Progressive car insurance claim – an agent’s perspective

I thought I’d write a bit about an experience I had with Progressive car insurance. Keep in mind that I’m an independent insurance agent and I can insure my family’s vehicles with any of about 15 different insurance companies. I chose to insure my cars with Progressive, primarily because their rates were very competitive. From an agent’s standpoint, Progressive is one of the easiest companies to work with due to their investment in their agent website.

I’ve read plenty of claim experiences where consumers take delight in bashing their former insurance company. I thought I’d put this one out there as a positive experience, for what it’s worth. My wife and I were traveling down I-80 to a college football game one September morning when we were passed by a Chevy Suburban, the driver of which proceeded to veer off the left side of the interstate, over correct and slam head-on into a concrete construction barrier on the right side of the road, completely blocking my lane.

There was one vehicle ahead of us in the left-hand lane and they collided with the rear of the Suburban. I couldn’t stop in time and our Honda Accord collided with the Suburban right between the front and rear passenger side doors.  Our airbags deployed and there as an eary silence before we heard the screetching tires of a car preparing to sandwich our car with the Suburban. Luckily, the car that rear-ended our’s was about the same size and did not completely sandwich our car. Had the 18-wheeler behind that car not seen the accident and slowed down, it would have plowed through the accident and who knows if I’d be writing this today.

Once the dust settled and we were able to exit our vehicle, we saw a large cooler that had exited the Suburban’s side window on impact and broke on the interstate. The amount of alcohol in the cooler could have stocked a small liquor store. I noticed my hand had been sliced open by the airbag when it deployed, right between my thumb and index finger. My wife was a registered nurse and began checking on the occupants in the other vehicles. There were several injuries in the car than impacted the rear of the Suburban before us, including a broken leg. It was obvious the occupants had not had their seatbelts on. There were minor bumps and bruises in the Suburban and in the car than rear-ended ours.

I called 911 on my cell phone to report the accident and get an ambulance to the scene. I then dialed my agency to have them report the claim to Progressive. We then aided the injured as much as we could until the ambulances arrived, and we road in the ambulance back to the nearest town to catch a ride back to our hometown where I would get stitches in my hand. We were in the ambulance, about 50 minutes after the accident happended when my cell phone rang. It was Progressive insurance on the phone and they wanted to begin processing my claim. They asked if it was OK to get some information, which it was since we were just riding in the ambulance, not actually injured. I gave my interpretation of what happened, but had I known I would eventually be sued by the SUBURBAN DRIVER, I would have been a heck of a lot more accurate about how erratically the Suburban had been driving and the fact that they were the cause of the entire accident.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, I was in regular contact with the Progressive claim reps and they did a fantastic job in getting my check in the mail. My Accord was totalled and I had a check for the total amount (less deductible) in less than a week. The car that rear-ended mine was insured with State Farm, so Progressive and State Farm battled back and forth a bit and I did end up getting my deductible reimbursed.

If you’ve ever been in an accident where you were injured, you may have noticed how quickly the at-fault party’s insurance company tries to get you to sign a paper and GIVE YOU MONEY! That piece of paper means you agree to not hold them liable for any future injuries related to the accident. It sounds like a great deal!  Whoa, $500 for just signing this? I’m not hurt anyway, so heck yeah I’ll sign it! In hindsight, I shouldn’t have signed that piece of paper. I have neck troubles to this day that are directly related to the whiplash I suffered in the accident. Every company does this, it’s not just State Farm, but be absolutely sure you want to waive your rights for a little cash.

Anyway, getting back on track here. I thought the claim was pretty much done, with my medical payments coverage paying for all of our ER bills, and my Accord being totalled. When one Friday afternoon I noticed a sticker on my front door from the county sheriff’s department. They were trying to serve something, but it didn’t indicate what it was. I went down the following Monday morning, and was notified that I was being sued by the Suburban driver for destroying their vehicle, pain and suffering, loss of consortium and other totally fabricated charges. It turns out the Suburban was owned by a car dealership and they didn’t have insurance on the vehicle for the trip to the game. So the only way they could get reimbursed for their stupidity was to sue everyone involved in the accident. They paid a slimebag attorney (who is notoriously slimely) to sue for everything they could get, despite the fact that they caused the accident. Remember all the liquor that came flying out their window? Did the county test their sobriety?

Once I received the paperwork notifying of the suit, the first call I made was to Progressive. They had me fax them a copy of the suit, and told me they would handle it from there. They weren’t kidding. I didn’t hear a word about the case, as once Progressive’s attorneys took over, it was a simple administrative matter. Unfortunately, it was one of those cases where it would cost more to fight the frivolous suit than to just settle it. And that’s what Progressive did. In the end, my claim costed Progressive over $53,000. This included attorney’s fees, the cost of my car, a portion of the damage to the Surburban, injuries to occupants of the Surburban, and some other fees dreamed up by the slimebag attorney.

Thinking back on this accident today still absolutely irritates me. The fact that someone would 1) cause an accident 2) sue the other people involved in the accident because they didn’t carry their own insurance, and (most of all)  3) sue for loss of consortium… You’ve got to be kidding me. It wouldn’t have mattered how much I didn’t want Progressive to settle this claim, it’s all money, not principle.  I’m sure this goes on all the time, all over the country, and that’s why we pay so much for car insurance. But in the end, my experience with Progressive was nothing less than top notch. They were prompt and thorough, and took the monkey off my back when I needed them to. It was with mixed feelings that I insured my cars with another company just this past December.

I hope my new company stands behind me like Progressive did.  That’s just one agent’s perspective.