PHARMACIST STEVE

I recently wrote about someone tail-ending my daughter’s new car… https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=4953

she was sitting still at a stop light/sign.. The person that hit her was insured by STATE FARM..

Over the years.. I have had two accidents with vehicles insured by STATE FARM.. in both incidents.. my vehicle was STOPPED and in both cases STATE FARM’S initial determination that their insured was not at fault. In fact, one was a 11,000 lb diesel truck belonging to my pharmacy and the STATE FARM insured crossed a two lane road and hit the passenger fender of the truck with the passenger door of their car. My truck was stopped behind a vehicle that was turning.. STATE FARM’S determination was that my driver was not driving defensively enough. A 11,000 diesel truck is not that agile or responsive !

My daughter told me that STATE FARMS contacted her the same or next day and arranged to get her car repaired and a rental car.. She had owner her NEW CAR for < 30 days and only had 800 miles on it. My suspicions were on high alert… this is not the STATE FARM that I had dealt with before..  I checked the BBB website and STATE FARMS still had a “C” rating with them.. So there must have been a lot of unresolved complaints with STATE FARM..

After doing some research.. there is a thing called “diminished value”… that is when a car is wrecked and the value of the car is “diminished” because of the wreck..  Since it was the insured of STATE FARMS that caused the diminished value of my daughter’s car.. this wreck.. reduced this otherwise new car’s value to that  of a five year old car.

I suspected that STATE FARM was so anxious to get the car repaired .. so that .. this single Mom would be happy and not realize that just repairing the car would be cheating her.  Long story …short.. STATE FARM offered her a couple of hundred dollars for the diminished value.. when my daughter hired an appraiser that specialized in this sort of thing… the final figure was 3000+ of diminished value.. and after I had a conversation with the adjuster.. STATE FARM coughed up the money.

I know that all of us in pharmacy have a fondness for insurance companies… but.. it would seem … that STATE FARM can offer such “low prices”.. because they try to screw people out of money due them when one of their insured causes damage to other people’s property. I wonder what they do to their own insured when their property is damaged .. that is insured by STATE FARM ?

Filed under: General Problems