Complaint Review: Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. - Hartford New Mexico

On Mar. 2, 2013, I was accused by someone of running into his truck, Albuquerque, NM. I never had an accident with him at any time. Nevertheless, he followed me home to my parsonage and both of us called police at same time. Neither of us were ticketed. There was not a shred of evidence that we had an accident (e.g. no paint transfer, no matching up of his damaged area with anything on my Bronco, etc.), or that it was even possible for my Bronco to have caused the claimed accident. He claimed that he was driving on the sidewalk on my right side when I 'ran into him'. From the police, he found out who my insurer is, Hartford Casualty Insurance Co., and filed a claim with it. Hartford turned him down, so he filed with his insurance company (USAA). Unknown to me until March, 2015, when my wife tried to insure another car via another insurer when she was told that I had an accident on my driving record. That's because his claim went into secret arbitration, Hartford put up a feeble defense, and the arbitrator found in favor of him. According to Hartford, it then paid his claim. Insurance companies love to lose these cases because they can then "justify" making you pay much higher premiums for fictional accidents - 5+ times what they paid out for the claim - over years. So our driving insurance premiums went much higher - a cost we can little afford. Hartford (and any other insurance co. I can go to) is now charging us for an accident that either never occurred or did occur but did not involve me.

When I first found out, I emailed Hartford several times, but got no response. I then complained to NM insurance regulators (NM OSI), they told me I had no right to know anything about the arbitration or even have been informed about it taking place or how it was decided or who the arbitrators were, nor any right to know whether the money Hartford paid to the accuser actually paid for and was limited to the damage he falsely claimed I did. According to NM OSI, it was all "work product" of the arbitrators. I then complained to NM AG and asked for a full investigation, they refused to even investigate, even though I proved to them that Hartford perjured itself with its OSI response and lied to me, and it appeared I was set up as a religious hate crime (I am clergy), and possible elder abuse issues (ironically, we obtained our Hartford insurance thru AARP). Did you know that there is no Federal agency you can complain to about insurance companies? If you have a beef with any other business, you can complain Federally to several agencies (FTC, CFPB, Postal Inspector, FBI, ICC, etc.), plus your state and the state of that business. I am stuck paying for this sickening injustice because I must be able to drive to survive (Disabled Veteran) to buy food, see doctors, etc. Auto insurance companies are clearly secret societies which use the police power of the state as enforcers for their protection rackets. This is as bad as communism.