In case you missed the original post, check it out here:
tl;dr: The vehicle was (before the accident) worth more than I owed on it so Progressive paid off my loan and then wrote me a check for the leftover amount. Now I have a decent down payment for my next vehicle.
First off, I want to thank everyone that left constructive comments. You all rock and I hope it comes back to you ten-fold. I had never been in a situation like this and so I was left stranded without the tools for survival. I took every bit of your advice and used it successfully to hold my insurance company to its purpose. I couldn't have done it without you.
I'm not going to stop there -- to the trolls and jerks that were there just to stir the pot -- thank you too. You helped me the most, I think. You made me question myself. I know I'm not a fool and you put me up to proving it. We can all learn a valuable lesson from this. Here's why:
In short, I signed up for an automobile insurance policy that ended up being something completely different from what I thought it was. I've had continuous insurance for the last 18 years through a couple of accidents and have never had a problem with collecting on any of it.
This time was different. This time, the policy I purchased was a "Stated Value" policy instead of an "Actual Cash Value" policy. Unfortunately for me, that stated value ended up being $1. Sure enough, it said it right on the declarations page. I went back looked at the paper I e-signed -- there it was again: $1.
How could I have missed this? Surely if I read my paperwork like I was supposed to, like I was being lectured on, I would have questioned why my policy was good for just $1.
So I contacted my agent. He dodged every attempt at being held accountable. He said the final policy was signed for online and so he wasn't responsible. "I became my own agent at that point" is what he told me. Funny, I thought, because I didn't any commission for signing myself up. He did. He was still my agent, it was his quote that I signed, and he collected the commission on it, so I persisted in holding him accountable because when he accepted the commission, he accepted responsibility for my policy.
Then I went back at Progressive and changed adjusters because the original person I had was uncooperative. I laid my case out for her, with reasonable requests for information regarding my policy. It took some time but she was able to pull the documents and the phone calls from when I signed up. Like I said, yep, there was my e-signature. I just didn't feel right about it though. No way would I have approved this.
So I went back to my agent. I asked him why on earth he would have quoted me a stated value policy. Once he realized I had some ammo to work with, his tune change. "Uh, I don't know, stated value is the next item down in the list box. Maybe I clicked it accident." Of course I asked him if that was true then the mistake had to be two-fold because where did he get a value of $1 from? "Must be default. I really don't know." he said.
I still wasn't satisfied. I didn't like being berated by the few commenters on my last post who basically told me that I was a fool for not reading before I signed it. Alright, I thought, let me sign up for another policy and see if I make the same mistake again.
So I did it. I used a VIN from a previous, yet similar vehicle and used the online quote service. I answered all of the questions just as I normally would. I chose my coverage, I listed my accidents, and picked my discounts. I got to the very end where it stated my choices and asked for my signature. I looked back over it just in case. What was I missing? I didn't see anywhere I could choose Actual Cash Value or Stated Value. The page I was signing didn't use any of those terms at all either.
So I picked up the phone and called Progressive. I spoke to a representative and asked where I choose "stated value." She said, "You don't. We choose based on your answers." Ahhhhh ha. Okay. So I hung up. Then I opened a chat window with Progressive. I asked the same thing. See below:
Got it. I had proof. Nowhere was I able to choose or know beforehand what I was getting. I called the adjuster and asked her to write some notes in my file and that I would provide proof if they needed it.
They ended up reviewing all of my phone calls and other communications "to make certain I didn't specifically request $1 of coverage," as if that was even possible. Within a few days they went from offering me $1 to actually paying off the loan and writing me check for the leftover amount of the value of the vehicle.
So, again, thank you to everyone who responded to my last post. Please, go look at your policies and make sure everything is on point. Something like that can fly under the radar forever until you need it...and then it's too late. The other takeaway -- contracts aren't always what they seem, nothing is written in stone, and everything is negotiable. You may have to fight, but if you're right, persistence is key.
Submitted November 07, 2017 at 08:54PM by moretobeseen http://ift.tt/2hPCS7a
