Mercury Insurance Ripoff California
On May 18th I was driving home to Bellflower (Long Beach Area), when a young man in an SUV ran a Redlight causing us to have an accident (luckily I had plenty of witnesses). The Impact caused my vehicle to be dragged from the #1 (fast) lane all the way to the curb. There was damage done on the side of impact, obviously, but there was also damage done to the left (passenger side) in the form of stress cracks from being dragged and hitting the curb.
(Now comes the fun part)My car was considered a total loss. My car is a 2002 Monte Carlo SS Limited Edition Dale Earnhardt Replica (only 3333 made) there is no Blue Book Value for this car so I was offered approximately 8k which is the value of the cheapest model.
After contacting a lawyer and showing proof that my car was a limited edition I was told that I needed to find a vehicle like mine in the Auto trader (within 100 miles of my location) to set the value to. Problem #1, even Autotrader.com listed the closest vehicle like mine to be located in Maryland. Same amount of miles, Same model, everything. The Car was being sold for 23k.
Mercury agreed to the price but then started making deductions. They made deductions to the car for taxes and licencing because I decided to keep it to get it repaired (being that it is the first vehicle I ever bought with my hard earned money, being the first owner and being very emotionally attached. This was the car my wife and I used at our wedding when we got married) So they deducted 6k because they could get that much from an auto salvage yard if they were to keep and sell it.
So, that brings us down to 17k, fine. Next they decided that because the impact was on the drivers side that there was no way to prove that the damage on the passenger side was due to the accident so they were deducting that damage from their pay off. I let them know that the vehicle had never been in any other accidents and had it been, being that I have full coverage, wouldn't they have record of the accident had their been one and had to pay for the repairs anyways? They never replied to that question.
After those final Deductions the pay off came down to approx. 15k. I am upset at the fact that they nickel and dimed me at the end over damages. I understand that they removed the initial 6k because they could get that much from a wrecking yard. Problem here is, that they are supposed to give you the address of the wrecking yard willing to pay that much for the vehicle to verify that cost. They never did.
Finally, when we finally came down to the agreed payoff, it took almost 2 months to recieve the check. Everytime I called I got an answering machine for my case worker. Never got any straight answers and was always told I'll have to get back to you, though they never did.
They have commercials that play here in the L.A. area stating that "thousands of mercury customers choose them because they are quick to help and know that they will be there for them". I really wish I was one of those customers.
I have since found a new insurance company. I know all companies have their faults but, please, if you are going to claim things such as what was quoted above at least live by what you say.
Flaviano
Bellflower, California
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Melissa
Thompson,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
1 question maybe 2
#5Consumer Comment
Mon, April 18, 2011
If the accident was not your fault why r u going through your insurance company.. Does the other driver have mercury aswell
Ddg
Victorville,California,
U.S.A.
Salvage
#5
Wed, September 09, 2009
After reviewing your complaint and the attached rebuttal, it appears that you both may have been better off not keeping the salvage. Especially, the person that filed the rebuttal.
For the person, that filed the rebuttal, my recommendation is put as little down on the vehicle as possible. Negotiate the price and interest rate of the vehicle with the dealership and not the payments. Always buy GAP insurance.
Thericker69er
Montebello,California,
U.S.A.
Sounds Familiar......
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, June 14, 2009
After reading yoding ur complaint, one familiar thing stood out. I'm currently dealing with Mercury Insurance after an accident that wasn't my fault. They also nickeled & dimed me. After paying off the finance company and after Mercury's deductions, I was left with a meezly $700. I barely had the car a week and a half when the accident occurred. I put a down payment of $2500 so I'm going to end up losing big time a total of $1800.
After finding out I was only receiving $700, I was both mad and depressed. But then the Mercury agent told me that after the finance company is paid off, I would be able to sell it to a salvage business and get $1050 for it. She told me she would send all the info right away by mail. After hearing this, I felt much better. But it's been 3 weeks since she told me this and still haven't received anything. And when I try to call the Mercury agent to ask her what happened to the salvage info, I get her voicemail. I been leaving messages with my name & call back number but she hasn't bothered to call me back. So I completely understand what you went or still going through.
I would like to know if you ever got the salvage info regarding your case.
Astonished
Los Angeles,California,
U.S.A.
Doesn't sound like a rip-off, it sounds like poor communication.
#5UPDATE EX-employee responds
Fri, June 06, 2008
Flaviano,
To be frank with you, I don't see "ripoff" factor. In reading your account of the situation, I really don't see that they did anything wrong other than not communicate with you very well. That being said, let's get to the main issues.
First and foremost, adjusters are on the phone all day by nature. That is still no excuse for not getting back to you within the company's 4 hour return call goal/requirement.
I am confused by your saying that you are complaining about the salvaged value deduction taken, but then you say you understand it. While I know you may not like it, that is a fact of what happens after your car is totalled. It is sold at a salvage yard to the highest bidder. Where do you think all those "recycled" parts come from?
I agree with you being upset that they did not take into consideration that your car was a limited edition vehicle to begin with. However, you need to make sure your agent represented it correctly on the declarations page first. That being said, the appriaser (guy/girl who physically goes and looks at your car) should have realized it when they saw it. Most every appraiser Mercury uses would have known this, but I do admit, some of them are not as car savey as they should be. However, they corrected the issue once they saw the error they made. Isn't that a good thing?
The damage to the other side of the vehicle being deducted is usually from only one thing. It is when the damage to an "uninvolved area" of the car cannot be explained. For example, you are rearended and said in your statement that you were not pushed into another vehicle, yet you have damage to your front end that you say is from that loss. Because I don't know all the details, I can't comment on it, but I will tell you this, that kind of decision is not made off the cuff and has much consideration before imposed. Oh, and your comment regarding the damage not being there prior is really not that strong. Just because a claim was not filed doesn't mean that there wasn't a prior incident that would have yeilded damage to the car. Suppose you backed out of a spot and hit a fixed object and did not report it because it would have been a chargeable loss to you which would have caused your rate to increase? It happens all the time. I'm not saying that happened here, but it happens more than you know.