State Farm Auto – A good neighbor? – If you like being screwed, choose them!
Written: Mar 05 '08 (Updated May 01 '08)
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Pros: Big company, likely will be around a very long time
Cons: service, backing of their own customer when it wasn't their fault
The Bottom Line: If a company does not back their own insured when an accident is not their fault, where else won't they back you?
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| Magick1's Full Review: State Farm Group - Auto |
I had previously written about State Farm back in 2000 for Auto and Home Insurance. I had been with them roughly 8 years at that time, now, it’s over 16 years. My husband has been with them about 28 years now. A very long history with minimal claims (3 claims total, in all this time, 2 of which we deemed the other drivers’ faults) and 1 was a minor windshield replacement.
So, considering that we have paid a few executive’s salaries over almost 3 decades, had really no remarkable claims, excellent driving records with no speeding tickets, etc., we are being completely messed over by their lack of service for a long time customer! Their service people, including a so-called supervisor and our agent, have been worthless. They are treating me like a complete idiot and make me feel as though I am the one that caused the accident on 12/28 that is still being fought to this day.
Mind you, I am not naive. I know there are people out there that try to scam the system, and a lot of them win, and those types screw it up for the rest of us trying to do right. They make it more difficult for those of us that do not take advantage of anyone or anything, even big companies, and those of us that try to walk a straight line. Let me say here and now, thanks you creeps!
But, onto my story and my frustrating experiences and why I feel State Farm is a company that we would all do better without. (I am actively looking for another company to move everything from, if that gives you any indication.)
The Problem
Someone hit me December 28, 2007 on the interstate about 6:15 in the morning on a snowy day. They decided that my speed was too slow for them, and they passed me on the left side in the “fast lane”. They fish-tailed, lost control, hit me, spinning me out over the right lane, the median and over an oncoming on-ramp and into a guardrail.
So, my front left side and bumper were hit on initial impact then the right side of my vehicle (mostly the back passenger door, tire and wheel well and the rear bumper) were hit. The damage was the worst on the side where the guardrail hit, as it pushed in the rear passenger door, puncturing the door, pushing it out of “square”, crinkled the right wheel well, flattened my right tire, scraping the right bumper and cracked the inside of the right rear tail light.
To give you an indication of the impact, see below:
The impact bent the steel guardrail quite a bit. It also broke a 4x4 or 4x6 wood pole that was buried into the ground that supported the guardrail. The wood was sheared off at ground level where the right wheel hit the guardrail. I was going about 40 and went to 0 upon impact with the guardrail. There was a crystal hanging on fishing line from my rear view mirror that was snapped off when the impact with the guardrail and it hit my passenger side window.
The Fight
Well, my company’s adjustor and the other insured’s adjustor came to the body shop to estimate damages within a few days of the accident. The body shop did an estimate of their own: approx. damage and repairs- $4800. Our company’s adjustor came out, estimated the damage at $5100. And, the other insured’s company came out and did an estimate and he saw things the body shop and our own adjustor missed and gave the damages at approximately $5600. The body shop and our company’s adjustor missed a big thing: the front grill was cracked. (It left me wondering what else they missed.)
The vehicle is a uni-body vehicle. The door being pushed up and out of the door jamb made me wonder if the vehicle’s uni-body was also warped or damaged. Everyone pooh-pooh’ed me saying that there wasn’t any damage and that even if there was the body shop fixes many of these types of vehicles with absolutely no problems.
My confidence was even more shaken by that statement. I asked them if they had even put it up on the rack to check it yet and they said they had not, it was just eyeballing the car and they could almost assure me without a doubt that there was no uni-body damage. Oh, chills were racing up and down my back!
Now, the car repairs were completed (one month almost to the day later) and we took the vehicle from the body shop. There is a terrible grinding sound from the rear end of the car when driving. It gets worse as speed increases. When the heater is turned on, there is a terrible vibration in the entire vehicle that was never there before. It also seems that there is a lot of humidity building up inside on the windows in the cold that was not there previously.
Also the radio is not working correctly; it is as if there is a short. The radio increases the volume randomly. If you shut off the radio and turn it back on, the volume is completely down to the point you could not hear it, and is not where you left it before. If you use the tuner to find radio stations (which we have to do since the shop worked on the car disconnected the battery) the tuner just keeps scanning through the dial and never stops on anything.
We immediately called State Farm and the shop to advise them of all of these concerns. There were paint concerns too. The body shop painted a black matte finish vehicle with a midnight blue/black metallic paint, but that’s the shop’s problem, which they took care of quickly.
The rest of the items, the shop would not be able to help, as they don’t work on the other items. State Farm, after dickering with them about the wheel, the radio, the heater/blower fan vibrations, decided to pay for the mechanic’s shop that specializes in my vehicle, to review the issues and provide State Farm and estimate and advise if the accident was the cause. No shop in their right mind will get in the middle saying “yes or no” to something like this. They don’t want to be sued by either party, for goodness sake! State Farm said that we could take the car in, let the adjustor go to the shop, see what damage we were referring to and they would “step up and pay for the cost” of reviewing the vehicle for this purpose.
They did not pay. The adjustor asked basic questions like “is it possible that a 2001 vehicle could have this happened without an accident?” and leading questions like that. State Farm decided that they did not have anything indicating it was due to the accident for any of the problems we reported and left us hanging high and dry, again.
The biggest complaint was the right rear wheel grinding sound and the right tail light cover over that was cracked on the inside of the plastic and they wanted me to prove it to them how this happened! When I asked how to prove it, they couldn’t tell me other than to “show recent damage to them”. The photos I took within hours of the accident showing the damage and the dirt and scrapes on the tires did not prove the car impacted the guardrail? They also said that the other items that were problems after the accident were not due to the accident because there wasn’t any direct car to car impact to the blower fan on the heater and the radio inside the car.
THIS IS MY OWN COMPANY fighting me on this. The right rear wheel and the right side of the vehicle hit a guardrail shearing off the wood post holding the guardrail in the ground at ground level with the right tire….how can you tell me the right rear wheel bearing hub (or whatever you want to call it) was not damaged due to the accident? Same with the right rear tail light cover? My own company will likely be subrogating this to the other company due to their insured’s hitting me. Why are they fighting me tooth and nail for everything? Why did they lie, say they would step up to the plate, pay for the mechanic to review the vehicle and determine if the accident was the cause or not and then not pay but $33 of an almost $500 bill?
State Farm relented a little bit on the right rear wheel hub and the tail light cover, but the rest of this they will not pay a dime for as of yet. They still claim that the other items are not due to the accident. Our Acura MDX has been a dream car of ours and has been pampered and it has always had the maintenance done to keep it purring like a kitten. It had 140,000 miles on it and it was smooth, never a problem mechanically or otherwise in all of the time we have had this vehicle.
Due to the terrible backing of my own company, now the vehicle is not made whole and back to what it was prior to the accident, I feel cheated beyond belief and am completely disenchanted with their company and their agency representation. I will not stop until I am made whole. I am still having back issues from the accident and the pain and frustration I am feeling is making me miserable and makes me understand why people do not carry insurance. If they get nothing but headaches from their own company, it’s well understood why people do not carry insurance!
Overall Impressions
This rant is getting long and I have to say I have never been so depressed, outraged, frustrated and irritated with a company’s service as I have been dealing with State Farm. I wonder how crappy they treat others that are not their insured parties that are involved in an accident with a State Farm person. I have heard that they pay out for something with absolutely no arguments and are super wonderful to them. I guess I was on the wrong side of this fight.
I am livid and this whole thing has left a terribly sour flavor in my mouth. My agent is worthless as teats on a boar and she has been, as you would expect, on her company’s side just saying, ‘oops, guess there’s nothing more that can be done’. I am still fighting, have filed a complaint with the insurance commissioner and hope that State Farm gets what is coming to them. I can almost guarantee they won’ t be getting many more premiums from me, once I find someone that is reliable and will back their customer!
Thanks for spending time with me today!
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