Complaint Review: Apollo Casualty Insurance Company - Des Plaines Illinois

Let me start by saying I've never made an insurance claim. Furthermore, I DID NOT pick this insurance company, my agent did.

On 2-4-06 I was rolling down the road in my lifted (modified) 2001 Jeep Cherokee in snowy conditions, when suddenly a spare tire fell off a vehicle in front of me and I could do nothing but center my vehicle on it and drive over it. With exception to a 'ding' noise, I passed over it trouble-free. About a 1/4 down, I was turning off the expressway onto a ramp, when I spun out of control and was launched into a guardrail. The lower control arm mount on my vehicle had given out from the impact of the tire, and my entire front axle had collapsed and lodged under my front floorboards... axle shifted back, driveshaft sent through the transfer case, cracking it in two, etc.

At a glance, we're talking ~$7,000 in damage on a vehicle I had, by the way, JUST purchased a week prior.

I called a tow truck, since the vehicle quite obviously was going nowhere, and had it taken to my home. It was the weekend, and my insurance company was closed.

Monday came, so I called "The Insurance Companies" aka: Apollo Casualty Insurance Company. Once I filed a claim, I was informed that a tow truck would be by to pick up the vehicle.

Not only was the tow truck two days late getting there, which just meant my Cherokee sat around that much longer, but the shop he was taking it to is pretty well known as the biggest $hithole in the county. I tagged along with the driver to see where the Jeep was being delivered.

The shop, Harts Automotive of Westmont, IL, dropped it in their gravel lot and left it... it sat there for two days untouched. Finally on 2-8, I drove past and noticed the Jeep had been moved into their shop... God knows how, but it had. That day, an adjuster from Apollo Casualty Insurance Company came in and wrote up an estimate.

I found out later that the estimate was around $4000 short of what it should have been. I was given the option of having Harts Automotive, of Westmont, IL fix the vehicle, and if any further damage was found they would cover it, or, take a lump sum offer (~20% of the actual cost to fix the vehicle in the real world) and get it fixed where I liked. After looking at my options, since we're only looking at mechanical work, I decided to let Harts Automotive repair it with the understanding that if something didn't work right after the repairs, they would fix it 'til it was right, as Apollo Casualty Insurance Company puts it so eloquently.

According to Hart's Automotive, Apollo Casualty Insurance Company has yet to cut them a check for the repairs, or give their approval for the work to commence.

A month has passed... nothing's been done to the vehicle, and until yesterday, it was still sitting out in Hart's Automotives' parking lot. I called Hart's Automotive today, I learned that they discovered when they pulled it into their shop that from sitting on its framerails for over a month, the vehicle now has significant frame damage and once the doors are opened, they won't close. By the way, the only reason they pulled it into their shop was because of my persistance, not because Apollo Casualty Insurance Company had made any further actions toward repairing my vehicle.

God only knows what will happen now, besides me getting a new insurance company...

Dan

Darien, Illinois
U.S.A.