As with everything, nothing is really perfect. Including your car insurance. No matter what organization it is that insures your car, they will bound to have some complaints. Take AARP car insurance complaints for example. There are plenty of places that you can see some of the complaints, and here is just one of them.
As an example:
chuck of bonanza, OR August 19, 2009
First I will give some advice. Every state attorney general has a department of consumer affairs and a department of insurance. If you have a problem don’t hesitate to file a complaint. It doesn’t take much longer than posting your story here. You can also look up your state’s insurance statutes on the Internet when filing a complaint. In Oregon a company has 30 days to either approve or deny a personal injury claim. Things like that. I have found that most companies are even more responsive to a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau which can also be done on line. Don’t hesitate to file multiple complaints which cause the company to spend hours and resources responding. Make it not worth their time to screw with you and revenge is sweet.
As a last resort you can file a small claims suit where you can present your own case and they are barred from being represented by an attorney. Here is my story. When I switched to AARP/Harford part of the requirement for purchasing a policy was AARP membership. I paid for the membership the day I applied for the policy. I never received a card. I was canceled by Hartford who claimed I was not an AARP member. I called customer service and provided a membership confirmation number and was reinstated the same day.
Because of the cancellation, the fact that I never received a membership card and the horror stories I read about Hartford I canceled the policy. I later received a bill for 67 that included a 10% of the unused premium cancellation penalty. I filed a complaint with the Oregon Insurance Department and department of consumer affairs as well as the BBB. Hartford CS called and removed the 20 penalty charge but the account was turned over to their collections department for the 67. I told CS the 20 was not acceptable that they owed me for the membership fee I paid but did not benefit from as well as for unused premium. I next received a letter lowering the amount owed to 37 which was correct except for the refund of the membership fee. At the same time I received a letter stating that they had turned the amount of 37 over to their collection department which may be against the law since I had already disputed the 67.
I amended my complaint alleging Hartford had misrepresented the amount of a debt which is in violation of state and federal fair trade practices statutes. Two weeks ago I received a letter stating that they were refunding the membership fee but that it would take at least 8 weeks. I received a letter from their collections department yesterday stating that they are going to start charging late fees on the 37.
My position is that I do not owe them 37 since they have not refunded the membership fee. Make sure you keep all correspondence. One avoidance tactic they have used is that Hartford tells the consumer to take the problem to AARP and AARP tells you to take it to Hartford. Yet, on every envelope is the heading AARP/Hartford Insurance Company. Don’t be a door mat for their unethical practices. You do all of us a favor when you make their life miserable. Before you cancel your policy get on the Internet and do your homework before purchasing another policy. I found out the hard way that cheaper is not better with insurance companies if you have an accident.
It’s better to pay a little more for a company that pays it’s just claims and does not use any excuse to up your rates. Go with the company that has a good track record and the fewest complaints against it. It may be a smaller company you never heard of such as Oregon Mutual. How much do you think the insured pays in the end for all that garbage mail they receive every week from AARP/Hartford?
No matter what kind of car insurance you are looking for – when getting cheap car insurance quotes, be sure to get them from multiple companies so you can go in with your eyes wide open. Start by entering your zip code below now!