State Farm called me on Christmas Eve, it wasn’t the guy who failed to return my calls. Let’s see what happens from here!
By: Diane Benjamin
I was rear ended by a girl driving at least 30 miles per hour when she plowed into me in October. I was stopped at a traffic light. She has State Farm insurance.
I also have State Farm insurance.
My vehicle has been fixed but none of my medical bills have been paid. Worse, the guy handling my personal injury claim won’t return my phone calls!
The lawyer I talked to said all insurance companies operate like this now, State Farm abandoned their former great customer service.
Evidently State Farm wants to pay more by being sued. My agent has been NO HELP at all.
I bet others have the same experience, readers?
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Yes, my vehicle sat for two plus weeks waiting for State Farm to view it. Their insured was ticketed for illegal lane use causing the accident. Adjuster refuses to pay me direct for my loss instead says check must go directly to body shop. Body shop tells me that that is wrong. Adjuster tells me that has always been policy, but guess what,,,that’s a lie! I know from prior experience with SF that yes they will pay a person direct for their loss. The law basically states you get paid for your loss and one does not have to fix their vehicle.
I’m a State Farm agent. You can get paid directly through one of the State Farm drive-in centers. Minus your deductible.
The accident wasn’t my fault!
I am so sick and tired of people getting out of the car after an accident walking around texting calling people and then all of a sudden 3 days later they have a back injury looking for $15,000 check after they talk to their friends and family… I know so many people in this world that fake hurt to get disability and are always looking for a check and it’s pathetic !! The way these cars are these days they are so safe, the best engineers on the planet have made these cars amazingly safe… most people will not get hurt in such an accident at 30 mph. You may be the rare exception but I doubt it… good luck on them paying you off just to make you go away!
Guess you aren’t a frequent reader
I am a former Special Investigation Unit investigator with the aforementioned Company and after a voluntary separation I was offered and accepted a management position with a different company, received a promotion, six branch offices to manage with “no” budget…
Regarding DAMON – Have the at-fault insurance company do a “LVI” (Low Velocity Impact) analysis and assign the information to a biodynamic expert (Biodynamic Research Corporation as an example)….. They’ll do the rest and save your Company boat loads of money in the end. The “typical” rear-end accident at a traffic stop (3-5mph) creates a VERY minimal “delta-V” (change in velocity) to the occupants of the vehicle. The inertia experienced is similar to walking off a curb, or a strong sneeze, etc. When this is illustrated through science in a courtroom the jurists “get it” and zero out the plaintiffs.
I was stopped. She hit me going at least 30 because her air bag went off. She also got medical treatment.
Great service. My experience has always been positive.
I went through the same thing with State Farm. It took almost 4 years to go to court. The Judge ruled not only in my favor but instructed the jurors that the fault was the car that rear ended me. Both vehicles were traveling the same direction under the same conditions. The jurors were to vote on the amount of damages only. On top of how long it was dragged out. You can look forward to the attorney you have to hire taking 1/3 of the top and then charges for everything that will be done time on the phone with you , copy’s that have to be made , traveling time , etc etc etc. .
Yep I don’t have them any more. Dumped them several years ago for the same issue. I now have AAA & my last accident they were great. My daughter who worked for them at the time had horrible service with her accident & the agent was a so called friend.
Sorry for your troubles Diane – 2 words for you – “Country Financial”. I’ve found they are more of a good neighbor than SF. Merry Christmas and keep up the good work…..
I have Country Financial. My last claim i called my agent. He told me he just sold the stuff call the 800 number and find out what coverage I really had. Loosers all of them. True story.
Country IS the BEST insurer IN TOWN-BAR NONE!!
Several years back, a friend of mine left his ANTIQUE VEHICLE on the street for a show the next day. Neighbor up the hill come home, left his car in NEUTRAL and it rolled into the front of my friends car, seriously damaging the front grill, hood and side panels. Of course NEIGHBOR was at fault, but SF wanted to argue that an antique vehicle shouldn’t be left on the street, and so on. THEN they wanted to TOTAL it, since it was an OLD CAR-even though it had antique plates! They FINALLY agreed to pay a “certain” amount to get it fixed. It took the claim just to pay the shipping on the pieces and we had to go to Arizona to get the grill! OH, and did I mention, the guys agent was the FATHER of a childhood friend of BOTH of ours!! SF-NEVER!!
IF you see a SF sticker on a bumper STAY away from that driver…It’s a WARNING!
Similar situation and I found the Country insurance team was more responsive than my agent.
Diane, Wife was involved in an accident in Chicago when the guy ran a red light and blamed her, but he got tickets for no insurance and running the light. Four months later State Farm called us to “find out what happened”. We did not get a lawyer, which was a major mistake! State Farm never seemed to want to settle as they were trying to delay until the one year time period, instituted by our legislative “friends” would absolve them of any claims and emotional and physical damage. “Like a Good Neighbor” applied several years ago, but the new State Farm doesn’t know the meaning. Lesson learned call a lawyer first.
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Was rear ended by someone with country insurance got the check no hassle. Had SF along time ago but now have USAA. Been happy with price and service. Hope things get resolved for you soon.Diane.
I was in a car accident on Labor Day 2018. I T-boned a driver who had run a red light. They were ticketed and the police report stated the officer believed she was at fault. When I called her insurance company, it turned out that her policy had lapsed due to nonpayment. I called State Farm and filed a claim against my policy which has uninsured motorist coverage. My accident happened on a Monday, the police report was released Wednesday. I had the estimate in hand on Thursday, and my check for total loss on the following Monday. I had a good experience with State Farm.
They handled the car fine, I assume you weren’t injured though.
Hi Diane,
This is something I’ve had come up before. The main issue is when medical claims are involved in an accident, State Farm (and other major insurance companies) cannot reimburse for bodily injury liability claims until the final settlement offer has been accepted.
What this is meant to do is prevent someone who has already collected on an insurance claim from coming back months or even a year or two later and claiming they need more money from the injuries sustained.
This is very common when it comes to neck/back injuries and concussions. These injuries are typically difficult to treat and give a prognosis for recovery and will vary from person to person.
One other item in the puzzle is the hospitals are well aware that their bills will be reimbursed by the insurance company, but many will still send the full hospital bill and then threaten to send you to collections after 60 days which causes a great deal of anxiety.
One way to help mitigate this issue is you have the option to file a claim through your own insurance policy (I know this sounds backwards at first, but hear me out). You would need to carry Medical Payments coverage (referred to as Coverage C on your insurance card) you can collect up to the amount of coverage you have (most people carry $5,000 to $10,000 of coverage per person). Medical Payments can pay as you go upon receiving bills up until the policy limit. There is no deductible involved either. You don’t have to worry about the claim affecting your driving record as it will be subrogated (State Farm will assess the damages to the other party’s policy since they’ve already been deemed at fault).
I would recommend not dealing with an attorney this early in the process (facts are clear on who was at fault/ damage to your vehicle has already been taken care of) as they will inevitably delay your claim being paid to many months if not a year later.
All claims associates for State Farm should be motivated to close claims as soon as possible (the company has 38,000 claims a day processed) and if you are not getting returned calls from your medical payments claim rep within 2 business days then you should certainly contact their team manager for expedited assistance). Your State Farm Agent should be able to find who the claim team manager is for you as well.
Hope all is well and Merry Christmas,
Zach
I’d love to hear a final settlement offer. I talked to the guy 2 or three times weeks ago and he changed it every time I talked to him. I’ve never received anything in writing.
“Final Settlement Offer”……..like pay the medical bills and fix your car?
How much ae you looking for, need a web site update?
State Farm has all that info
You’re mad at the wrong party Diane.Since you’ve retained an attorney to represent you, neither your agent or claim reps are supposed to have any direct communication or discussion with you regarding your claim. They’re supposed to talk or correspond with your attorney only. Anything that you want communicated to State Farm you have to do so through your attorney. Your attorney can verify this.
I haven’t hired one, just had a discussion
Most of you people are having bad experiences from having incorrect coverage. I have medical payments also called Personal injury protection in some states and that covers medical Bill’s prior to settling. If you were properly insured you wouldn’t have these issues. Any company where a driver of the same company hits you will give you a hard time. Geico and state farm are the largest companies, so highest likely hood of someone hitting you with the same insurance. Once you get a lawyer your agent isn’t legally allowed to talk to you. – Licensed Producer
I used to work for state farm as well as had them for insurance, as a team member we were always told to put the coverage so that a persons medical insurance would be billed first in the instance of an accident. Most medical plans don’t cover this which means that the person has to pay out of pocket for their hospital bills. My agent didn’t care if customer’s health insurance wasn’t actually primary it was all about getting someone the lowest rate upfront and just hoping they would never find out.
Sounds like this is a countrywide financial promo. Sorry that a fraction of people with State Farm have problems, but when you handle 35,000 claims PER DAY, someone is bound to be unhappy. They are still #1 in the industry.
The lawyer I might hire says this is now standard procedure.
Diane, so do I have this right. You got hit and went to the doctor for treatment. You then sent the medical bills to State Farm for reimbursement. State Farm is not paying the bills and now the medical people are coming after you for payment and you cannot get State Farm to tell you why they are not paying on time? Do I have that right?
My health insurance paid part. State farm needs to reimburse them and pay the part they didn’t pay. Nobody is coming after me.yet. The guy I was working with just doesn’t return calls, close to 2 weeks now.
Was rear ended by a state farm WORKER back in 2014 . Nothing, to date has been paid.
I work in a body shop for a large dealership in Madison,Wi and trust me all insurance companies are not your friend. They will F you as much as they can and make the process as difficult as they can. It’s the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules. It will never change until you get the money out of politics.