There Ought to be a Law

By Ronald E. Hignight

There ought to be a law. Have you tried dealing with an auto insurance company lately regarding a loss? They expeditiously take information, even over the internet, and dispatch an adjuster within 24 hours. A fellow shows up all smiles, snaps a few photos on his handy cell phone then leaves in a rush to turn in his report.

The next day, you receive a nice warm phone call from the claims representative, gushing with concern about your loss. Then they drop the bomb – an offer to settle all claims for about half the value of your auto. No rental is offered but they will send a tow truck. You have the responsibility of signing the title and sending it to them. Once they have confirmed that the auto is at the salvage yard and have received the title, they will forward the check for your auto.
When you try to talk with them about how they determined the value of the vehicle they say imperiously that the value is based on ‘comparables.’ Where such comparables come from is somewhat of a mystery but I was informed that they ranged out some 200 miles to try to find the exact vehicle somewhere on the market. I suspect that the vehicles they found, if any actually exist, are lodged at a salvage yard somewhere.

If you object to the value, all that really happens is that you are passed from one claim representative to another over a period of several days each promising that they will re-research the comparables. Each successive call renders the same value.

It is fruitless to suggest that you will engage an attorney even though such is an alternative. It is an alternative only if you have some form of transportation to get you by for the next nine months to a year. What is needed is a quick and inexpensive forum to turn to such as mediation. But, it takes two to agree to mediation and insurance companies are uninterested. So, give us a law that compels auto insurance companies to go to mediation if there is a disagreement on a claim.