete D-bag, and wasn't on the list anyways so I just politely let him keep talking to not burn any bridges. He asked who my appraiser was, and then laughed and told me that if I did hire him I "would probably lose, because me and her do not get along at all." He then proceeded to give me all of his contact details and his price and that I could just pay him right now if I wanted. I told him I'd get back to him.
3. Same as #1. Generic voice-mail and no call back ever.
4. They would only accept John Dough at John Dough and associates. I called and left a message with a receptionist and later got a call back from Jane Something, she was very professional and I really liked her. But she wasn't on the list. She went through her process and she was a lawyer not a car guy. She stated she charged by the hour at $200 per hour (split between the 2 sides) with a minimum of 5 hours. She also couldn't tell me how long it usually took or give any estimation of how many hours it would take her.

I called my appraiser again and filled her in. She called the other side. They said keep trying 1 and 3. The also told me that they would not accept Jane, only John Dough. They were also 100% sure that he offered a package or one time price, not an hourly rate. They said they were currently doing another case with him.

I called #4 again and got the receptionist again. I left my details and Jane called me again. I felt bad and apologized because she had been so polite and thorough, but the other side would only accept John Dough. Still very polite she told me that was going to be a problem, because "Mr. Dough passed away several years ago." I asked if there was a possible mistake because the other side was currently doing a case with him. She insisted that there was no mistake, she was at the funeral. Furthermore she was the president of the company and had previously went through a ton of paperwork to change the name after his passing. Additionally she had been partners with him for 10+ years and was now solely in charge and to the best of her knowledge they had never worked with Progressive Insurance at all, plus she knew for a fact that they ALWAYS charged by billable hours and had nothing like a package price.

Finally on May 25th they agreed to use some Larry guy as arbitrator. I paid him my half of the non refundable fee. The Larry guy told me it usually took 1-3 business days to get everything finished once both sides paid.. June 1st the other side contacted my appraiser and offered us $33.5k. If we agreed not to go any further with the process. If they would have offered that in February we never would have had to do this shit. But at this point I'm out $800 out of pocket for the appraiser and arbitrator. I've made my car payment for Feb, March, April, May, and now June. And the Larry guy told me that it was only 1-3 more days. So I told them we'll just wait and see what number the arbitrator comes up with at this point.

You'd think I would have learned by now how unscrupulous insurance companies are. But here we are 3 weeks later and Progressive still hasn't paid Larry their half of the fee. At this point I don't know if I have to contact state insurance regulators or something? I keep thinking about hiring a lawyer, but they'll end up just taking all the money I end up getting, so I'm waiting until I at least get paid something by the insurance company and then try to sue to see if I can get anything additional

My advice for anyone else ever thinking about going the arbitration route... don't.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

Ha ha ha! It's funny how naive I was.

So to update from that point, my appraiser tried to insist on using a page full of people as mediators. All of them were approved by other insurance companies and/or the actual manufacturers to be the sole appraiser for them. Progressives hired appraiser refused to work with any of them. They gave us a list of 4 names who were the only people they would accept as arbitrators. My appraiser said I had to call them and pick whichever I got the best feeling from, and then I had to pay them.

1. I called on Monday. No answer, went straight to a generic voice-mail (you've called such a d such number. Leave a message after the tone.) I was assuming it was the right number but had no way to know for sure. I left a message with my name and number and the details. I also called and left messages on Wednesday, Friday, the following Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, and Fri. To this date they have never returned my calls.
2. The guy I called flat out refused to do it. He said he was based in Pennsylvania and didn't want to travel to Michigan. He did recommend a different guy, but since my Insurance company would only accept those 4 people I didn't call him. 5 minutes later the recommended guy called me and offered to take the job. He said he was in New York, but could do it all over the phone. He seemed like a complete D-bag, and wasn't on the list anyways so I just politely let him keep talking to not burn any bridges. He asked who my appraiser was, and then laughed and told me that if I did hire him I "would probably lose, because me and her do not get along at all." He then proceeded to give me all of his contact details and his price and that I could just pay him right now if I wanted. I told him I'd get back to him.
3. Same as #1. Generic voice-mail and no call back ever.
4. They would only accept John Dough at John Dough and associates. I called and left a message with a receptionist and later got a call back from Jane Something, she was very professional and I really liked her. But she wasn't on the list. She went through her process and she was a lawyer not a car guy. She stated she charged by the hour at $200 per hour (split between the 2 sides) with a minimum of 5 hours. She also couldn't tell me how long it usually took or give any estimation of how many hours it would take her.

I called my appraiser again and filled her in. She called the other side. They said keep trying 1 and 3. The also told me that they would not accept Jane, only John Dough. They were also 100% sure that he offered a package or one time price, not an hourly rate. They said they were currently doing another case with him.

I called #4 again and got the receptionist again. I left my details and Jane called me again. I felt bad and apologized because she had been so polite and thorough, but the other side would only accept John Dough. Still very polite she told me that was going to be a problem, because "Mr. Dough passed away several years ago." I asked if there was a possible mistake because the other side was currently doing a case with him. She insisted that there was no mistake, she was at the funeral. Furthermore she was the president of the company and had previously went through a ton of paperwork to change the name after his passing. Additionally she had been partners with him for 10+ years and was now solely in charge and to the best of her knowledge they had never worked with Progressive Insurance at all, plus she knew for a fact that they ALWAYS charged by billable hours and had nothing like a package price.

Finally on May 25th they agreed to use some Larry guy as arbitrator. I paid him my half of the non refundable fee. The Larry guy told me it usually took 1-3 business days to get everything finished once both sides paid.. June 1st the other side contacted my appraiser and offered us $33.5k. If we agreed not to go any further with the process. If they would have offered that in February we never would have had to do this shit. But at this point I'm out $800 out of pocket for the appraiser and arbitrator. I've made my car payment for Feb, March, April, May, and now June. And the Larry guy told me that it was only 1-3 more days. So I told them we'll just wait and see what number the arbitrator comes up with at this point.

You'd think I would have learned by now how unscrupulous insurance companies are. But here we are 3 weeks later and Progressive still hasn't paid Larry their half of the fee. At this point I don't know if I have to contact state insurance regulators or something? I keep thinking about hiring a lawyer, but they'll end up just taking all the money I end up getting, so I'm waiting until I at least get paid something by the insurance company and then try to sue to see if I can get anything additional

My advice for anyone else ever thinking about going the arbitration route... don't.

I had progressive.

One morning many years ago I was on my way to work. My route took me through an industrial section of Norfolk, VA with little to no traffic.
I pulled up behind a fella at the intersection of 25th and Hampton Blvd looking to take a right on Hampton Blvd. 25th street was very wide for tractor trailers and did not have any paint markings for lanes. None, not even remnants of lane markings. He was in the middle of 25th St and I could see his ball cap moving from one side to the other, like he was checking traffic in both directions, as if he was going to turn left or go straight across.
After an extended amount of time and what I noticed was several opportunities to do either, cross or turn left, I decided to go around him on the right, as there was no markings and there was about a lane and a half width available. As soon as my front bumper came abreast of his passenger door he turned right and goosed the gas, creasing his door, cab and entire right side of his bed against my bumper.
While waiting for the cops he tells me that he will not use the money he is going to get for this to fix his truck, he will use it for upgrades on his house. Whatever. I pretty much succumbed to the idea it was my fault and my insurance company would pay. My truck had a small scratch in the bumper that may or may not have already been there.
Fast forward 6 months and I get a letter. I'm being sued. $100k. Back injury, loss of job, loss of sex etc. etc.
I had $50k coverage. Progressive said do not worry we got you covered, we'll make sure not a dime comes out of your pocket.
We had 2 depositions. I supplied all the photo's of the site and vehicles that I had taken and answered a bunch of generic and on topic questions from his attorney, my Progressive supplied attorney did the same. My Attorney afterward said we got this beat. Why? he just grinned and said don't worry, we got it beat.
2nd deposition, more questions for me about my past and driving history.
More questions about him, his driving history, his lawsuit history, his doctor's history. Seems he had 4 back injury lawsuits that got tossed in 2 years. His doctor had just had his license to practice in VA permanently suspended and was on the run from the feds. Slam shut case not even paying for his truck damage!!!

Except, I get a notice a couple weeks later, they decided after that 2nd deposition to settle out of court.
Just enough to cover his attorney's fee's. They made sure his lawyer got paid. And raised my rates accordingly.

Fuck Progressive.


Edit: My bad, it was 24th and Hampton.

 

[Edonidd]

Finally got paid. The arbitrator ruled that they owed me 6k over what they had offered. But specified that he could only give me what the vehicle was worth at the time of loss. The market is more than 6k more expensive right now, so I still ended up with the short end of the stick. I am car shopping now at possibly the worst time in history.

I just talked to a dealer about a car. It was a 2020 that was left unsold and 2022s are on many lots already. But not this one because it's also a model that's being killed off and there aren't any 2022s. Then the dealer told me it had been used as a dealer loaner for people that needed service and had almost 9k miles on it. They had it listed for 3k off MSRP which was about a 5% discount on this vehicle. I offered way less than that, and the sales guy told me they weren't negotiating at all on any vehicle because somebody else would come along and buy it. They had a total of 7 new vehicles on the whole lot.

And used cars are going for even more than new cars in some cases.

I put my name on a waiting list for a Genesis GV70 and the sales guy said they have 10 coming in between the last week of September and the first week of October. 7 of those had already been sold before they even came in. Mine was the 8th and we're still 2 months away. I put a down payment on another car and they callede back and refunded my down payment because they sold the car to somebody else. That one was still 3 weeks away from delivery.

And the whole time all I can think about is how bad my insurance fucked me.