Complaint Review: Travelers Auto Insurance - Atlanta Georgia

If you are posting the individuals info might want to include yours, posting peoples personal info isnt cool....is it?

Michael Mccarthy
2055 Barrett Kennesaw, Ga 30144

404-408-0816

If you had collision coverage on your policy then your insurance carrier, assuming they believe you are without fault, can file a Inter-Company Arbitration filing against Travelers(they are a member of the nationwide agreement). The facts of this case would go to a independent arbitrator(someone not affiliated with Travelers or your carrier) who would review the evidence and render a decision as to if your carrier proved it's case that Mr. Cushman was liable. If your carrier has not done this(assuming they are a member of the agreement) or filed a lawsuit against Mr. Cushman, then they probably agree that they can not prove that he is at fault.

It is not the job of a insurance carrier to pay all claims submitted. They only must pay claims in which the policyholder can be shown to be legally liable. From what you describe it is a word v. word case. The police report does not appear to be helpful, as it only has your accusation in it. Thats nice, but it does not rise to the level of a preponderance of the evidence. As to the statements you attribute to the other driver you have no proof they were made. His carrier is basing their decision on what was told to them by their insured and the other evidence. I work in insurance(never for Travelers or any of their subsidiaries) claims and have denied claims for the reason of word v word. Based on the info provided they made the legally correct decision. If your carrier does not agree they can file to recoup costs and the deductible and see what a Arb Panel or Jury says. If you had no collision you too can file suit. If you or they do not it is likely because you can not prove your claim, which would corroborate the decision of Travelers.

On 12/14/2009 AT 06:23 PM, I was leaving work when I saw a pickup truck comming through the parking lot at a rather unsafe rate of speed. I was at the end of the lane, about to make a left turn.  The other driver was coming from my left a a 90 degree angle to me. Rather than risk getting T-boned by this a**hole, I came to a stop and waited for him to go by before I made my turn.  To my surprise, the driver began a sharp left turn toward me.   He was apparently in too much of a hurry to let me out of the VERY tight intersection I was in and continued to speed around the corner at me.  In addition to being in too much of a hurry, this guy is not too familiar with the dimensions of his vehicle.  I could see that he was about to connect with my vehicle, so I leaned on the horn and started yelling and waving my hands for him to stop.  No good.  His extended cab GMC Sierra pickup caught the front left fender of my car and continued to slide across it.  He then continued driving, even though the impact and resultant shaking of my vehicle was quite obvious!   I jumped out of my vehicle and yelled at him to stop, which he did.  The driver (who turned out to be one Walter D. Cushman) got out of his truck and said, "I don't think I hit you".  To which I said "I even stopped my car..."  I was furious.  It was still dark.  I shined my flashlight on my vehicle and could see where we had traded paint.  I wrote down his license plate number, and make and model of vehicle.  Then this jacka** actually got back in his truck and drove further down the parking lot, parked and went in the building.  Now I am no detective, but I am fairly certain that constitutes fleeing the scene of an accident... I contacted the Dekalb County Police Dept. to come out so I could get an accident report.  The officer they sent out acted like it was his first day on the job.  I told him what had happened.  I showed him the damage to my vehicle, as well as the spot on Mr. Cushman's truck the had my vehicle's paint on it.  I fully expected the Police Officer to call in the license number, then go get the son of a b**** who had just hit a stationary vehicle, then denied doing it. 

Didn't happen.  First he had to call his sergeant to find out what to do.  He entered the truck's license number into his computer, and said the vehicle had valid insurance, but he would not tell me what company or give me a policy number.  Nor would he tell me the culprit's phone # or work address. When I asked him why, he replied it would be on the accident report, which I could obtain at the department headquarters in two weeks time.  When I finally received my copy of the accident report, it was devoid of Mr. Cushman's work address.  For insurance information, I just read "Standard Fire, Valid Insurance". Neither he nor my insurance company could find any business, anywhere, called Standard Fire Insurance.  When I got the investigating officer back on the phone, he told me he could not find any information on Standard Fire, either.  He advised me to pay my insurance deductible and move on.  I could not get him on the phone again after that first call. Good Police work... From my own research, I learned that the Standard Fire Insurance Company is wholly owned by Travelers Group Holdings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelers Property Casualty Corp. It is now known as The St. Paul Travelers Comapnies, Inc.. Now I was getting somewhere. I contacted my insurance company with this new information. A short while later, the Traveler's claim adjuster came by and looked at my vehicle. He later sent me an estimate and instructed me to get an estimate from whatever body shop I was going to work with, which I did. He then told me I should be getting a check mailed to me for the amount of the repair.  Two weeks later, I received a phone call from my insurance company telling me that Traveler's had rejected my claim. I thought this was odd, as I had received no notice from Traveler's that I had been rejected. I called the claim adjuster, who didn't seem to want to talk to me. He advised me to contact the senior claims handler, a Ms. Felicia Culver. Getting in touch with Ms. Culver is no easy task.  Several voice and E-mails later, she called me back, and was somewhat less than cordial. Ms. Culver informed me that Mr. Cushman's version of the incident differed from my own. He had stated that both of our vehicles were moving at the time of the impact, and due to the lack of any witnesses, she could not honor the claim. When I asked her at what point Mr Cushman had changed his mind about these facts, as he had clearly stated to me several times that he "didn't think he hit me", but now it was we had hit, but we were both moving. The call got less productive from then on. Ms. Culver would not provide me with any more information, and was being somewhat rude, so I ended the call.I am still trying to get the money for the damages Travelers owes me. 
Ms. Culver can be reached at: Travelers, CS1816 Alpharetta, Ga 30023.
1-678-317-7000
Or
1-770-362-4436
Mr. Cushman can be reached at: 105 Lakeview Lane, Stockbridge, GA 30281

Don't know how this update got tied to this report.

Has it ever occurred to you that carrying a Debit/Credit card is VERY DANGEROUS to your credit!! Not one time in using a Deb/Cr card have I ever been asked for proof of identity - this means anyone can take my Deb/Cr card and use it anyplace, anytime, for any amount!! - Even though I have used the signature space on the back to state PLEASE ASK FOR PHOTO ID!! - Never happens!! Heck, you don't even have to give a PIN #!! And, THAT, worries me!

- The reason is that VISA and Master Card specifically make it against their rules to deny a transaction soly on the fact that a person does not provide an ID if asked.  The "See ID" is also a myth.  If the card is not signed the merchant is supposed to request that the customer sign the card at that time and then can ask for ID.  Now, I do not mind it when a store asked for ID.  However, when it comes right down to it just because a person does not show an ID the store can not deny the transaction.

But you say that works right into your fear..well think about this.

Sure, I can stop and probably collect/correct any unauthorized use of my card almost immediately, but that still does not stop the embarrassment, humiliation, and stress.

Can you do that with a Check?  A check has your Routing Number, Account Number and your signature on the check.  All a scammer needs is the Routing and Account Number and they can wipe out your bank account.  Unlike a Credit Card, bank accounts DO NOT have the same safeguards in place.  Yes when a company submits an ACH transaction they are supposed to have your approval for that, but when was the last time a crook asked for approval.   

When you use a Credit/Debit Card the transaction is secure.  That is that no one at the store level that has access to your full card number or any other information.  It would take someone to "crack" the system to get the numbers out.  But when you write a check there are probably no fewer than 3-4 people who have direct access to your account information.  ANY of who could take and use that information.  Now, debit cards do fall under the same regulations as your checks.  But you don't have all of this information floating around on a piece of paper. So while a credit/debit cards are not perfect, they are safer than checks.

The more times you whip out that handy D/C card and use it the more times you take the risk of losing/forgetting it! And, THAT worries me!

Seriously?  Have you ever forgotten your checks?  Have you ever forgotten your Drivers Licence?  Why all of the sudden do you think you would start to become forgetful and loose your debit/credit card? 

As a percentage of transactions, Checks are by far the ones that cause the most fraud.  In fact the situation from your original report is a perfect example of that.  A person wrote a bad checks under your Drivers Licence number.  How can you be sure that someone did not steal your DL number and make a fake ID?  After all what are the odds that since this person wrote several bad checks the stores involved would be "careless" and write down the same Drivers Licence number several times that is identical to your number?

So the days of stores accepting checks is numbered.  There are a lot of smaller stores that no longer accept checks, as well as some major retailers that have stopped accepting checks all together.  It is probably only a matter of time when checks, at least at a retail level, go the way of 8-Track tapes.  Until then you will find that the stores that do accept checks have much stricter guidelines.  This could include things such as limiting the number of checks in a given period of time to a certain dollar amount.  And with services such as Telecheck they could "pool" the information together across several stores.

It is good that you have not written a bad check in 62 years, there are a lot of people today who should take that as a good lesson in account management.  But just be aware if you are using ideas from the past, such as a check will "float" for 2-3 days.  You may be in for a bit of a shock as checks will now often post as soon as the same day.  So you have to be even more careful to make sure that you are not relying on this "float" when you write the check.