What a dick move by Progressive

[MIAdragon]

http://mattfisher.tumblr.com/post/29...-to-defend-her

**This did not happen to me or my family, just passing this BS along**

My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer In Court

I’ve been sending out some impertinent tweets about Progressive Insurance lately, but I haven’t explained how they pissed me off. So I will do that here as succinctly as possible. There’s a general understanding that says, “insurance companies— oh they’re awful,” but since Progressive turned their shit hose on my late sister and my parents, I’ve learned some things that really surprised me.

I’ll try to cleave to the facts. On June 19, 2010, my sister was driving in Baltimore when her car was struck by another car and she was killed. The other driver had run a red light and hit my sister as she crossed the intersection on the green light.

Now, I don’t discount the possibility that Katie was at fault in the accident, but it never really looked that way. The only witness who gave a statement on the day said that Katie had the light, etc. The totality of the evidence left some room for argument, but that will be the case any time there’s a catastrophic car accident that doesn’t happen underneath an array of video cameras.

One indication that the case was pretty open-and-shut was that the other guy’s insurance company looked at the situation and settled with my sister’s estate basically immediately. Now, because the other driver was underinsured, that payment didn’t amount to much, but my sister carried a policy with Progressive against the possibility of an accident with an underinsured driver. So Progressive was now on the hook for the difference between the other guy’s insurance and the value of Katie’s policy.

At which point we learned the first surprising thing about Progressive: Carrying Progressive insurance and getting into an accident does not entitle you to the value of your insurance policy. It just pisses off Progressive’s lawyers. Here I address you, Prospective Progressive Insurance Customer: someday when you have your accident, I promise that there will be enough wiggle room for Progressive’s bottomless stack of in-house attorneys to make a court case out of it and to hammer at that court case until you or your surviving loved ones run out of money.

Which is what Progressive decided to do to my family. In hopes that a jury would hang or decide that the accident was her fault, they refused to pay the policy to my sister’s estate.

Out of a sense of honor, and out of a sense of the cost of my sister’s outstanding student loans, my folks opted to try to go after the money through legal channels. At which point they learned another delightful thing. In Maryland, you may not sue an insurance company when they refuse to fork over your money. Instead, what they had to do was sue the guy who killed my sister, establish his negligence in court, and then leverage that decision to force Progressive to pay the policy.

Now my parents don’t harbor much venom for the guy who killed my sister. It was an accident, and kicking that guy around won’t bring Katie back. But kicking that guy around was the only way to get Progressive to pay. So they filed a civil suit against the other driver in hopes that, rather than going to court, Progressive would settle. Progressive did not. Progressive made a series of offers (never higher than 1/3 the amount they owe) and then let it go to a trial.

At the trial, the guy who killed my sister was defended by Progressive’s legal team.

If you are insured by Progressive, and they owe you money, they will defend your killer in court in order to not pay you your policy.

The trial was a real shitshow for my parents, and I did not love it either. As it happens, the jury did find that the other driver was negligent, which, if justice or decency are priorities for Progressive, will result in them finally honoring Katie’s policy. At this point, I hope you’ll forgive me if I wait for it to actually happen.

Don’t buy insurance from Progressive. Not only will you be paying the salaries of people who put my family through the wringer (really a smaller wringer that Progressive attached to the main wringer of my sister’s death), but also when the chips are down, your money will have bought you nothing but a kick in the face.

Today (August 14) Progressive made an announcement about the case. This is my statement in response.

[Demonpenz]

What you don't see is off screen the sister tried to attack the police officer and the officer had to put her her down.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by Brock

Has Flo made a comment on this yet?

She is the reason I will never switch to Progressive. I don't care if it saves me $1000/year.

[TimeForWasp]

**** insurance companies. Every one of them.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by morphius

insurance and lawyers, yup, sounds like hell. One can say that Progressive didn't do anything wrong, but it would be more difficult to argue that they did anything right as members of human race.

[jspchief]

Great. They did nothing wrong by the standards of a court of law.

Now let's see how they fare in the court of public opinion.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Are you guys serious? This is the biggest bunch of bullshit I've ever read.

The policy doesn't pay if she was at fault in any way. Even the guy writing this acknowledges that she may have bee at fault.

Then this dude says that they don't care about money and claims that they are suing the insurance company out of honor. Seriously...those are his words. Then he says that they don't want to kick around the guy they say is to blame because he's been through enough. Pretty interesting that the broke guy who killed your sister but doesn't have any money you can take has been through enough, but fighting the insurance company with deep pockets somehow honors your sister.

Which side wins out? The side that will get them paid, of course. The only way to honor their sister is to sue the guy who has been through enough. (Sorry, dude...honor and all)

Of course Progressive is going to point out the fact that she may have been partially at fault if, in fact, she may have been partially at fault. Why would they just scratch huge checks that they may or may not owe?

Sorry about your sister, but you are a POS looking to cash in on your misfortune.

Other than the last sentence, I agree with every word of this. The guy doesn't get the system, and just wants to get a windfall of money because of his sister's death that he may OR MAY NOT be entitled to.

And, P.S. EVERY insurance company stuck in this uncomfortable position would do the same thing. Progressive isn't doing anything unusual here.

[Ace Gunner]

that damn obama.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by jspchief

Great. They did nothing wrong by the standards of a court of law.

Now let's see how they fare in the court of public opinion.

I deal with insurance stuff with unfortunate frequency. While I truly don't care much for them, it's easy to see why they become such a-holes on some things.

EVERYONE thinks they're a piggy bank to be tapped whenever the least thing goes wrong. Eventually anyone si going to get a paranoid mentality, which isn't paranoia if they're really out to get you, right?

So 100 people come after you on questionable claims, and they fight them all, and we hear the sob story about the legitimate ONE (out of the hundred) where they probably shouldn't have fought. Meanwhile, 99 scam artists...

[Ace Gunner]

The moral to this story is the same as the moral to my recent accident story = don't pay for under insured policy.

I was hit by some idiot on sunset blvd. taco'd. Turns out the city of Los Angeles passed legislation that allows a $5k policy. $5k isn't enough to fix a car these days, yet the metropolis that is LA adopted this policy. It cost me an extra $2k to have the vehicle fixed.

[chop]

I have a Progressive issue also. I used to use them for insurance. I bought full coverage on a truck that I had an accident in. The accident cost several thousand dollars to fix but progressive said they would not pay because it was my fault (I was going around a corner on the highway, hit a patch of ice and rolled my truck in a ditch). They would not pay the claim.

[KCUnited]

Do attorney expenses effect the Combined Ratio or is it just claim payout?

[VAChief]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Its not his sister. He reposted some dude's blog without taking out the 1st-person narrative.

Progressive has every right to argue in court that her underinsured motorists coverage shouldn't pay out, if they think it was partially her fault and the other insurance company (which wasn't on the hook for hardly any money at all) isn't interested in doing anything about it.

Yes, they have the right to make a decision. I think it would also be safe to say they were inaccurate in their assumption of negligence. I would also add as someone who worked as an auto claims adjuster (right after I completed my undergraduate degree) that I feel fairly certain that had the other driver been fully covered their "determination" of who was at fault would most likely have been quite different. It can sicken your stomach to sit in on how some of those decisions are made and with such disregard to the customers who are PAYING THEM every month with faith that they will protect them in those times of real loss.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by alnorth

Yep, pretty much.

The family wants the underinsured motorists coverage to pay out the policy limits, Progressive thinks the accident was at least partially her fault in which case the policy wouldn't pay. The fact that the other driver's insurance threw in the towel is not relevant because if he had just state minimums, its not worth fighting.

This is the sort of issue that should be dispassionately settled or litigated. A grieving, angry family member is in no position at all to provide a reasonable, fair perspective.

Thanks for once again writing my response for me.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by chop

I have a Progressive issue also. I used to use them for insurance. I bought full coverage on a truck that I had an accident in. The accident cost several thousand dollars to fix but progressive said they would not pay because it was my fault (I was going around a corner on the highway, hit a patch of ice and rolled my truck in a ditch). They would not pay the claim.

You are leaving out a big part of this story. Full coverage is for when you are at fault. If you weren't at fault, the other party would pay.

Either you didn't have collision, you had a crazy deductible, or you are full of shit.

[tooge]

I had to sue my own insurance about 20 years ago as a result of a catastrophic car accident that left me in the hospital for weeks and completely jacked up my shoulder. The other guy didn't have insurance, it was his fault, and they didn't want to pay the uninsured motorist claim. It took about two years, I finally got them to settle, and I had to pay almost half to a lawyer. Total bs.