State Farm Ins. rip off ! auto and med. wont pay...

[kyrie6]

had a fender bender. State farm said get 3 estimates on auto. I did all within 50. of ea. other. 2800. So I send those to them. They send me a ck. for 700. WTF. they said if any more damage than that they would pay the body shop. RIP OFF.. O.k. on my medical bills. I had E.R., X-rays, Dr. and he prescribed phys. Therapy. I do 6 wks. of that. Now S.F. says I had preexisting problems in shoulder and back so they wont pay any of it. Nor will my reg. ins. because they said was due to wreck. So both say I,m SOL. And lawyer says same. He cant make any money on it so The hell with me.  So take note Ins. will F*** You. 

[Bighead]

Not right. But why didnt you take your car to the body shop and let them deal with the insurance company? Last time I had a claim I just gave the body shop agents name and they handled everything else.

[Master Blaster]

Had a nice house go up in flame about a mile from mine, had been with State Farm since new, and they refused to pay.  Owner put a billboard out by the highway detailing the rip off, was on some acreage, with horses.  Ruined the owner, had to sell for what he could get, market was way down at the time, was his dream home.  Never trusted SF since then.

[MarkT]

I've had great service from State Farm.  Seems odd there could be such differences.  Wonder if we have the full story.  Or could the local support people make a big difference, and my office is just superb?  Don't know.

[kyrie6]

The Ins. Companies control most of the stock market. They know they have the upper hand. State Farm is a big Company.

[Mongo]

I have good luck with SF paying but it was the other guys insurance both times. First time I was rear ended at about 3 mph They wanted me to take it to the nearest dealer 35 miles away and leave it but wouldn't pay for a loaner. I told them that it was going to be to many miles 70 miles round trip on the bike and 70 miles for the car to pick me up and bring me home. And then 70 miles to drop me off  and come home. that's 210 miles on my vehicles. They didn't care. So I reminded them that I had been rear ended and said my back was a little stiff They came to my house the next day and wrote me a check.

The 2nd one a truck pulled out in front of me and I planted the front wheel between his front tire and fender. They paid for the bike right away but I had to wait till all the hospital bills come in before they paid a dime. I used my own Heath insurance then SF paid my insurance back.

Just had a claim for hail damage on my house they only paid the depreciated value of the roof 70 percent then paid the rest (replacement value) when the roof was done.

I would have took the $700 and then had the car fixed  If they let you pick the body shop why not?

[cookiedough]

time to jump ship and find a new insurance company.  I find SF and American Family,  being the biggies in my area, are WAY too high of price.  I ALWAYS go the cheapest out of my pocket route for vehicle and home insurance no matter what.  I've used Wadena/IMT,  GMAC insurance, Allstate,  Liberty Mutual,  Green County Mutual, and a few others and will continually keep shopping around near yearly for better rates if they jack up my rates more so than 5-10 bucks every year.  One insurance company had good rates on my 3 vehicles but when I got a home quote to get the auto/home discount,  it was like 1000 bucks per year for my dinky 1104 sq. foot small ranch home vs. normal 350-500 bucks per year.  I said I don't live in a mansion and did you mis-type being 11000 sq. feet vs. 1100?

It's not worth paying double for premiums in the front end and then as well get screwed on the rear end - 

I have switched home and auto insurance about 5 times in the past 12 years or so and will continue to do that since they all are crooks and raise my rates for NO good reason besides just telling me the claims in my area are higher.  I respond, so what,  I have NEVER filed a claim in my life well over 20+ years now, so don't come to me stating claims are way up in my area.  I could care less, MINE are NOT and I WILL NOT stand for it so I just keep switching.  NO insurance company cares anymore all is about money to them and NOT service.  If they did care about keeping me being a loyal paying customer with NO claims, they would see my point and go to bat for me NOT raising my rates more than say 10-20 bucks per year, but they ALL jump rates WAY too much can't afford it.

I am surprised about the roof damage not paying out in full for a new roof due to hail damage if was ALL OVER hail damage on shingles.  My mom has state farm here in WI and her 20+ year old shingles she was going to get replace in next 1-2 years since going bad she got hail damage all over and her state farm agent replaced the entire roof costing around 5 grand with her only paying the 500-1000 dollar deductible - good deal on her end for sure since roof needing replacing soon anyways. 

[Dave Ritsema]

Must be alot different in Indiana. I have had State Farm for almost 35 years and have never had an issue getting a claim paid. If you use their pre-approved bodyshops you don't even have to get an estimate. Drop the vehicle off at the shop and they do the repair, you do nothing but pick it up when its done.

Earlier this year my daughter was hit by a teenager in a stolen car that had no insurance. State Farm covered it under my uninsured motorist, paid all the medical bills directly as well as a rental car. I think they are a bit pricer than most but they have always come thru for me when I needed them.

[Jack]

If you aren't happy with State farm, go elsewhere.  I have had no problem with them paying claims but they cancelled my RV policy because my wife had made 5 claims in the past 4 yrs on uninsured motorist policy.  She works at a hospital and is frequently hit in the lot while she works.  They said they could not cancel our house or car policy so they chose the RV to make a point.  Crazy since the RV rarely leaves the yard and we have never made a claim on it.  We went to Progressive since they insure both of my bikes and for the same money we were paying SF.  Their loss.

[Willow]

There certainly are two or more sides to every story.  Somewhere there's an insurance employee talking to his co-workers about the person he had to deal with who had very unreasonable expectations.

As to all of us whining about how the insurance company takes measures to trim down on the possibility of wasted payment on claims, think a moment.  That's our money they're working with.  What they pay out easily and carelessly directly impacts the cost of our insurance payments.  Ours is the only money they have.

I negotiate firmly with insurance companies.  Maybe too much.  I have lost respect for some friends who bragged about how they tricked an insurance company into making them a profit from what could have been a bad situation.   

[da prez]

   Willow , there are three sides to a story , Yours ,mine and the truth. If there are three people , then it is four sides.
   This is not a challenge . This is a fact of life . I worked accident investigation for a while as part of a job. Everyone has their own story or opinion.

                                  da prez

[cookiedough]

There certainly are two or more sides to every story.  Somewhere there's an insurance employee talking to his co-workers about the person he had to deal with who had very unreasonable expectations.

As to all of us whining about how the insurance company takes measures to trim down on the possibility of wasted payment on claims, think a moment.  That's our money they're working with.  What they pay out easily and carelessly directly impacts the cost of our insurance payments.  Ours is the only money they have.

I negotiate firmly with insurance companies.  Maybe too much.  I have lost respect for some friends who bragged about how they tricked an insurance company into making them a profit from what could have been a bad situation.   

good points indeed,  insurance companies would not be in business if NOT for OUR money.  So, if say I have one accident in 10+ years of paying premiums to them,  they should do the right thing and stand behind OUR money.  For a fictitious example since never filed a claim ever,  let's say I get into an accident on my Valkyrie thru no fault of my own and the guy who hits me leaves the scene which could happen easily.  My uninsured picks up the claim.  I could see the insurance company paying me ONLY 6 grand for my Valk I/S stating that is what blue/black book states, but not give consideration for what I could sell it for with accessories, lower mileage, condition, etc.  being 7-8 grand tops.  I would NOT settle for their 6K offer being totaled NO way just because a book states so.  Insurance companies after paying for say 10+ years to them need to work for their money and give their insured a fair offer especially since have paid premiums for a long time with NO claims ever.

[BigM]

State Farm Screwed me. Got rear ended. Went on for 3 years. Dr. bills etc. Finally came to a agreement on settlement. More less just to get the nightmare over with. Well. SF claimed that most of bills were from past problems. So werent going to pay on those. BUT when got the settlement they had took part of the settlement amt. and reimbursed my BC ins. So I had to pay it out of the settlement. How ya figure that. CROOKED D**n bunch.

[Jess Tolbirt]

state farm has had issues here too, i dont know what the problem was but lightning hit a building here and burned it down,,there is a big sign on the bldg, stating state farm refused to pay because of something about the location of the bldg.

[MP]

State Farm Screwed me. Got rear ended. Went on for 3 years. Dr. bills etc. Finally came to a agreement on settlement. More less just to get the nightmare over with. Well. SF claimed that most of bills were from past problems. So werent going to pay on those. BUT when got the settlement they had took part of the settlement amt. and reimbursed my BC ins. So I had to pay it out of the settlement. How ya figure that. CROOKED D**n bunch.

Actually, a LOT of insurance is that way.  If I read it right, BC paid medical bills associated with your accident?  Then, most insurances will pay BC their share.  If BC paid the bill, why should the insurance company pay you that money for coverage?  If BC had NOT paid the medical bill, then the insurance payment would have gone to the medial facility, to pay the bill. Not to you.

[3fan4life]

State Farm Screwed me. Got rear ended. Went on for 3 years. Dr. bills etc. Finally came to a agreement on settlement. More less just to get the nightmare over with. Well. SF claimed that most of bills were from past problems. So werent going to pay on those. BUT when got the settlement they had took part of the settlement amt. and reimbursed my BC ins. So I had to pay it out of the settlement. How ya figure that. CROOKED D**n bunch.

Actually, a LOT of insurance is that way.  If I read it right, BC paid medical bills associated with your accident?  Then, most insurances will pay BC their share.  If BC paid the bill, why should the insurance company pay you that money for coverage?  If BC had NOT paid the medical bill, then the insurance payment would have gone to the medial facility, to pay the bill. Not to you.

It depends on where you live.


In VA if you are involved in an accident and your health insurance pays all or part of your medical bills you are not required to repay them once you reach a settlement with the auto insurance.

The interpretation is that since you paid for the health insurance separately the two cannot be combined.

In other words the insurance company of the at fault party cannot benefit because you had paid out of pocket for your own health insurance. 


In my experience ALL insurance companies are crooks and are NEVER to be trusted.

As one lawyer in this area states in his TV ads:

When you have a claim against them,

You are NOT in good hands with Allstate.

Nationwide is NOT on your side.

State Farm is NOT your neighbor.   

[R J]

When I was in the service and stationed in Korea at the time I got a shocker.

SF had canceled my policy on my car.    Which was stored in my Grandfathers barn for the duration of my stay in Korea.

Mom got the letter as all my mail at that time went to her house.

I was still single, but was getting married in 4 months.

Well guess what they were saying the reason was.     My wife had filled for a divorce.    I asked them where they got that information, since I'd wasn't married yet.    Got a bunch of mumbo jumbo, contacted the state insurance commissioner, all to no vail.    So, I just bit the bullet and paid higher premiums for about 8 years.

So, yes I paid through the nose for several years due to an Insurance carrier canceling me out.

I know via word of mouth, SF lost many many customers due to mom and my step-dad running their mouths to people.

[solo1]

I've always had good luck with State Farm here in Indiana.  No complaints. I inadvertently tore the upholstery in my car by sliding a cardboard box with an exposed staple on it.  I told them it was my fault, they paid 100% anyway.  Also two collision claims in the last 12 years were handled ok

I'll bet that ALL  of the insurance companies have pissed off people at some time or another.  Yeah and I have Soro's Progressive on my bike and have had good luck with them also.

BTW, I think that you'll find that companies don't cancel, they refuse to renew. Cancel would be in the middle of your contract with them.

This is sorta like Ford, GM, Dodge, car tire, oil discussion, IMO.

[cookiedough]

personally, have never filed a claim besides rock chipped windshields in near 30 years of driving.  Thus, the reason I keep switching every few years since I have NOT found one single insurance company willing to REDUCE RATES for good drivers accident free yet.  They all jack up the rates year after year and although I don't mind 5-15 dollar increases per year, anything much over 20 bucks and I switch.  I try to explain to the agent all the time on why, they just give me a sob story blah, blah, yadda, yadda B.S.   The agent has the authority am sure to reduce the rate to keep a paying customer, yet they don't give a crap period. 

I just switched my home insurance to a local WI mutual insurance.   Apparently, they told me that if the house goes up in flames, they are required by law to pay out 100% of the full amount of coverage I have on my policy regardless if the new home costs say 20-30K under the full amount to re-build.  So,  say my policy is written at 165K and home costs 150K to rebuild,  I keep the 15K profit.  But that being said, if my home costs 180K to rebuild, then I am out 15K out of my pocket. 

Most other insurance companies overinflate the home value to rebuild at say 190K vs. what it will cost to rebuild being say 160K actual price,  that is why your home insurance rates costs so much.  To line the pockets of the insurance company is all.    They make you feel like you will be well covered at 190K but I know my small 1104 sq. ft. ranch home will not cost over 160K to rebuild, so why pay the extra money for premiums I will never use?

[BigM]

One note on your homeowners Ins. Friends garage burnt down fault of a boat battery charger. He had to prove purchase of each item and what he paid for it and then they would prorate its cost. He had a nightmare trying to do that.

[cookiedough]

One note on your homeowners Ins. Friends garage burnt down fault of a boat battery charger. He had to prove purchase of each item and what he paid for it and then they would prorate its cost. He had a nightmare trying to do that.

How is anyone going to know what they paid for each rake or shovel or other garage item?  Even house items if burnt down, no one keeps receipts for all their purchases locked up in a safe.  My opinion, but it should be covered at FULL replacement cost of each item, NOT prorated, to it's current value.

Insurance companies have told me before to take pics of valuable items and put in safe.  My fishing stuff alone both summer/winter and all gear is well worth 3000 brand new but if given today's market value due to depreciation, guessing 1200 tops.  NO WAY would I settle for market price alone today's depreciation value.  Although, my jigs/lures bought 20+ years ago several hundred at 2 bucks each now valued at 6 bucks each today's value new,  might put me back up over 2 grand easily.  I remember buying for 1.99 rapala lures now most are 5-6 bucks each - OUCH!

[Dagwood]

Have had SF here in MI for around 35 years, last 20 with the same agent. Bought my 2000 tourer in 2004 with 3K miles for $9K. Totaled it in 2010 with 35K miles and sustaining about $7K in medical. SF paid the $7K medical without a wimper and cut a check for the totaled tourer for $7.5K. Might pay a bit of a premium but worth it to me.