Insurance - need advice, how to handle State Farm clams dept.

My 1 month old Dodge Stratus R/T was rear ended at 20 mph. My wife was sitting still in traffic when hit. The car that hit her shoved her car into the one infront of her. The car only had a few visible scratches when the Insurance ****s were contacted. I took the car to a approved body shop ( sanctioned by State Farm) as instructed. On removal of the front and rear bumpers the mech. found exstensive damage to the car. About 3k worth. The Insurance ****s are now taking my rental car because the scratches should have been fixed in two days (they say) never mind the other hidden damage that they're bodyshop found. Because of my previose statement of only seeing scratches they are taking the rental. The parts will be there in 24 hrs.
The ironic thing is I am a State Farm customer also. Should I have lied and said I saw more damage than was there? I wasn't planning on getting a lawyer but now I am. I will sue for anything I can think of. All I wanted was my car fixed with no hassel. I am not a mech. how can they expect me to see this stuff? It's not the $150 out of my pocket that bothers me it is the principal. How can I get these idiots to listen? They are as bad as the I.R.S..
Help.

Consult an attorney.
I got rear-ended once many years ago when I was at a dead stop in traffic, the other party got a ticket, and I settled too quickly with the insurance company of the person that hit me for the visible bumper and body damage. A little later, the transmission had to be replaced due to damage from the impact. Initially, it wasn't immediately apparent that there was any damage to the transmission.
Have that checked, too, before you settle.
Good Luck!
Mike

....I'd MUCH rather deal with the IRS! Mike is absolutely right, as are you, in the attorney idea. Really quick story of my State Farm fiasco: I had a 'beautiful' Jeep Grand Cherokee - decked - that was stolen; when found, I had the police tow it to where I bought it (I'd rather wait in a long line while gov. workers have lunch all at once than to revisit); the dealer then sub-ed out the body work ($8 - $10k ((so they said)) to another shop who's employees stole everything else not bolted down or glued; dealer called me "It's ready" - I pulled the bumper off with one hand, the center console was replaced with a Ford Explorer console, the steering column was 3 or 4 shades darker, and they removed all of my limo window tinting because by law they can't install it.... so they just removed ALL of it. Here's one for you - the miles went from 84,000 (ish) to 64,000 (ish). Was this even my car??

State Farm pushed and pushed until I eventually went over that edge where giving up is the easiest thing to do. I regretably gave in. It was always someone else's fault, never the agent's.... I was even told that it was MY responsibility to deal with the body shop where the work was sub-ed out to! So I had to go there and point out the two guys who most likely stole my belongings! Just strap a bull's eye on my back!

Yep, I got screwed!! DON'T BEND, WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!! I did get some satisfaction.... I watched as the "customer service manager" at the dealership was fired and told to "pack it up". (Terrible way to make myself feel better but he probably took it joy riding a few states over! Someone used it for the 3 1/2 months it took to get what was left of it back! - No rental either!! :mad: )

Sorry, got on a roll.... I'm with Allstate now and am currently dealing with a homeowner's claim and so far, so good. No probs what-so-ever with auto. either.

Good luck Todd! Oh and no, I don't think you should've lied. Why stoop to their level? The agent (or any agent with a little experience and common sense) knows that the damage was unseen until the bumper(s) were removed - their sanctioned body shop could've attested to that. Ohhhhhh......man...... how low can they go? As low as you'll let them...

Here's an idea....not knowing you or your wife..... once you get to your breaking point, have your wife take over like a tyrannt, you know maybe after spending all day with the kids and the neighbor's kids and nobody wants to take a nap more than her... Of course I could be describing the agent? (No offense.... I'm just being goofy)

Take care and best wishes.... :cool:

When dealing with insurance companies the attorney route is often the only way to go. Remember this; insurance companies are NOT REQUIRED to do ANYTHING, other than defend their clients, UNTIL A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION ORDERS them to do so.

They only do stuff without court orders because it's economical and or good PR. My theory is IF YOU SETTLE WITHOUT A COURT FIGHT you've sold yourself too cheap. A few years back I had a hail damaged roof on a rental house in a tract built neighborhood. Quite a few houses of similar floor plan. We took the cash settlement and were in the process of re-roofing when a neighbor stopped by. He asked who our insurer was and why we were doing the work ourselves. I answered "State Farm and I want the work done right, not wrong". He thought maybe it was because the $3700 wouldn't cover the total cost. I told him, "no, the $4100 covered it quite nicely. He had $250 deductible, we had 1% (which was $710) deductible). He took their first offer. I kept pointing out "suspicious" looking spots and some extra steps that might be needed to get the job done right.

I haven't had too much experience with claims of this nature, however I have extensive professional experience with medical insurance.

1. The first thing I would recommend is to contact the Your State AG's office. Many will have a pamphlet (you may be able to d/l) that will outline your rights as a claimant. Follow this advice and, if possible, file with the AG's office immediately (there are usually strict time limits). The one caveat to this is that the quality of State AGs varies widely. (If your in Illinois, your probably SOL, if your Washington, you can get a fair settlement very quickly - I've gotten a 24 hour turnaround between filing and recieving notice of a payment. Of course, YMMV.)

2. Next, find out the appeals process for SF (or your insurer). Follow the guidelines to the letter. Once your exhausted that system, start writing polite letters detailing the problem (don't ever get rude, obnoxious, or rant - they'll label you as a crank and toss the letter). Start at the Customer Service (complaints or whatever) and then work your way up the chain (VP, Pres.). Although some will say start at the top, I think thats a mistake in this case. Insurers are cost conscious. As someone has pointed out, they settle because it's cheaper. If you work your way up the chain, you ratchet up their costs, as each piece of paper has to be dealt with - they notice that. Additionally, you don't know what's going on at their end. If the VP or Pres. ignores you, your done. If the low level person ignores you, you go up (building their costs as you go). [Just an aside, at SF a woman used this method on her medical claim - around $15K, IIRC. Eventually a VP at HQ in Bloomington, IL got it and paid her claim.]

Although I like the attorney route, unless you have legal services insurance or a clinic, it probably won't do much good in a case like this as there is just not enough money to make it worth while. Maximum out of pocket for you is a couple of hundred bucks. An attorney will charge that much an hour, and an honest one will tell you that up front. I'd still call a couple, as usually you can ask a couple of pro-bono questions that will help you get a good start on how to deal with the insurance company. (Now, if you can claim soft tissue damage and kick it over into the medical arena - loss of consortion and all that, that's a whole new ball game.)