Complaint Review: Mercury Insurance - Internet Internet

On Dec. 31st 2012, someone insured by Mercury Insurance rear-ended my four
wheel drive Chevy S-10 truck. After the accident, the vehicle experienced
transmission problems which cause the truck to stall frequently.

The end result after ten weeks is that Mercury is only offering about $1,000
for damage that has ruined my truck. I'd like to see them buy a four wheel
drive truck with only 129k miles for $1,003.46. The accident might as well
have been a hit and run accident because a thousand dollars does not make
up for the aggravation of dealing with the dishonest, arrogant crooks at Mercury.

I'm going public with this to embarrass the crooks at Mercury and in the hopes
that a class action lawsuit may be built up against them.

It's been a colossal headache trying to deal with this company. The agent
assigned to the case has repeatedly failed to return calls, and most recently
reneged on a verbal agreement to pay me $1,605.82, which didn't include
damage to the wiring or transmission of my truck from the accident, which
Mercury refused to take responsibility for even though my truck was working
fine before the accident.

The original inspection of my truck at my home was done by a Mercury agent,
who went in the backyard without bothering to knock on the door or call first
even though I was told he would. I wanted to show the electrical problem
and transmission problem.

The first inspector failed to notice damage to the
underside of the vehicle, which included a broken wheel retention
device. The spare tire had been lost in the accident. (And guess what?
They want to deny responsibility for that even though my heavy steel
bumper was caved in, and the spare tire was under the truck and would
obviously be the first casualty of a severe rear end accident.) Also,
some of the truck's wiring appeared to have been knocked loose as
the windshield wiper was not operating reliably after the accident.
The original estimate of damages based on the visual inspection was $1,014.42.

When I asked the Mercury agent for a local  Mercury vehicle inspector
to get a more complete list of the damage, she sent me to Santa Monica
Ford, but they only do body work and not transmissions or electrical. I
strongly believe this was deliberate because the Mercury agent knew the
truck was only likely to make it a short distance without breaking down.
Obviously I wanted an inspection of everything that had gone wrong with
the vehicle due to the accident.

Their damage estimate appeared to have two totals: $1,605.82 and
$1,003.46. The amount $1,605.82 was called an "original net total"
and they subtracted a "supplement" of $602.36 to get the $1,003.46
suggesting that they don't know what "supplement" means.

My truck stalled several times on the short drive to Santa Monica
Ford and had to be towed to Leo's auto repair, where Leo diagnosed
a transmission problem. The Mercury agent told me that the vehicle
had to be taken a Mercury-approved transmission repair place even
though I had been told earlier that a Mercury agent could go to
the repair place if additional problems were diagnosed.

I was then faced with towing the truck at my expense and paying for
a transmission inspection if the Mercury inspector did not consider
the transmission problem was the result of the accident, which
sounds to me like a crooked dodge considering that the truck was
operating fine before it was rear-ended. I got the impression
at this point, that Mercury was just going to refuse to take any
responsibility for mechanical damage to my vehicle and that I would be
cheated regardless.

Mercury Insurance was just going to deny all mechanical and electrical
problems that surfaced after the accident since those tend to be
more expensive than body work.

I did not feel like putting perhaps $500 into towing the truck
and paying for a transmission inspection, only to find out that there
was $3,000 worth of damage, and then Mercury dishonestly refuses to pay.
I verbally agreed with the Mercury agent to take the $1,605.82 settlement
because I thought I was dealing with crooks and that this was the most
that they would pay short of legal action. I sold the truck to a salvage
company so now I no longer have any truck.

Instead of getting the $1,605.82 from Mercury, I received a check for
$1,003.46. I called up Mercury to complain about this short-changing,
and did not receive a return call. I called again after waiting a week.
The Mercury agent apparently was suffering from amnesia at this
point about our earlier verbal agreement to settle the claim for $1,605.82.

I would like to be compensated more fully for the loss of my vehicle. If
Mercury can find a four wheel drive truck in good operating condition
with 129k miles or less then they should buy one for me or they should
pay me a more reasonable amount, say $4,000.00, to compensate me
for the loss of my vehicle due to the accident caused by one of their clients.