@@robsimmons6910 absolutely! Insurance refuses to pay a doctor’s visit to a specialist because there was no referral. The problem with that logic is that I have been going to this specialist for years and with the same insurance company and I had a referral years before and was going to this specialist for years. Now they no longer service my area do I got another carrier and am very happy.
Insurance companies and lawyers....the downfall of the American consumer. Our automotive - home owners - medical ...... Insurance companies are fleecing all of us.
Yep, I bought a brand new car years ago and when it had 500 miles on it and one week old someone drove into it and left. Insurance company would only issue aftermarket parts for the repair (bumper, headlight, hood, fender). I was furious. Body shop was wonderful, but insurance was so stingy.
You’re an ethical and principled man dealing with unethical and unprincipled insurers. You made the right call. Life’s too short to let these guys in the door. Thanks for your great work. Cheers.
This is when the customer should file a department of insurance complaint. The insurance company will immediately get off their butt. - an insurance adjuster
Great to know who to complain to, but I'd also file complaints with anybody else willing to take them. As went some prior experience with a firm that took 5+ weeks to finally acknowledge they made the mistake and turned out to be worse than I described
As a customer with a car that would never be the same, and on top of the insurance money I am losing, I am losing a whole-nother bunch with the value of the car going down thousands, can I refuse the fixing of the car and demand the total value of it? ... in serious crashes like AMD is describing ... Thank you.
@Nordestada no. Your contract is in writing with your insurance company. It says they owe the lesser of repairs or ACV of your vehicle. You have no say in that due to your contract. What they can look at is if it a constructive total loss which means the potential repairs may exceed its value minus potential salvage recovery. $17k on a new car isn't going to total it.
works every time. dont even bother arguing or doing anything with shitty insurance companies, straight to department of insurance for your state. seriously, if you notice something isn't happening correctly, immediately notify them.
Insurance companies or any extended warranty sold are the biggest scams out there. Thank you, Ahmed, for your honesty and for trying your best to help all your customers!
I bought an extended warranty years back for an Audi. I received the policy and READ IT. It covered NOTHING. There was an "out" for everything that failed. I contacted the company and requested a cancellation. The policy (allowed within 30 days if I recall). The rep asked me why I was canceling... I said, because "it covers nothing and is a joke". She said. "oh, I understand. No one ever reads the policy details".
@@ChristopherHughes-x9yCarMax used to have a really great extended warranty. They'd replace anything and everything for like 5 years after you bought the car
I've hadngreat luck with extended warranties and have gotten more then what I paid for them every time. The quality of the company and the contract type are what matters most. I'm blessed to have a friend that owns a dealership so I only use the products he sells or that of my credit union. This is over about half a dozen cars. Never paid more then $2800.
My new truck was hit by a lady exiting the mall. Totally bent my frame with other issues and undrivable. The insurance sent a check for $3000.00 without knowing if my truck had more damage as wasn't checked yet from mechanic . I refused 5 checks and sent them back. The total was $13,750. in repairs. The insurance had to pay it as we have 8 months to finalize the claim. Never accept any check from insurance as they want to low ball the claim.
Same thing god forbid if you get hurt at work don't sign any document without having a lawyer read through it you might leave a lot of money on the table
Back when I had a truck it took 4 additional supplements from State Farm to get my truck fixed properly and back to the shape it was in. My body shop fought hard to get it fixed properly. It was an older vehicle but super clean, lots of custom paint match. Glad I got what I wanted. Eventually ended up selling it, but man was State Farm hard to work with
There is a whole industry of lawyers that do nothing but sue your car insurance for them not living up to the agreement you pay them for. How crazy is that?
Unfortunately, none of those car insurance lawyers car about the fixing the car part as there is relatively little money in it. They care about the medical part. I was a former auto adjuster and I would laugh at someone if they mentioned a lawyer.
The insurance companies waste so much time in litigation that most private attorneys can't afford to waste that much time unless there's a personal injury claim. And the customer couldn't afford the hourly legal bill paying an attorney to fight insurance company lawyers who are either in-house employees or retained by giant nsurance companies. If the insurance lawyers get to the point of losing after wasting a year or more then they pay to avoid an attorney fee judgment in court. @estuardo2985
I feel your pain. Owned independent shop 36 yrs. 14 as dealer tech. We quit dealing with insurance companies and used car dealers because of them trying to cut corners. We have enough stress. This relieves a lot of it.
Insurance isn't a service, it isn't about cover, it isn't a safety net, a backup, it isn't about helping you... It's about making money. It is a financial "product" that can be sold to you for a profit. Took me years to realise that. I trust Insurers as far as I can throw them. Integrity is a word missing in the insurance industry. Thank you CCN for all your videos and what you give to the community. You make a difference.
Insurance is a TAX because it is required by most states. The stick in the side is that illegal immigrants with no insurance smacks a paying legal drivers car the immagrants walk free.
You are a man of truth and integrity. Sadly these two attributes are becoming so rare in many, many walks of life. Thank you for bringing this issue out into the light. Thank you for who you are and what you do.
Absolutely agree. It’s terrifying actually. Very sad. I grewup in the 80’s and 90’s. It seems back then that integrity, honesty, and respect were just common traits. It was taught and learned through elders who did it in real time for us youngsters to understand and follow through. The greed and corrupt nature of people today is beyond my comprehension and it is beyond scary.
@@simplysimple7628 yes, same here. Had my first run in with insurance punk, a young man, around '07, "concierge service", lol, of Progressive. It also clued me into the those born in early '80s to later '80s i guess. Disgusting
I have State Farm for 30 years. Have homeowners insurance for twenty years. Made our first claim in twenty years. Paid $1000 deductible. They only had to pay $800. I had to beg them to pay. If we hadn't called my agent to tell them they wouldn't have paid.
That is what high and hyperinflation does to a society. Americans are newbies when it comes to living with high inflation. Corruption takes over, everybody is trying to get one on everybody else, and everybody gets to end up worse and worse and worse till society collapses...
The insurance company probably thought that you are stupid, much to their disappointment . Mr. Car care, you seem to be a man of integrity, may God continue to bless you.
Insurance sucks but socialized medicine isn't great either. Similar story. He had a life ending disease. They said no treatment for you since you'll eventually die anyway. He had to come back to the US to get surgery and treatment and live a little longer.
Insurance being able to dictate how and when medication can be used has robbed me of what could be a much improved quality of life. And what little I do get from them, it takes 3 months of paperwork and waiting for it to get processed through an Indian call center. But god forbid I miss a payment.
the conclusion: pay the least possible amount to insurance companies to cover what is required by law and put saved money aside in a separate bank account to cover unexpected repairs.
That's what Dave Ramsey says too. I regret buying an extended insurance for a van we bought in 2021. I had purchased one also for an Escalade, I sold the truck and fought for like 3 months to get reimbursed since I never used it. When i bought my GX 460 and they offered the extended warranty I told them that the whole point of buying the GX was the quality and I didn't need the extended warranty. The guy just looked at me and said well it's insurance just in case I said no thank you again, I don't want it.
My cousin sells insurance. It’s insane how fucked up it is. Fun fact, insurance agents get a commission every time you renew your policy. Let’s say I sell you insurance for your car and house and it ends up being 3k a year. I would get a percentage of that, where my cousin works it’s 10%, so $300 for making the sale. Then every year you renew for the rest of the policy’s life a percentage of that will go to me. Depending on the policy it can vary, but renewals can be about 5% of the premium cost. When premiums go up, your insurance agent just made more money. There’s insurance agents literally making 10k+ a month off of premium renewals. Crazy that that’s allowed. Oh and don’t even get me started on health insurance companies.. There is no industry more evil than them
Two insurance companies to completely avoid is Allstate and State Farm. My lawyer told me that 😮 Allstate fought my personal injury claim for 6 years 😮 . That’s where the real $$ is and they screw you for a settlement.😢
I was with State Farm for decades. I never actually had to use them during that time. They sure did call to check in with me a lot though but as an introvert I never answered. I switched when my brother in law got into the business. And I switched again when he left. I went with nationwide because they had new car replacement policies. Two weeks ago my two year old truck got totaled because someone ran a red light. Nationwide took care of everything and literally cut me a check for the out the door price on a new truck. I’m sure the fact that the other drivers insurance was responsible for the bill they didn’t care too much what the settlement was since it wasn’t gonna cost them anything. But the whole process was super easy. Obviously I’m super happy with nationwide at the moment.
I had the same thing happen with State Farm. It was my uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Horrible human of a lawyer with SF outside counsel. When the arbitrator awarded me 1/3 of what the demand was, the SF lawyer lost his mind on the conference call and started screaming incoherently. One of the worst experiences of my life.
Yeah they're not going to hear anything they don't already know. None of their disgusting behavior is by mistake. 9/10 times their slimy tactics do save them money. That's why they do it.
Ahmed, I support your decision of not working with insurance. We are car care nuts, we go above and beyond. I’m sure your business would not suffer not one bit, we love paying out of pocket for repairs in your shop knowing how it’s done. No insurance involved.
Wow - a big corporation sticking it to the small guy? Who would've thought... Good on you for refusing, you take pride in your work, you need to take care of your name. You are the man - sorry for the troubles, especially for your clients.
Bought a Sienna new in 2019 XLT AWD, put on 46,000 miles, garage kept. My wife was t-boned by an Ionic trying to beat a light in a 45mph zone. Without looking at the van their company totaled it saying that the air bags went off so it's totaled and our company agreed! The other damage would have totaled it as well. It was paid off too. We had hoped to replace it with another Sienna V6 XLT AWD but the money was less than what we could get another for. Getting a Sienna is difficult anyway but we had to settle on a slightly newer 2021 Highlander with same mileage. We like the Highlander and it has the V6 we like but I am 100% DAV and I have a walker that only fits in the back whereas it fit in the side door with seat removed in the van. One should expect full replacement value. BTW my wife is feeling better after many weeks of vertigo and balance issues. We feel robbed of our choice and of our needed vehicle.
Yes that is the other problem is even if they give you fair market value for it, good luck trying to find a comparable one to the one you lost. They can’t compare maintenance and other things which a computer simply cannot calculate into the price.
Auto policies are ACV not RCV because cars are a depreciating asset, I’m curious, did you guys have handicap modifications on the van? There’s specialty vendors who you can use as reference points as opposed to just the standard sienna prices that would more accurately reflect the price if that were the case.
AMD, I am glad your friend got through this serious crash with just a damaged RAV4 and an insurance headache. Cars and insurance companies can both be replaced.
If I were the owner of any of the cases you cited, I would call the state insurance department and federal trade commission and file separate complaints. You're a good guy for raising these issues.
That’s why I recommend to my customers NOT to buy extended warranty. Better would be to put the premium into a savings account until you need repairs. Most times you will come out ahead. Thanks for all you do keep our industry honorable!
I bought an extended warranty last year for $2000.Took the car to get the water pump fixed and other stuff for $2245. I paid $200 deductible and they paid the rest. So yeah, not all extended warranty companies are bad.
My money is on State Harm being the company you’re talking about. Could be wrong but that is my guess. I had State Harm and dropped them like a hot rock..
@@azclaimjumper State Farm is "somewhat local" in Bloomington, IL and Allstate is in the Chicago area. He said it was a "somewhat local" company so best bet would be one of those two guesses.
OMG!! Look at that Altezza in the background!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 But the biggest issue I have with car insurance right now is that my car insurance is almost a car payment. BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IT, I’m almost 40, no tickets, haven’t had an at fault accident in 10 years, and I have my CDL. My NEWEST car is 14 years old and my oldest is 25 years old. Had to argue with them about rental on the car I drive the most. Due to age of my cars, they’ll mark em as totaled. Still need a rental due to where I live and where I have to travel for work. I refuse to drive my older cars in the winter since I live in the rust belt.
I have a 1994 300ZX TT in GREAT condition that stays in the garage when it rains... and I live in the Pacific Northwest, so it lives there most of the time. I was worried that if it was light damage from a minor accident or something, any normal insurance company would total it for like $4k because it's "just a 1994 Nissan" but I ended up getting classic car insurance. Thankfully I haven't had to use it, but it isn't that expensive due to the low amount of miles I drive with it.
@@adamrichardson2227I was going to do that with my 00 civic. I applied like a year ago and was told that it didn’t qualified. I’ll try again next year (2025).
I am retired now, but when I was watching this video I had flashbacks of when my father and I ran a part-time autobody repair shop together and also when I worked as an autobody repairman at a dealership. I have had many good experiences with my customers as well as insurance adjusters. Once, my own car was rear ended, and after taking it home I called my insurance company and an adjuster arrived a day or two later. I wrote an estimate before he arrived and when he saw it he did a walk around and added some extra money to my estimate to cover the damage to the exhaust system that was due for replacement anyhow. I showed him the new exhaust parts that I had bought at a dealership the same day as the accident and didn't expect to get paid for them, but he insisted that it be added to the estimate, which I appreciated. Several times I had issues with insurance companies that wanted me to install used parts on a relatively new car. Where I lived I would have to drive two hours just to pick up the parts and bring them home. Also, often used body parts were not in perfect shape and extra time was required in order to repair dents and scratches. After a bit of push back I most always was able to convince the adjuster to approve new parts. In those days it was common for people to damage the chrome bumpers on their cars which required a bumper cover replacement. Often, insurance companies would only approve a re-chromed bumper. Such bumpers often had obvious imperfections, and if it was for a good customer, I would install a new bumper for the price of the re-chrome. The re-chrome bumpers didn't last longer than a year without peeling, so I didn't want to make my customer upset by installing such parts on his or her vehicle. The difference in cost was minimal, so my cost for the bumper was essentially the same as the re-chrome. It seems that times have changed, but people remain the same :-).
File complaint with State Insurance Commissioner. Immediately hire an attorney and file a lawsuit against the Insurer. It’s the only thing those companies understand.
Reminds me of medical insurance. The good doctors are not fully covered by insurance, so go to a lesser doctor who accepts insurance or go to the good doctor and the customer covers the difference. Maybe offer this option to your customers: The insurance offered this, I think the repair will cost this, are you willing to pay the difference? The alternative is they have to go to a shop that will cut corners. I understand your argument based on principle, but sometimes the car just needs fixed and people have other hills to die on.
I agree that Insurance Companies are becoming more and more difficult to work with, there are thousands of stories just like this one. But there are also repair shops overcharging for repairs, repairs that aren't needed, wrobg repairs, bogus repairs, repairs for damage that doesnt exist, or they make the damage worse so they can charge more. There are tow truck companies charging $500 for a 5-mile tow, or fake clean up times, longer miles than actual, etc. Im not defending insurance companies but repair shops are just as shady. At the end of the day, we, the consumer, have to be vigilant because there are many, many people trying to separate us from our money, and the more they get they more succesful they feel. These are the times we live in, very few honest people left. Integrity is dying out.
And I almost forgot. There are people who file fraudulent claimd, ambilance chasing lawyers, corrupt doctors and chiropractors and people going along to make a buck from the onsurance company. There are false stolen car claims, etc. If you think about it, it's a cycle of everyone trying to take advantage of the other and all because of money.
This sounds like State Farm. I went through the same thing when I had to make a claim. The adjuster assigned to me had no idea that a house could have wood shake shingles and it took me 4-5times to explain I wasn’t talking about the roof before I’d get so angry.
Indeed sounds like State Farm. I don’t have State Farm. But the lady driving a Nissan Rogue that made an unsafe lane change into my dedicated on-ramp lane, she has State Farm. I was dealing with: The lady herself flat out lied to the officer arriving on scene, saying she never changed lane. My dashcam had a faulty wifi and couldn’t transfer the video footage to my phone - so I couldn’t show the footage to the officer on the spot. Result = no tickets issued. Then after I filed insurance claim on her State Farm, the Adjustor could not get a hold of their customer on the phone. (The lady intentionally was not returning their calls.) 5 weeks after I filed the claim, State Farm officially closed the claim, denied. On what basis? They couldn’t get a hold of their customer to “get their story on what happened”, despite I’ve sent them the dash cam video when I filed the claim. So then I file claim with my own insurance, and providing the same video footage. My insurance company covered the repair, and is now in process of getting reimbursement from both State Farm and the other driver. Just insane.
God bless you! You are a good, honest, and caring, true mechanic. Ive had similar problems with home ins. Companies like state farm In Florida after hurricanes damaged my home. I suffered more stress fighting them to fix it properly than the hurricane destroying my home while in it.
24:52 I have made it this far through the video, and I intend to finish. This video is one of the most upsetting videos you have ever made. It is driving my blood pressure up to the ceiling. Every single one of your other videos has brought me great joy, and satisfaction. You have earned the right to cry on my shoulder about all this crap.
I remember State Farm trying to get money out of me for a deductible when it was unwarranted. When I got the call, it was obvious that they barely had any information on what happened. All that happened was I was driving to work at around 1am, go down a main road I always take, had to swerve abruptly to avoid hitting a Buck, car ends up doing a 180 and goes into the ditch into an open unowned field. I come to a stop, front end is facing the street, look around the car, no damage, problem is the ditch is so steep, car is an 08 prix, so I dont have the kind of tires or drive train to get out. So, all I need is a tow, ask for the service through the app, get a tow truck on the way, while they're on the way, I get someone from work to pick me up to take me to the warehouse cause I have a job to do. On the phone with the tow truck guy, tell him where the cars at, told him what happened, and that the keys are in the car, have him tow it to my works parking lot and that was it. State Farm calls a day or two later, they're like, we're going to need the deductible now. My response is, "For what? There was no damage, there was no damage to the car, and there was no damage to anybodies property, I was simply stuck!" They're like oh, ok. And that was it. Talk about jumping the gun there. They obviously had very little to no information on what happened and were expecting me to pay $500 deductible for a maybe $200-$300 tow. I have the tow service add on in my premium, you guys already got paid for that. Fortunately, there were no were no further issues or discussions after that, but man did I find the whole thing odd.
I work in the medical field and deal with auto accidents sometimes. We usually make it mandatory for people to have an attorney because we’ve had so many problems with insurance. Companies have been caught giving bonuses for denying claims. Agents are notorious for being hard to get a hold of. They want to wear people down and hope they don’t have to pay much. If you’re not a hard negotiator you need to get an attorney.
I took my son's car for repairs after a minor accident and the shop inflated the cost, thus the car was "totaled". They took all the parts off the car and put them in the back. They were refusing to put it back together as we wanted to keep the car. My insurance agent had to get involved. They ultimately put it back together and I had it fixed somewhere else with no issues and half the cost. Both shops and insurance companies can be unethical. Glad to know their are still some ethics left like you! Thank you!
My father after 70 years of accident free driving and no tickets wandered across a double yellow line for a second when going around a curve. A cop stopped him and ticketed him. When his automobile insurance came due for renewal, his premium had doubled due to that ticket. He cancelled with them (GEICO) and went with someone else.
I had geico for many years, no accidents, no tickets, they got expensive, went with another company, Gieco got pissed off, and when they gave the other company my Vin number, they changed one number, then reported to the state that I dropped my insurance, the state wanted the tag back, I asked the new company whats going on, they said that gieco gave them a wrong vin number. Gieco is a scammer company, they all are actually.
Geico is terrible with rate hikes. I was accident and claim free for 19 years then my daughter gets in an accident and the premiums almost doubled. Called around to other insurance companies. They were all more expensive. It's like Geico was just waiting for an excuse to increase my rate to the average after 19 years of inflation.
yup. dealt with this today. insurance sent a change request. removed all of the front suspension from my estimate ($6k) which was 90% of the damage. even though the pictures clearly showed all of the suspension ripped off...
I like the way you manage your business like a true boss. I think you did a great thing by going this route of not working with insurances. May your business flourish even more, and man I would love if you had a shop here closer to Houston. I have family who drive Toyotas and I have a Tacoma myself and we wouldn’t be taking our vehicles anywhere else but your shop. I am a huge fan of your channel by the way!
IDK in other countries but insurance in this country is a scam. You have it hoping to never need it, but when you do need it you have to fight them so they actually do their job you been paying a premium for. You know they screwed up when they made one of the most reasonable shop owners to say he no longer works with insurance
Thank you for shining a bright light on this. Sadly, all insurance middleman are only there to extort as much as they can. It's really outrageous and sad frankly that it's come to this.
I left the collision industry a year ago. It’s going down hill. Parts and quality of the body men are leaving as they get older. Insurance company’s fight for cheapest and used parts for repairs. Every month I was handling over 100 claims. 100 customers 100 insurance claims 100 cars. One in one out. Never ends they just keep coming.Was going crazy but $10k plus a month was hard to leave. Don’t wreck or your in trouble
That’s the part of the business that’s missed. People don’t understand how overworked and understaffed most claims departments are. They deal with nothing but the worst calls everyday and turnover is insane so there’s always new people being trained. Let’s be honest, the automotive industry is not known to be the most ethical. They cheat their customers as sport. As an insurance company, we have to deal with a lot of fraud and sometimes the poor reputations of mechanics and dealers makes our interaction with them cautious and to trust but verify. Ultimately, if we just cut checks Willy Nilly, the claims cost would exceed revenues and we’re out of business so it’s a two way street. Take a look at the results of all personal lines auto insurers excluding Progressive. They are getting destroyed. Especially State Farm and Allstate.
I worked at a Lincoln/Mercury dealer in the late 80's and we had a list of extended warranty companies that we wouldn't work with. By the time i left there after a couple years, we only honored Ford's extended warranty plans... they were terrible even back then...
My dad used to own an auto restoration business and would on occasion work on regular cars for previous customers, like when a client who we worked on their E-Type hit a deer with his S2000. Progressive was the worst to work with and State Farm was a close second. They will nickel and dime the shop on everything. They will try to get you to use aftermarket, at the time Taiwan, probably Chinese now, components instead of OE parts. They will try to dictate how many shop supplies you use. If you take the time to do the repair properly you can't make a profit at what they want to pay. They wanted to pay less than half the standard labor rate.
I can talk about it as I made the same mistake with USAA. They did the exact same thing. I went on the app, filed a claim and added pictures. Took it to the shop and they called me to let me know the company won’t take the estimate and that a check was been mailed to me. It took me two weeks and 5 calls to several departments and some aggressive non disrespectful tone to get it resolved. Never again. Don’t take pictures and send them to the company, dont ask for an estimate or anything. Take the car first to the shop and the call and provide the information so that the company can give an authorization to the shop to make the initial estimate and they will send any photos. You have been warned!
In some regions of the U S. almost all insurance companies don't have adjusters to send out to access a claim and no service provider will do the legwork like take photos or send the estimate s either. It's getting noticeably worse to carry insurance.
Government isn't your babysitter nor is government going to look out for you. In fact governments are just as corrupt as any insurance company and just as self interested. What's different is government is even more inefficient as it spends other people's money. More government always = more inefficiency. Hence why DOGE is being created as we speak!
@@James-il3tq I have a bridge to Australia to sell you if you think DOGE will improve anything. Just based on your comments I hope u will be writing here in a few years praising the higher insurance premiums you will be paying thanks to DOGE. Yes government regulations and departments are very inconvenient until u need them
This is where voting matters. Anyone who doesn’t vote or votes the party of corporations, aka red R, especially Libertarians are responsible for this anything goes no rules no regulations mess.
@@James-il3tq Interesting because this isn’t an issue in any other highly developed country where we have rules and regulations and a big strong government.
So MANY people and Businesses/Companies have this great ability now to NOT listen..you did the right thing by washing your hands of this Poor experience.
This is why most insurance companies just total the car/truck nowadays more than they use to. Unforeseen damage, especially underneath can total out a vehicle very easily. They will give you the run around for a month and then after you have been out of work, total the car and mess your world up. Cheers!
This is why you have such a following. You try to do the right thing when somethings needs to get done. Not all but a lot of others are exactly like you described. Finding good people and business is not easy anymore.
You’re trying to do the best job for the customer, and the insurance is trying to do the best job for their bottom line. Sadly, it’s not exclusive to auto insurance companies these days. These soulless corporate vampires try to suck every ounce of decency out of good people and leave them empty, careless husks. You’re a good man, AMD. Keep up the good fight!
My car was wrecked on Oct 16th and towed to a storage yard. State Farm retrieved the car on Oct 28th, and has been doing an estimate since. Now, on 20th of November, I still do not have any news on the car, whether it is going to be totaled or not, or even any estimates. At least they gave me a rental though.
Absolutely right Amd, I as a dealer mechanic have to deal with insurance companies and aftermarket extended warranty companies and they want to pay less than new car warranty pays, on a 10 year old car from the Midwest, unfortunately our service writers and managers don’t want to stand up for us to get paid fairly, it’s unreal all these companies getting rich while the people working on it ends up losing.
Ahmed, thanks for sharing your stories. You are a good man. In my experience insurance companies used to be like a business partner. My recent experiences have been horrible.It is like it is no longer a two way street. My home insurance company asked for me to do so many unreasonable things I finally just said forget it, I will assume the risk myself. I can fix most anything on the house myself anyway and if it burns down I will just write a check for another house.
My brother hit a TV that fell off a truck in his E39. Geico was right there in minutes and cut a check for $1200. He called his BMW dealer and had them pick the car up. He told them to get started…. When Geico called asking why he hadn’t cashed the check, he gave them the news that BMW was fixing the car. He was well within his rights in Texas. Talk about an agent getting to the repair facility instantly! The final repair cashed out at $12,000, quite a bit of difference! They canceled him soon as the policy was up. PS: the repairs were top notch….
Thank you and I admire that you put the appropriate perspective on the business that out only for the buck. It is a very sad day that this society can’t be honest and respectful of an honest evaluation of the problem that needs attention. Keep up the task of a reliable shop that is respectable of the customer and the shop’s integrity.
Insurance is the biggest scam out there. You pay for years and years expecting these companies to do the right thing when you're in trouble, but they make things even worse. There needs to be more regulation on insurance companies
31:04 the bad ones give the good ones a bad name; same goes for insurance. To make an analogy: everyone wants to pay Jiffy Lube prices and get Ahmed level of service. I work for a small regional insurance company. The huge conglomerates are always cheaper than us and there's a reason for that. We treat our customers fairly and have responsive claims adjusters but we're never the cheapest because our expenses are higher.
I appreciate the way you dealt with this issue. I had an engine problem that I took to the dealership to get repaired and it was covered by my extended warranty. I had it approved with the company and then the dealership called and said that it was approved. THEN when I went to pick up my car I was told that I owed them $6,000 for the repair. Apparently there was a Service Bulletin for this issue and that was what the warranty company was using for pricing, but the dealership was using some other math and passed the cost to me. I ended up paying it just to get the car back, but still regret not speaking up more. I probably would have just passed on doing the service if I had dreamed it would cost that much.
You're bringing back memories of being a service advisor again, AMD. Extended warranty and insurance are definitely a battle, but I do recall having some companies that were a pleasure to work with to get my tech proper hours, and a good repair (MasterTech surprised me in a positive way more than once!). The big companies like Geico and State Farm tend to be awful, but the smaller ones were generally better - one of the reasons I've happily stuck with Erie here on the east coast for over 20 years on my personal vehicles. To your credit, educated adjusters are becoming less and less present in the industry and its disappointing.
I had to sue my insurance company to the tune of over 50k dollars in order to get my wife's car fixed, medical paid, etc. I was with that company for 20+ years. I dropped them after I sued them for their failure. How dare I hold them accountable, huh. If anybody has my former insurer, be careful because they are not a good neighbor...
I had almost the exact same experience with my insurance company. I am not afraid to name them. Progressive. They wanted to use salvage parts when my spouse damaged the front end of her Honda pilot. My repair shop stood up for us and we were able to get new aftermarket major components like radiator. But like the example in this video we ran out coverage for a rental and spent money out of pocket.
I have used GEICO for 12 years. I had multiple windshields covered no problem. I totaled a vehicle 2 and a half years ago and they took care of everything quickly and paid for my rental too. I worked as a mechanic I found that when customers had GEICO they covered vehicle repairs no problem with OEM parts from our dealership and paid full price.
State Farm screwed me over on a collision, they just fixed the cosmetic side of things but refused to pay for speed sensors which were $250 each because there was no check engine light when vehicle left body shop. I explained lights don't turn on until after you drive vehicle but they didn't want to hear it. I was better off paying out of pocket for my repairs.
I grew up around a family owned body shop. A lot of insurance companies have change for the bad. What happened to the days of perferred shops being able to write a fair estimate the insurance company would take every time. Everyone happy.
Thank you for your integrity!!! I am local here, and enjoy the channel. I wish he worked on GM vehicles as well, but doesn't. I have left GEICO, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, and American Family Insurance Because they raise premiums to cover the cost of other people's accidents, when some of us don't make any claims. I would recommend people go with smaller local(state based) insurance companies.
This video gave me another reason to not buy a new car until I absolutely have to. When/if I do I'll go with a high insurance deductible because I can do math. I already do that with my health insurance. I go to a doc who doesn't take health insurance and it helps keep prices reasonable. Paperwork is expensive.
My wife got into an accident, and the insurance company told her to take pictures of the car . After analyzing the pictures, they totaled the car. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car, but the finder is bent (just a hair) and a broken passenger headlight. The reason for totaling the car was because the car is over (200,000 miles and its a 2004) the car is in wonderful condition, runs perfect till this day we decided to not give the car up and accept the salvaged title. Insurance is a fucking scam and im tired of paying them!
It’s a total loss if the cost of repairs is like 70% of the actual value of the vehicle. In your case the vehicle isn’t worth anything. So it’s really easy to get to a point where it’s financially not worth fixing. They’ll just pay you what the car is worth, which is almost nothing. Obviously the solution to this is to just reject the claim and keep the car instead. Live with the cosmetic damage and continue in your way. This is just the reality of driving really old cars that have no financial value. It’s not even worth filing a claim in such a situation. And it’s also why you only keep liability on these cars. Once the actual value of the car is only a few thousand, repairs are basically not an option. Everything counts as a total loss.
My car was rear ended while stopped at a traffic light. Bad guys insurance refused to pay or even send adjuster so I had to sue. Eventually this huge insurance company paid but not until a lawsuit, depositions and several months. Why? Because they can.
Name the company. Nothing changes until these companies come under scrutiny.
Geico
He can’t do it directly without opening himself up to liability. Doesn’t mean that someone else can’t drop a name.
@@Official-Commentsthat’s what insurance is for 😂
I would have guessed geico as well. Unfortunately, I have them as my insurance company!
He can't, he could be face litigation.
This man has integrity, that's good for business.
It isn’t. businesses need to turn a profit, in order to do that someone has to be screwed over.
@@Yahir_s._ that's why this country fucked up now... That type of mentality whether you are joking or being sarcastic or whatever is crazy
nice to say. but fact is multi million corp is going to pay magnitude more then standard customer over businesses life cycle
This is a similar problem to the health care industry with insurance companies "playing doctor"
And it’s shocking how much funding the biggest health insurance providers get from the federal government every year
The first law in insurance companies is deny deny deny...
@@robsimmons6910 absolutely! Insurance refuses to pay a doctor’s visit to a specialist because there was no referral. The problem with that logic is that I have been going to this specialist for years and with the same insurance company and I had a referral years before and was going to this specialist for years. Now they no longer service my area do I got another carrier and am very happy.
Insurance companies and lawyers....the downfall of the American consumer.
Our automotive - home owners - medical ...... Insurance companies are fleecing all of us.
insurance companies, practicing medicine without a license...
this is the only car care guy i watch on this platform. honest guy. amazing 4K picture quality too. eye candy.
😳 Eye candy
Car Wizard Too ?
They expect every nickel of your premium on time, but when it's time to file a claim they jump through hoops to avoid making you whole.
Yep, I bought a brand new car years ago and when it had 500 miles on it and one week old someone drove into it and left.
Insurance company would only issue aftermarket parts for the repair (bumper, headlight, hood, fender). I was furious.
Body shop was wonderful, but insurance was so stingy.
@ that’s my greatest fear, sucks you had to go through that mess.
My insurance made me whole when I had a total loss
Collect premium, deny the claim.
Playbook 101
Expectation is just that… expectation.😂
You’re an ethical and principled man dealing with unethical and unprincipled insurers. You made the right call. Life’s too short to let these guys in the door. Thanks for your great work. Cheers.
This is when the customer should file a department of insurance complaint. The insurance company will immediately get off their butt. - an insurance adjuster
Thanks for valuable information 😊
Great to know who to complain to, but I'd also file complaints with anybody else willing to take them. As went some prior experience with a firm that took 5+ weeks to finally acknowledge they made the mistake and turned out to be worse than I described
As a customer with a car that would never be the same, and on top of the insurance money I am losing, I am losing a whole-nother bunch with the value of the car going down thousands, can I refuse the fixing of the car and demand the total value of it? ... in serious crashes like AMD is describing ... Thank you.
@Nordestada no. Your contract is in writing with your insurance company. It says they owe the lesser of repairs or ACV of your vehicle. You have no say in that due to your contract. What they can look at is if it a constructive total loss which means the potential repairs may exceed its value minus potential salvage recovery. $17k on a new car isn't going to total it.
works every time. dont even bother arguing or doing anything with shitty insurance companies, straight to department of insurance for your state. seriously, if you notice something isn't happening correctly, immediately notify them.
Insurance companies or any extended warranty sold are the biggest scams out there. Thank you, Ahmed, for your honesty and for trying your best to help all your customers!
Extended warranty companies definitely
Federal government shouldn’t have allow the extended warranty companies to exist at all. It’s a scam and they scammed the senior citizens a lot
I bought an extended warranty years back for an Audi. I received the policy and READ IT. It covered NOTHING. There was an "out" for everything that failed. I contacted the company and requested a cancellation. The policy (allowed within 30 days if I recall). The rep asked me why I was canceling... I said, because "it covers nothing and is a joke". She said. "oh, I understand. No one ever reads the policy details".
@@ChristopherHughes-x9yCarMax used to have a really great extended warranty. They'd replace anything and everything for like 5 years after you bought the car
I've hadngreat luck with extended warranties and have gotten more then what I paid for them every time. The quality of the company and the contract type are what matters most. I'm blessed to have a friend that owns a dealership so I only use the products he sells or that of my credit union. This is over about half a dozen cars. Never paid more then $2800.
My new truck was hit by a lady exiting the mall. Totally bent my frame with other issues and undrivable. The insurance sent a check for $3000.00 without knowing if my truck had more damage as wasn't checked yet from mechanic . I refused 5 checks and sent them back. The total was $13,750. in repairs. The insurance had to pay it as we have 8 months to finalize the claim. Never accept any check from insurance as they want to low ball the claim.
Same thing god forbid if you get hurt at work don't sign any document without having a lawyer read through it you might leave a lot of money on the table
I work for a roofing company in st.louis,everything change with the pandemic, give 3 guess I can guess right the first time
Back when I had a truck it took 4 additional supplements from State Farm to get my truck fixed properly and back to the shape it was in. My body shop fought hard to get it fixed properly. It was an older vehicle but super clean, lots of custom paint match. Glad I got what I wanted. Eventually ended up selling it, but man was State Farm hard to work with
Two women.. go figure LMAO!
@@righteousone1 That's what you got from that?
Insurance companies are not your friends. Insurance companies answer to shareholders.
There is a whole industry of lawyers that do nothing but sue your car insurance for them not living up to the agreement you pay them for. How crazy is that?
Cheaper than paying out
Insurance is such a scam by the small hat scammers.
Unfortunately, none of those car insurance lawyers car about the fixing the car part as there is relatively little money in it. They care about the medical part. I was a former auto adjuster and I would laugh at someone if they mentioned a lawyer.
The insurance companies waste so much time in litigation that most private attorneys can't afford to waste that much time unless there's a personal injury claim. And the customer couldn't afford the hourly legal bill paying an attorney to fight insurance company lawyers who are either in-house employees or retained by giant nsurance companies. If the insurance lawyers get to the point of losing after wasting a year or more then they pay to avoid an attorney fee judgment in court. @estuardo2985
Corporate greed gone wild
Your patience sir is unbelievable.. hopefuly you won’t get burned out by so much bullshit you deal with in this industry.. 🙏🏼
I feel your pain. Owned independent shop 36 yrs. 14 as dealer tech.
We quit dealing with insurance companies and used car dealers because of them trying to cut corners.
We have enough stress. This relieves a lot of it.
It's like you mechanics are any better, LMAO! Y'all scamming thieves.
@@righteousone1 nope, u r clearly big biz asshat, voted for DJT, no?
@@righteousone1It's definitely not righteous to baselessly accuse people of wrongdoing who you know nothing about.
@@EssenceofPureFlavor Get back in the kitchen.
20 year insurance pro here. This is either Allstate or State Farm.
Bless you Ahmed for honesty and integrity !!!!
Insurance isn't a service, it isn't about cover, it isn't a safety net, a backup, it isn't about helping you... It's about making money. It is a financial "product" that can be sold to you for a profit.
Took me years to realise that. I trust Insurers as far as I can throw them. Integrity is a word missing in the insurance industry.
Thank you CCN for all your videos and what you give to the community. You make a difference.
I guess the insurance companies have joined the sleazy car sales people, just to round out the whole car experience.
Insurance is a TAX because it is required by most states. The stick in the side is that illegal immigrants with no insurance smacks a paying legal drivers car the immagrants walk free.
He's a good guy..please don't associate that CNN moniker with him.😮😅
As a shop owner this is incredibly relatable. Thank you for putting this out there
You are a man of truth and integrity. Sadly these two attributes are becoming so rare in many, many walks of life. Thank you for bringing this issue out into the light. Thank you for who you are and what you do.
Absolutely agree. It’s terrifying actually. Very sad. I grewup in the 80’s and 90’s. It seems back then that integrity, honesty, and respect were just common traits. It was taught and learned through elders who did it in real time for us youngsters to understand and follow through. The greed and corrupt nature of people today is beyond my comprehension and it is beyond scary.
@@simplysimple7628 yes, same here. Had my first run in with insurance punk, a young man, around '07, "concierge service", lol, of Progressive. It also clued me into the those born in early '80s to later '80s i guess. Disgusting
Very good video, thanks for bringing this out. Insurance never wants to pay when it’s time. They’re happy to keep collecting when you don’t use it.
I have State Farm for 30 years. Have homeowners insurance for twenty years. Made our first claim in twenty years. Paid $1000 deductible. They only had to pay $800. I had to beg them to pay. If we hadn't called my agent to tell them they wouldn't have paid.
This problem goes deeper than most people know. You just described a growing trend in our entire workforce.
That is what high and hyperinflation does to a society. Americans are newbies when it comes to living with high inflation. Corruption takes over, everybody is trying to get one on everybody else, and everybody gets to end up worse and worse and worse till society collapses...
Yes. It is a growing trend. I'm not sure of the cause. The paper money explanation seems a bit weak.
Thank you for speaking out Ahmed, the whole industry needs reworked......
The insurance company probably thought that you are stupid, much to their disappointment . Mr. Car care, you seem to be a man of integrity, may God continue to bless you.
I work in healthcare. We have this same problem. We literally had one company tell us the patient couldn’t receive care because he was too old.
insurance practicing medicine without a license
@ that’s exactly what it is!
Insurance sucks but socialized medicine isn't great either. Similar story. He had a life ending disease. They said no treatment for you since you'll eventually die anyway. He had to come back to the US to get surgery and treatment and live a little longer.
@ completely agree!
Insurance being able to dictate how and when medication can be used has robbed me of what could be a much improved quality of life. And what little I do get from them, it takes 3 months of paperwork and waiting for it to get processed through an Indian call center. But god forbid I miss a payment.
the conclusion: pay the least possible amount to insurance companies to cover what is required by law and put saved money aside in a separate bank account to cover unexpected repairs.
And keep the number of a good lawyer in your pocket!
Exactly. Use insurance as a last resort extreme case emergency backup plan. Self insure yourself for sverything else.
That's what Dave Ramsey says too. I regret buying an extended insurance for a van we bought in 2021. I had purchased one also for an Escalade, I sold the truck and fought for like 3 months to get reimbursed since I never used it. When i bought my GX 460 and they offered the extended warranty I told them that the whole point of buying the GX was the quality and I didn't need the extended warranty. The guy just looked at me and said well it's insurance just in case I said no thank you again, I don't want it.
Get a 360 dashcam for sure! Best insurance ever
this is the way
My cousin sells insurance. It’s insane how fucked up it is. Fun fact, insurance agents get a commission every time you renew your policy. Let’s say I sell you insurance for your car and house and it ends up being 3k a year. I would get a percentage of that, where my cousin works it’s 10%, so $300 for making the sale. Then every year you renew for the rest of the policy’s life a percentage of that will go to me. Depending on the policy it can vary, but renewals can be about 5% of the premium cost. When premiums go up, your insurance agent just made more money. There’s insurance agents literally making 10k+ a month off of premium renewals. Crazy that that’s allowed.
Oh and don’t even get me started on health insurance companies.. There is no industry more evil than them
THAT'S why my rate doubled after 19 years of accident free driving when my daughter had an accident.
@@RobotDCLXVIyea it’s not the young driver that got in an accident or that labor, parts, and money becoming less valuable
Did you just learn how commission works?
Capitalist medicine is in business to make a profit. Your health is a secondary matter. It’s only going to get worse.
@@joseeduardo4327 dumbass reply
Two insurance companies to completely avoid is Allstate and State Farm. My lawyer told me that 😮 Allstate fought my personal injury claim for 6 years 😮 . That’s where the real $$ is and they screw you for a settlement.😢
I've been with State Farm for over 15 years and the relationship has been very good. What experience you had with State Farm that you didn't like?
It's that way with all of them. They will delay hoping you give up, or act in bad faith and ignore you.
I was with State Farm for decades. I never actually had to use them during that time. They sure did call to check in with me a lot though but as an introvert I never answered.
I switched when my brother in law got into the business. And I switched again when he left. I went with nationwide because they had new car replacement policies.
Two weeks ago my two year old truck got totaled because someone ran a red light. Nationwide took care of everything and literally cut me a check for the out the door price on a new truck. I’m sure the fact that the other drivers insurance was responsible for the bill they didn’t care too much what the settlement was since it wasn’t gonna cost them anything. But the whole process was super easy.
Obviously I’m super happy with nationwide at the moment.
I had the same thing happen with State Farm. It was my uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Horrible human of a lawyer with SF outside counsel. When the arbitrator awarded me 1/3 of what the demand was, the SF lawyer lost his mind on the conference call and started screaming incoherently. One of the worst experiences of my life.
Both of these insurance companies spend more time/money on TV commercials.
The Board of every automotive insurance company should be required to watch this video at their next Board meeting.
Do you think its going to change their minds? The ONLY thing they care about is profits, THATS IT
Yeah they're not going to hear anything they don't already know. None of their disgusting behavior is by mistake. 9/10 times their slimy tactics do save them money. That's why they do it.
Used to pay yearly premium. Now they will only go 6 months and most certainly an increase at renewal.
Also they won't even let you pay a month in advance so they can jack your rate at the last minute.
Ahmed, I support your decision of not working with insurance. We are car care nuts, we go above and beyond. I’m sure your business would not suffer not one bit, we love paying out of pocket for repairs in your shop knowing how it’s done. No insurance involved.
Wow - a big corporation sticking it to the small guy? Who would've thought... Good on you for refusing, you take pride in your work, you need to take care of your name. You are the man - sorry for the troubles, especially for your clients.
This man is a national treasure!!! Thank you for doing all that you do and please on behalf of all your subs, thank your family for supporting you.
Bought a Sienna new in 2019 XLT AWD, put on 46,000 miles, garage kept. My wife was t-boned by an Ionic trying to beat a light in a 45mph zone. Without looking at the van their company totaled it saying that the air bags went off so it's totaled and our company agreed! The other damage would have totaled it as well. It was paid off too. We had hoped to replace it with another Sienna V6 XLT AWD but the money was less than what we could get another for. Getting a Sienna is difficult anyway but we had to settle on a slightly newer 2021 Highlander with same mileage. We like the Highlander and it has the V6 we like but I am 100% DAV and I have a walker that only fits in the back whereas it fit in the side door with seat removed in the van. One should expect full replacement value. BTW my wife is feeling better after many weeks of vertigo and balance issues. We feel robbed of our choice and of our needed vehicle.
Yes that is the other problem is even if they give you fair market value for it, good luck trying to find a comparable one to the one you lost. They can’t compare maintenance and other things which a computer simply cannot calculate into the price.
Feel for you, but why didn't you just buy (say) a 2015 Sienna? It's exactly the same van as your 2019 was.
Auto policies are ACV not RCV because cars are a depreciating asset, I’m curious, did you guys have handicap modifications on the van? There’s specialty vendors who you can use as reference points as opposed to just the standard sienna prices that would more accurately reflect the price if that were the case.
I’m listening to this as a decades long adjuster, this is a great story. And it’s all true so far…..
AMD, I am glad your friend got through this serious crash with just a damaged RAV4 and an insurance headache. Cars and insurance companies can both be replaced.
If I were the owner of any of the cases you cited, I would call the state insurance department and federal trade commission and file separate complaints. You're a good guy for raising these issues.
That’s why I recommend to my customers NOT to buy extended warranty. Better would be to put the premium into a savings account until you need repairs. Most times you will come out ahead. Thanks for all you do keep our industry honorable!
Exactly. I self-insure where I can because the house always wins.
This wasn't extended warranty (which is also bad), this was insurance.
@@AlvinBrinsonAMD started talking about extended warranties too just over half way through the video :)
I bought an extended warranty last year for $2000.Took the car to get the water pump fixed and other stuff for $2245. I paid $200 deductible and they paid the rest. So yeah, not all extended warranty companies are bad.
@ If you do the math, they only paid $45 you paid the rest.👍
My money is on State Harm being the company you’re talking about. Could be wrong but that is my guess. I had State Harm and dropped them like a hot rock..
Your guess is as good as any other.
It really doesn't matter, they are all the same flavor of sh1t
@@azclaimjumper State Farm is "somewhat local" in Bloomington, IL and Allstate is in the Chicago area. He said it was a "somewhat local" company so best bet would be one of those two guesses.
I was warned about State Harm by my body shop. Fortunately I had a different carrier.
OMG!! Look at that Altezza in the background!!👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 But the biggest issue I have with car insurance right now is that my car insurance is almost a car payment. BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IT, I’m almost 40, no tickets, haven’t had an at fault accident in 10 years, and I have my CDL. My NEWEST car is 14 years old and my oldest is 25 years old. Had to argue with them about rental on the car I drive the most. Due to age of my cars, they’ll mark em as totaled. Still need a rental due to where I live and where I have to travel for work. I refuse to drive my older cars in the winter since I live in the rust belt.
I have a 1994 300ZX TT in GREAT condition that stays in the garage when it rains... and I live in the Pacific Northwest, so it lives there most of the time. I was worried that if it was light damage from a minor accident or something, any normal insurance company would total it for like $4k because it's "just a 1994 Nissan" but I ended up getting classic car insurance. Thankfully I haven't had to use it, but it isn't that expensive due to the low amount of miles I drive with it.
@@adamrichardson2227I was going to do that with my 00 civic. I applied like a year ago and was told that it didn’t qualified. I’ll try again next year (2025).
I am retired now, but when I was watching this video I had flashbacks of when my father and I ran a part-time autobody repair shop together and also when I worked as an autobody repairman at a dealership. I have had many good experiences with my customers as well as insurance adjusters. Once, my own car was rear ended, and after taking it home I called my insurance company and an adjuster arrived a day or two later. I wrote an estimate before he arrived and when he saw it he did a walk around and added some extra money to my estimate to cover the damage to the exhaust system that was due for replacement anyhow. I showed him the new exhaust parts that I had bought at a dealership the same day as the accident and didn't expect to get paid for them, but he insisted that it be added to the estimate, which I appreciated.
Several times I had issues with insurance companies that wanted me to install used parts on a relatively new car. Where I lived I would have to drive two hours just to pick up the parts and bring them home. Also, often used body parts were not in perfect shape and extra time was required in order to repair dents and scratches. After a bit of push back I most always was able to convince the adjuster to approve new parts.
In those days it was common for people to damage the chrome bumpers on their cars which required a bumper cover replacement. Often, insurance companies would only approve a re-chromed bumper. Such bumpers often had obvious imperfections, and if it was for a good customer, I would install a new bumper for the price of the re-chrome. The re-chrome bumpers didn't last longer than a year without peeling, so I didn't want to make my customer upset by installing such parts on his or her vehicle. The difference in cost was minimal, so my cost for the bumper was essentially the same as the re-chrome.
It seems that times have changed, but people remain the same :-).
Thank you for your hard work including your staff and family.
File complaint with State Insurance Commissioner. Immediately hire an attorney and file a lawsuit against the Insurer. It’s the only thing those companies understand.
Reminds me of medical insurance. The good doctors are not fully covered by insurance, so go to a lesser doctor who accepts insurance or go to the good doctor and the customer covers the difference. Maybe offer this option to your customers: The insurance offered this, I think the repair will cost this, are you willing to pay the difference? The alternative is they have to go to a shop that will cut corners. I understand your argument based on principle, but sometimes the car just needs fixed and people have other hills to die on.
I agree that Insurance Companies are becoming more and more difficult to work with, there are thousands of stories just like this one. But there are also repair shops overcharging for repairs, repairs that aren't needed, wrobg repairs, bogus repairs, repairs for damage that doesnt exist, or they make the damage worse so they can charge more. There are tow truck companies charging $500 for a 5-mile tow, or fake clean up times, longer miles than actual, etc. Im not defending insurance companies but repair shops are just as shady. At the end of the day, we, the consumer, have to be vigilant because there are many, many people trying to separate us from our money, and the more they get they more succesful they feel. These are the times we live in, very few honest people left. Integrity is dying out.
And I almost forgot. There are people who file fraudulent claimd, ambilance chasing lawyers, corrupt doctors and chiropractors and people going along to make a buck from the onsurance company. There are false stolen car claims, etc. If you think about it, it's a cycle of everyone trying to take advantage of the other and all because of money.
@@meramosjr Money is the devil's tool to manipulate people, and it works like a charm!!
Do the right thing always, no matter from where the pressure comes to do the wrong thing...
This video deserves a lot more upvotes to get the word out. that's crazy
This sounds like State Farm. I went through the same thing when I had to make a claim. The adjuster assigned to me had no idea that a house could have wood shake shingles and it took me 4-5times to explain I wasn’t talking about the roof before I’d get so angry.
Indeed sounds like State Farm.
I don’t have State Farm. But the lady driving a Nissan Rogue that made an unsafe lane change into my dedicated on-ramp lane, she has State Farm.
I was dealing with:
The lady herself flat out lied to the officer arriving on scene, saying she never changed lane.
My dashcam had a faulty wifi and couldn’t transfer the video footage to my phone - so I couldn’t show the footage to the officer on the spot. Result = no tickets issued.
Then after I filed insurance claim on her State Farm, the Adjustor could not get a hold of their customer on the phone. (The lady intentionally was not returning their calls.)
5 weeks after I filed the claim, State Farm officially closed the claim, denied. On what basis? They couldn’t get a hold of their customer to “get their story on what happened”, despite I’ve sent them the dash cam video when I filed the claim.
So then I file claim with my own insurance, and providing the same video footage.
My insurance company covered the repair, and is now in process of getting reimbursement from both State Farm and the other driver.
Just insane.
Correct, State Farm. Those guys are giving good training to adjuster to avoid paying at all costs. They even recommend conterfeit parts
I've had nothing but good results from State Farm. They paid a $19,000 claim with no questions asked and no increase in rates.
@@Just_Joe71
Sure you did. 😂
State Farm has most definitely fell off the last 10 years.
God bless you! You are a good, honest, and caring, true mechanic. Ive had similar problems with home ins. Companies like state farm In Florida after hurricanes damaged my home. I suffered more stress fighting them to fix it properly than the hurricane destroying my home while in it.
24:52 I have made it this far through the video, and I intend to finish. This video is one of the most upsetting videos you have ever made. It is driving my blood pressure up to the ceiling. Every single one of your other videos has brought me great joy, and satisfaction. You have earned the right to cry on my shoulder about all this crap.
I remember State Farm trying to get money out of me for a deductible when it was unwarranted. When I got the call, it was obvious that they barely had any information on what happened.
All that happened was I was driving to work at around 1am, go down a main road I always take, had to swerve abruptly to avoid hitting a Buck, car ends up doing a 180 and goes into the ditch into an open unowned field. I come to a stop, front end is facing the street, look around the car, no damage, problem is the ditch is so steep, car is an 08 prix, so I dont have the kind of tires or drive train to get out. So, all I need is a tow, ask for the service through the app, get a tow truck on the way, while they're on the way, I get someone from work to pick me up to take me to the warehouse cause I have a job to do. On the phone with the tow truck guy, tell him where the cars at, told him what happened, and that the keys are in the car, have him tow it to my works parking lot and that was it.
State Farm calls a day or two later, they're like, we're going to need the deductible now. My response is, "For what? There was no damage, there was no damage to the car, and there was no damage to anybodies property, I was simply stuck!" They're like oh, ok. And that was it. Talk about jumping the gun there. They obviously had very little to no information on what happened and were expecting me to pay $500 deductible for a maybe $200-$300 tow. I have the tow service add on in my premium, you guys already got paid for that. Fortunately, there were no were no further issues or discussions after that, but man did I find the whole thing odd.
yep. Every single thing that populists complain about big gvt is only true about really big biz of insurance co's.
Mr Car Care, first we love your channel! Our home got clobbered in Sarasota FL from Milton. . Bottom line ... zero from the insurance company.
Good to know there are still some people like you who have integrity!!!!
I work in the medical field and deal with auto accidents sometimes. We usually make it mandatory for people to have an attorney because we’ve had so many problems with insurance. Companies have been caught giving bonuses for denying claims. Agents are notorious for being hard to get a hold of. They want to wear people down and hope they don’t have to pay much. If you’re not a hard negotiator you need to get an attorney.
There needs to be due process laws in place for claims….
@ insurance lobby is strong.
@arnoldm889 any business with a high concentration of small hats has strong lobby.
I took my son's car for repairs after a minor accident and the shop inflated the cost, thus the car was "totaled". They took all the parts off the car and put them in the back. They were refusing to put it back together as we wanted to keep the car. My insurance agent had to get involved. They ultimately put it back together and I had it fixed somewhere else with no issues and half the cost. Both shops and insurance companies can be unethical. Glad to know their are still some ethics left like you! Thank you!
My father after 70 years of accident free driving and no tickets wandered across a double yellow line for a second when going around a curve. A cop stopped him and ticketed him. When his automobile insurance came due for renewal, his premium had doubled due to that ticket. He cancelled with them (GEICO) and went with someone else.
I had geico for many years, no accidents, no tickets, they got expensive, went with another company, Gieco got pissed off, and when they gave the other company my Vin number, they changed one number, then reported to the state that I dropped my insurance, the state wanted the tag back, I asked the new company whats going on, they said that gieco gave them a wrong vin number. Gieco is a scammer company, they all are actually.
Huh… where I live cops and everyone else play it fast and loose with the double yellows
Geico is terrible with rate hikes. I was accident and claim free for 19 years then my daughter gets in an accident and the premiums almost doubled. Called around to other insurance companies. They were all more expensive. It's like Geico was just waiting for an excuse to increase my rate to the average after 19 years of inflation.
@@brkbtjunkie Not when you're trying to make your quota for the month I guess.
Geico has gone insane.
yup. dealt with this today. insurance sent a change request. removed all of the front suspension from my estimate ($6k) which was 90% of the damage. even though the pictures clearly showed all of the suspension ripped off...
Sounds Like State Farm to me!
They've been good to me last 10 years as a customer.
state farm to me too after 20 years with them now they are so bad as of now.
My first thought!!
@@James-il3tq I had to switch in 2022 because of used parts and terrible customer service.
Or progressive
I like the way you manage your business like a true boss. I think you did a great thing by going this route of not working with insurances. May your business flourish even more, and man I would love if you had a shop here closer to Houston. I have family who drive Toyotas and I have a Tacoma myself and we wouldn’t be taking our vehicles anywhere else but your shop.
I am a huge fan of your channel by the way!
IDK in other countries but insurance in this country is a scam. You have it hoping to never need it, but when you do need it you have to fight them so they actually do their job you been paying a premium for. You know they screwed up when they made one of the most reasonable shop owners to say he no longer works with insurance
Thank you for shining a bright light on this. Sadly, all insurance middleman are only there to extort as much as they can. It's really outrageous and sad frankly that it's come to this.
I left the collision industry a year ago. It’s going down hill. Parts and quality of the body men are leaving as they get older. Insurance company’s fight for cheapest and used parts for repairs. Every month I was handling over 100 claims. 100 customers 100 insurance claims 100 cars. One in one out. Never ends they just keep coming.Was going crazy but $10k plus a month was hard to leave. Don’t wreck or your in trouble
That’s the part of the business that’s missed. People don’t understand how overworked and understaffed most claims departments are. They deal with nothing but the worst calls everyday and turnover is insane so there’s always new people being trained.
Let’s be honest, the automotive industry is not known to be the most ethical. They cheat their customers as sport.
As an insurance company, we have to deal with a lot of fraud and sometimes the poor reputations of mechanics and dealers makes our interaction with them cautious and to trust but verify. Ultimately, if we just cut checks Willy Nilly, the claims cost would exceed revenues and we’re out of business so it’s a two way street.
Take a look at the results of all personal lines auto insurers excluding Progressive. They are getting destroyed. Especially State Farm and Allstate.
I worked at a Lincoln/Mercury dealer in the late 80's and we had a list of extended warranty companies that we wouldn't work with. By the time i left there after a couple years, we only honored Ford's extended warranty plans... they were terrible even back then...
I am continuously impressed with you and your team. The quality and depth is greatly appreciated.
GOD bless
God bless you Sir your patience is amazing I wish you were my mechanic.
My dad used to own an auto restoration business and would on occasion work on regular cars for previous customers, like when a client who we worked on their E-Type hit a deer with his S2000. Progressive was the worst to work with and State Farm was a close second. They will nickel and dime the shop on everything. They will try to get you to use aftermarket, at the time Taiwan, probably Chinese now, components instead of OE parts. They will try to dictate how many shop supplies you use. If you take the time to do the repair properly you can't make a profit at what they want to pay. They wanted to pay less than half the standard labor rate.
My dad was an appraiser/adjuster and yes you definitely need to go out to every vehicle regardless of how severe the damage is
I can talk about it as I made the same mistake with USAA. They did the exact same thing. I went on the app, filed a claim and added pictures. Took it to the shop and they called me to let me know the company won’t take the estimate and that a check was been mailed to me. It took me two weeks and 5 calls to several departments and some aggressive non disrespectful tone to get it resolved. Never again. Don’t take pictures and send them to the company, dont ask for an estimate or anything. Take the car first to the shop and the call and provide the information so that the company can give an authorization to the shop to make the initial estimate and they will send any photos. You have been warned!
In some regions of the U S. almost all insurance companies don't have adjusters to send out to access a claim and no service provider will do the legwork like take photos or send the estimate s either. It's getting noticeably worse to carry insurance.
You are an unusually reputable human. Pure is the best word I feel best using. Thank you.
Insurance is a GIANT ripoff. How high can their skyscrapers be? Where is our gov't watching out for the people- yeah, right!
Of course our congressman and senators get kickbacks. Same with a lot of other industries
Government isn't your babysitter nor is government going to look out for you. In fact governments are just as corrupt as any insurance company and just as self interested. What's different is government is even more inefficient as it spends other people's money. More government always = more inefficiency. Hence why DOGE is being created as we speak!
@@James-il3tq I have a bridge to Australia to sell you if you think DOGE will improve anything. Just based on your comments I hope u will be writing here in a few years praising the higher insurance premiums you will be paying thanks to DOGE. Yes government regulations and departments are very inconvenient until u need them
This is where voting matters. Anyone who doesn’t vote or votes the party of corporations, aka red R, especially Libertarians are responsible for this anything goes no rules no regulations mess.
@@James-il3tq Interesting because this isn’t an issue in any other highly developed country where we have rules and regulations and a big strong government.
So MANY people and Businesses/Companies have this great ability now to NOT listen..you did the right thing by washing your hands of this Poor experience.
This is why most insurance companies just total the car/truck nowadays more than they use to. Unforeseen damage, especially underneath can total out a vehicle very easily. They will give you the run around for a month and then after you have been out of work, total the car and mess your world up. Cheers!
This is why you have such a following. You try to do the right thing when somethings needs to get done. Not all but a lot of others are exactly like you described. Finding good people and business is not easy anymore.
You’re trying to do the best job for the customer, and the insurance is trying to do the best job for their bottom line. Sadly, it’s not exclusive to auto insurance companies these days. These soulless corporate vampires try to suck every ounce of decency out of good people and leave them empty, careless husks.
You’re a good man, AMD. Keep up the good fight!
My car was wrecked on Oct 16th and towed to a storage yard. State Farm retrieved the car on Oct 28th, and has been doing an estimate since. Now, on 20th of November, I still do not have any news on the car, whether it is going to be totaled or not, or even any estimates. At least they gave me a rental though.
Absolutely right Amd, I as a dealer mechanic have to deal with insurance companies and aftermarket extended warranty companies and they want to pay less than new car warranty pays, on a 10 year old car from the Midwest, unfortunately our service writers and managers don’t want to stand up for us to get paid fairly, it’s unreal all these companies getting rich while the people working on it ends up losing.
Ahmed, thanks for sharing your stories. You are a good man. In my experience insurance companies used to be like a business partner. My recent experiences have been horrible.It is like it is no longer a two way street. My home insurance company asked for me to do so many unreasonable things I finally just said forget it, I will assume the risk myself. I can fix most anything on the house myself anyway and if it burns down I will just write a check for another house.
My brother hit a TV that fell off a truck in his E39. Geico was right there in minutes and cut a check for $1200. He called his BMW dealer and had them pick the car up. He told them to get started….
When Geico called asking why he hadn’t cashed the check, he gave them the news that BMW was fixing the car. He was well within his rights in Texas. Talk about an agent getting to the repair facility instantly! The final repair cashed out at $12,000, quite a bit of difference!
They canceled him soon as the policy was up.
PS: the repairs were top notch….
Good for your brother and his BMW. Great story!
Thank you and I admire that you put the appropriate perspective on the business that out only for the buck.
It is a very sad day that this society can’t be honest and respectful of an honest evaluation of the problem that needs attention.
Keep up the task of a reliable shop that is respectable of the customer and the shop’s integrity.
Insurance is the biggest scam out there. You pay for years and years expecting these companies to do the right thing when you're in trouble, but they make things even worse. There needs to be more regulation on insurance companies
I too learned the hard way all about this 😢.
Thanks for informing others
31:04 the bad ones give the good ones a bad name; same goes for insurance. To make an analogy: everyone wants to pay Jiffy Lube prices and get Ahmed level of service. I work for a small regional insurance company. The huge conglomerates are always cheaper than us and there's a reason for that. We treat our customers fairly and have responsive claims adjusters but we're never the cheapest because our expenses are higher.
Which company?
Love seeing GENUINE folks like you! RESPECT 🫡
ALL OF US ON JANUARY 31ST SHOULD NOT PAY ANY INSURANCES!!! LIKE AND LETS TRY THIS. WHO IS WITH ME?????
Day 1
I appreciate the way you dealt with this issue. I had an engine problem that I took to the dealership to get repaired and it was covered by my extended warranty. I had it approved with the company and then the dealership called and said that it was approved. THEN when I went to pick up my car I was told that I owed them $6,000 for the repair. Apparently there was a Service Bulletin for this issue and that was what the warranty company was using for pricing, but the dealership was using some other math and passed the cost to me. I ended up paying it just to get the car back, but still regret not speaking up more. I probably would have just passed on doing the service if I had dreamed it would cost that much.
No surprise. Always report issues to your state insurance board. They will do something.
You're bringing back memories of being a service advisor again, AMD. Extended warranty and insurance are definitely a battle, but I do recall having some companies that were a pleasure to work with to get my tech proper hours, and a good repair (MasterTech surprised me in a positive way more than once!). The big companies like Geico and State Farm tend to be awful, but the smaller ones were generally better - one of the reasons I've happily stuck with Erie here on the east coast for over 20 years on my personal vehicles. To your credit, educated adjusters are becoming less and less present in the industry and its disappointing.
I had to sue my insurance company to the tune of over 50k dollars in order to get my wife's car fixed, medical paid, etc. I was with that company for 20+ years. I dropped them after I sued them for their failure. How dare I hold them accountable, huh. If anybody has my former insurer, be careful because they are not a good neighbor...
They have to pay all those over paid athletes in their ads. LOL
what company
@@legendmaster1989State farm I bet
@ I drive uninsured 🤣
I had almost the exact same experience with my insurance company. I am not afraid to name them. Progressive. They wanted to use salvage parts when my spouse damaged the front end of her Honda pilot. My repair shop stood up for us and we were able to get new aftermarket major components like radiator. But like the example in this video we ran out coverage for a rental and spent money out of pocket.
I agree with you 100% we pay every month and they try to screw us when it's time to pay up
I have used GEICO for 12 years. I had multiple windshields covered no problem. I totaled a vehicle 2 and a half years ago and they took care of everything quickly and paid for my rental too.
I worked as a mechanic I found that when customers had GEICO they covered vehicle repairs no problem with OEM parts from our dealership and paid full price.
Mine has gone up 50% over the past two years. No claims.
Me too in NY
Indiana, State Farm customer here and my bill has went down. 5 yr customer here
State Farm screwed me over on a collision, they just fixed the cosmetic side of things but refused to pay for speed sensors which were $250 each because there was no check engine light when vehicle left body shop. I explained lights don't turn on until after you drive vehicle but they didn't want to hear it. I was better off paying out of pocket for my repairs.
you need to call out the company and anyone you worked with as its the only way to keep that company accountable.
I grew up around a family owned body shop. A lot of insurance companies have change for the bad. What happened to the days of perferred shops being able to write a fair estimate the insurance company would take every time. Everyone happy.
Years ago after hitting a deer with my truck the repair and replacement parts were made in China 😮 Insurance companies got away with far too much.
Thank you for your integrity!!! I am local here, and enjoy the channel. I wish he worked on GM vehicles as well, but doesn't. I have left GEICO, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, and American Family Insurance Because they raise premiums to cover the cost of other people's accidents, when some of us don't make any claims. I would recommend people go with smaller local(state based) insurance companies.
Sir, what insurance company would you recommend? Which one have you had the “best” experience with?
This video gave me another reason to not buy a new car until I absolutely have to. When/if I do I'll go with a high insurance deductible because I can do math. I already do that with my health insurance. I go to a doc who doesn't take health insurance and it helps keep prices reasonable. Paperwork is expensive.
My wife got into an accident, and the insurance company told her to take pictures of the car . After analyzing the pictures, they totaled the car. Mind you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the car, but the finder is bent (just a hair) and a broken passenger headlight. The reason for totaling the car was because the car is over (200,000 miles and its a 2004) the car is in wonderful condition, runs perfect till this day we decided to not give the car up and accept the salvaged title. Insurance is a fucking scam and im tired of paying them!
It’s a total loss if the cost of repairs is like 70% of the actual value of the vehicle. In your case the vehicle isn’t worth anything. So it’s really easy to get to a point where it’s financially not worth fixing. They’ll just pay you what the car is worth, which is almost nothing.
Obviously the solution to this is to just reject the claim and keep the car instead. Live with the cosmetic damage and continue in your way.
This is just the reality of driving really old cars that have no financial value. It’s not even worth filing a claim in such a situation.
And it’s also why you only keep liability on these cars. Once the actual value of the car is only a few thousand, repairs are basically not an option. Everything counts as a total loss.
take the check, buy back the car and fix it. keep driving...
My car was rear ended while stopped at a traffic light. Bad guys insurance refused to pay or even send adjuster so I had to sue. Eventually this huge insurance company paid but not until a lawsuit, depositions and several months. Why? Because they can.
They do all the demands but the second we demand the work be done right they refuse to cooperate with you…. Sick world we live in