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Have to change my tune about Allstate Posted by bryan [Email]  (#542)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from bryan) on Thu, 28 Mar 2002 13:48:14
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Recently I was involved in a 4 car chain collision, me being car #3. I was on my way to Vegas for March Madness and didn't even make it out of San Diego, had just made the last gas/pee stop, and within minutes traffic slowed suddenly. I got myself stopped in time, guy behind me in a Ranger pickup got it stopped, but the woman in the 2-3 year old Maxima behind him must have been doing something other than driving, blasted the guy in the Ranger hard enough to stuff her Maxima back to the front wheels. The impact pushed him into me, which pushed me into ANOTHER Ranger pickup in front of me.
What saved my butt is I had a camera with me and took pictures of the stack up. After the fact, the woman in the Maxima started claiming that the guy in the Ranger swerved over suddenly, cutting her off and making a collision unavoidable. I didn't see that happen, but the way the cars were impacted made that version very difficult to believe, as the cars were PERFECTLY aligned. If he had swerved in it would seem the cars would be stacked up at some angle.
The woman was insured with Allstate, and the adjuster was very easy to work with. My past experience (working in a body shop) with Allstate was that they were lowball snakes who would cut every corner if possible. So, going in, I was a bit contentious. The Allstate adjuster indicated that the woman was claiming comparative negligence and that the guy in the Ranger behind me might be partially to blame. After hearing her revisionist history version of events (first she was following at a car length distance, then a car and a half, then two cars), I told the adjuster that I didn't think that's how it happened at all, that what I thought was there was enough room for the truck to get in, he did, but the woman in the Maxima didn't want him to get in and was speeding up to try and 'slam the door' on him, NASCAR style. That move combined with the rapid slowing of traffic put her into his back end. Then i let it drop that I had half a dozen pictures that would show at least that the cars were all aligned perfectly, and even if he did dive in, there was enough time for him to get all the way in, which makes it an OK move in my book.
To make a short story long, I said that if Allstate came back and said that they were only going to pay a percentage, then I would take my evidence and witnesses (had a passenger with me) down to small claims and file suit against their insured, and that I would win.
Two days later I got a check in the mail for 3K bucks for relatively light front end damage (headlights, grille, small amount of hood rolled under), and I'm expecting another promised 500 dollar reach around from Allstate in exchange for signing a waiver that I won't sue their client any further :)
Lesson learned from this:
A) KEEP A CAMERA IN YOUR CAR!!! If I hadn't been heading out for a vacation weekend I wouldn't have had a camera with me, and I'd most likely still be butting heads. The pictures made her version of events impossible to believe.
After this, I will have to amend my past stance on Allstate being a bunch of crooks....after discussing it with my body shop, it seems like it depends on who is in charge of whatever region the ins. co. is working that determines whether the ins. co. is going to be fair and easy to work with, or will be adversarial. Insurance is regulated at the state level so there are bound to be wide variances in how they operate. Based on my experience, I would have to say that they definitely treated me right.
Oh, BTW, myself and my passenger were the only ones that walked away without ANY injuries (1992 9KT). We were just a little tiny bit stiff and sore that evening, but by the AM we were totally fine. Regrouped and loaded up my 1988 9KS and left for Vegas first thing next morning, still managed to squeeze a fun weekend out :)
posted by 216.188....
, Thu, 28 Mar 2002 13:48:14 <-- Viewing This Message, Thu, 28 Mar 2002 18:11:38
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