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[iski]

In my case being loyal to an agent/major company for many years did nothing.  An accident that was not my wife's fault (citation was issued) with an individual who had the same insurance company as we did took over a year to resolve.  The company decided to place her claim with one office & the individual's claim with another office in another city even though they both lived and were insured in the same city.  The 2 offices then pretended to try to place blame on my wife for the accident even though it was clearly the other individual's fault.  Our local agent did nothing to get this resolved because "that is the way it has to be done". The 2 offices "argued" about the rental car charges, the damage amount, the medical amount (she was taken by ambulance to ER), and the final resolution.  A year later, still unresolved, we switched insurance companies & I informed "our" claims office we were getting an attorney to pursue legal action since they were acting in bad faith. At that point, suddenly got a call from my local ex-agent.  A month later it was resolved to our satisfaction. Check sent by express mail even.  Many years of loyal on time premiums with no claims.  One claim, not our fault & they gave us a nightmare.

BTW the insurance was Allstate, not that it matters that much.  Have heard similar stories from others that in some cases were worse with every major company.  We left Progressive many, many years ago over a refusal to total a car that that ended up costing 15% more than the cost of repairs.  I would prefer times to be like they were in the 70's and 80s when loyalty mattered.  My experience is price matters more these days, plus a good rated company.  It does not matter if you are a brand new customer or a long time customer, the insurance contract states what they cover vs what they do not. 

[grc]

In my case being loyal to an agent/major company for many years did nothing.  An accident that was not my wife's fault (citation was issued) with an individual who had the same insurance company as we did took over a year to resolve.  The company decided to place her claim with one office & the individual's claim with another office in another city even though they both lived and were insured in the same city.  The 2 offices then pretended to try to place blame on my wife for the accident even though it was clearly the other individual's fault.  Our local agent did nothing to get this resolved because "that is the way it has to be done". The 2 offices "argued" about the rental car charges, the damage amount, the medical amount (she was taken by ambulance to ER), and the final resolution.  A year later, still unresolved, we switched insurance companies & I informed "our" claims office we were getting an attorney to pursue legal action since they were acting in bad faith. At that point, suddenly got a call from my local ex-agent.  A month later it was resolved to our satisfaction. Check sent by express mail even.  Many years of loyal on time premiums with no claims.  One claim, not our fault & they gave us a nightmare.

BTW the insurance was Allstate, not that it matters that much.  Have heard similar stories from others that in some cases were worse with every major company.  We left Progressive many, many years ago over a refusal to total a car that that ended up costing 15% more than the cost of repairs.  I would prefer times to be like they were in the 70's and 80s when loyalty mattered.  My experience is price matters more these days, plus a good rated company.  It does not matter if you are a brand new customer or a long time customer, the insurance contract states what they cover vs what they do not.

From my own experience plus what I've heard from friends and relatives I'd say your experience isn't all that uncommon, no matter what insurance company is involved.  And some with the same company but in different parts of the country have different outcomes.  That tells me it isn't always a corporate policy type of issue, but sometimes just a regional or district office issue. 

I used to badmouth all those law firms that advertise about calling them first when you're involved in an accident, even before the insurance company, but after hearing stories like yours I'm becoming convinced that those who don't get a lawyer involved tend to get screwed.  And loyalty is a bad joke, in insurance as well as most other things.  You as an individual are supposed to be loyal to your insurance agent and company, to your employer, to your local team, etc.  However, none of those are big on reciprocation.

JMHO - Jerry

[KC2GIW]

I just shopped insurance.  Been with State Farm since I started driving.  An independent agent saved be about $400 between homeowners and automobile coverage. 

He said he couldn't beat SF on the bike - and he was surprised.  I'm around $650/yr...now a little more because I'll lose the multi line discount.