Complaint Review: Appraisal Group of America

I  paid  $ 299,-   for  their  DV  appraisal  which  stated  that  my  van  had  lost  about $ 4,700  in  value  due  to  an  accident  which  a  pothead  insured  by  Safe  Auto  caused.

Safe  Auto  offered  less  than  $ 300,-   using  the  so  called  "Georgia  17c  table".   I  had  to  go  after  the  guy  who  crashed  into my  van  and  Safe  Auto  hired  him  an  attorney.  Then  the  attorney  hired  an  expert  witness  who   stated that   Terry  Fisher  and  the  Appraisal  Group  of   America  are  crooks.   I  had  named  Terry  Fisher  as  my  expert  witness  and  Monica  promised that  he  would  do  an  excellent  job  when  testifying.   When  I  sent  her  what  the  Safe  Auto  expert  had  written  about  them   she  told  me  "don't  worry,  my  husband  knows  this  guy, he  deals  with  him  all   the  time."     I  made copies  of  everything  that  the  other  party  had  sent  to  me  and  mailed  them  to  AGA.   I  also   gave  Monica  the  contact  information  for  my  attorney.   When  the   court  set  the  date  for  the  hearing  I  informed  Monica  immediately  and  her  response  was  "sorry,  my husband  is  completely  booked  out  for  the next  3  months,  he  won't  be  able  to  testify,   you  should  have  informed  us  at  least  2  months  in   advance  about  the  court  hearing."    I  told her  that  courts  usually  don't  set  the  hearing  date  several   months  in  advance  and  sometimes  even  change  the  date  a  few  weeks  before.   Since  I  had  the  court's  approval   for  her  husband  to  testify  over  the  phone  I  asked  her  at  what  time  the  court  could  call  him   at  least  for  a  few  minutes  so  that  he  could  confirm  that   he  wrote  the  appraisal.   I  told  her  that  the  appraisal   alone  would  be  worthless  because  it  is  considered   "hearsay"   and  not  admissable  if  the  author  does  not  testify  that  he  wrote  it.

The  appraisal  that  i  received  from them  was  not  even signed  and  said  that  it  could  only  be  used  at  court  with their  written  permission  which  I  never  received.

  I  told  her  that  it  would  not  take  more  than  5  minutes  over  the  phone  and  her  answer  was  "Sorry,  he  does  not  even  have  5  minutes  to  testify  over  the  phone."    I  explained  to her  that  I  had  trusted  her  and  that  I  would  lose  in  court  without  the  testimony  of  an  expert  witness.   Her  answer  was  "Sorry,  but  it  is  not  our  problem,  you  should  have   told  us  at  least  2  months  in  advance  about  the  court  hearing."   

At  the  hearing  the  expert  witness   who  only  works  for  insurance  companies  told  the  jury  that  a  vehicle  which is  older  than 12 months  never  suffers  any  DV   and  he  also  stated that  my  van had  been  involved  in  a  prior  accident  which was  a  lie.   When  i  asked  him  what kind  of  evidence  he  had  to  prove  this,  he  replied  "because  I  am the  expert  witness."   the  jury  awarded   $ 0     because  Terry  Fisher  was  not  willing  to   confirm  over the phone  that  he  wrote  his  $ 4,700  appraisal.   AGA   is  only  interested  in  charging  the $ 299.-   fee  but  they  won't  stand  behind  it.    Without  their  testimony  you  can  use   their  appraisal  to  soak  up  the  oil  spots  on  your  garage  floor.