Mercury Insurance: Or, A Lesson In Professionally Lying To The Customer.
Written: Nov 29 '01
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Pros: It's like giving to charity, I'm told.
Cons: If your idea of insurance involves you paying money for no real coverage...
The Bottom Line: Mercury of California is the WORST insurance company in all of California. I trust Osama bin Laden more than I trust Mercury.
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| Alkaiser's Full Review: Mercury of California |
This is a very important Epinion to me. If you've read some of my stuff, you know that I absolutely hate companies who have made policy out of bilking the customer out of their rights in order to boost their profit margin. This is the grandest example of them all. This all starts back on the day of November 1, 2001.
My boss let us out 30 minutes early. I had just bought Civ III so I was all stoked to get home and play. So, we head out, and traffic is packed. The intersection we're trying to cross is backlogged for at least 2 stop lights in the opposite direction. So after the cars part to let him through, my roommate edges out into the intersection.
We check for oncoming traffic. I tell him it's not clear, he stops, and then, WHAM. Some SUV driving idiot who's too impatient to wait his turn comes screaming down the median (you know, the part it's illegal to drive in?) and smacks into the front corner or my roommate's newly painted 91' Celica.
He goes on 2 wheels, and swerves, only to smack into what looks like a 98 Civic. This is all clearly his fault. My rommate figures since he's part of the same insurance company as he is that this should all go pretty smoothly. On top of that, he just upped his coverage, so we're all figuring he's going to be all right. He calls in the accident that night.
Next day. No answer. No claim number for him yet. He does get a call later that day though...from the adjuster for the guy who hit him. She remarks that it's odd that he doesn't have a claim number, and says she'll get someone on it...which she doesn't.
He doesn't get a claim number until later that week. This is around the same time I get a letter for the insurance company, asking me to call in my damages, since I was a passenger. The letter's addressed to a "Klaten Chen". (My name just happens to be "Clayton Chan", and I spelled it out for the officer on site, this is all Mercury's ineptitude.)
I call in to say I'm not hurt. After all, I'll heal, and I don't want to be a jerk to the guy. I figure he's got enough to pay for, and that they could better use that money to pay for my roommate's damages. So, as a decent human being I say I'm not hurt, although I was banged around and my knee's kinda tweaked.
Later on, we find that the car has been declared a "total loss". The right front, like tenth of the car has been damaged. If you didn't know better, it'd look like my roomate ran into a pole or something at low speed. We are both boggled by the fact that it's a total loss. We figure, since the insurance company is declaring his car at a value of $8400, and that's the price they're charging his policy at, that's what he'll be getting.
Later on down the road he gets a call from his adjuster. They're declaring his car as "salvage". I don't know if any of you are familiar with what the term means, but it significantly drops the value of the car. If you had a $10,000 vehicle, and declared it salvage, you'd be looking at maybe a $3,000 car. My roommate gets ticked and starts doing his research on the car. At this point I suggest the lawyer option.
Later on we find out, "Oh, that's not your car, that's a different one...ha ha ha." Later events lead me to think that information isn't exactly true.
So, this week, my roommate gets his initial offering to settle. $2400. Twenty four hundred dollars...on a $8400 policy. Less than 1/3 the value Mercury is requiring my roommate to pay for his car. On top of that, they won't waive the deductible, although it's the other guy's fault, they won't pay for the paint job, and they ask him if he'll settle.
The LOW Kelly Blue Book value of my roommate's car is $3500. But that's not the main thing ot look at here. The insurance company charges him as if it were an $8400 car. When it's declared a total loss, they give him $2400 for it, because that's "fair market value".
This is the equivalent of having a clock at work that's an hour fast, and a clock at home that's an hour slow. Every morning you get in at 8am on your home clock, and leave at 6pm at the work clock. You can't DO THAT people! Do you NOT see how this is not even in the same county as something that could be called fair?!
It gets better. My rommate is using a rental car. It has now been 28 days since the accident. Enterprise wants him to put another $900 on the car, since he's been using it on the $200 he paid up front. He asks Mercury for the cash. They say no, they can't just bill it to the guy at fault, because he's at his coverage limit. You see, the 98 Civic he hit is valued at a little less than twice my roommate's car. (I firmly believe this is a result of having a different insurance company's adjusters on hand to yell at the Mercury guys.) His coverage won't allow them to pay for any more of the accident. They want my roommate to foot the bill for the rental car, and they'll pay him back...
In maybe 2 to 3 months.
So, while not being at fault, my roomate's $8400 coverage on the total loss of his car, combined with his loss of income, the paint job on the car, hospital visits and the rental car comes out to be, a little over $3000.
Do not EVER, EVER, EVER think about using Mercury. You're better off giving the money each month to your best friend and telling people he's your insurance company.
Moral of the story here. From the beginning of this whole thing, when Step 1 seems funny, tell the insurance adjuster, you know, this isn't proceeding right, I'm going to need you to talk to my lawyer. Put the fear of law into them up front, and they'll treat you a lot nicer...otherwise, you're just some chump who pays them money each month, and they really don't want to hear from you.
Recommended:
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Epinions.com ID:
Alkaiser
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Clayton Chan
Location: Irvine, CA
Reviews written: 655
Trusted by: 344 members
About Me:
Broke the 700 pound mark on my leg lifts.
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