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Allstate Made Decision For The Wrong Car
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- I had an accident and was in the right. The car that hit me was in the wrong. The place where the accident happened, had a video, which Allstate refuses to request. I had a lawyer and witnesses. The rookie police officer wrote the report wrong. I did not see the report until three days later. I confronted the officer, he refuses to change the accident report. Allstate insists that I was wrong, when I was right. My lawyer told me, Allstate made their mind up before the accident. They are committing fraud. They never requested the video tape, never came to the accident scene, nothing!

Whatever was said to Allstate, made no difference. I Feel this place where the claim was made is corrupt. I wrote to State ins. company, complaining about Allstate, this was 7 months ago. They still did not select a claim adjuster. Why? There is fraud everywhere and we allow the insurances companies to get away with murder. That is why our insurance policies go up every 6 months, because of fraud and corruption.

Replies
You're not in good hands.
By -

CALIFORNIA -- ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BEST KEPT UGLY SECRET. Car Hits Twelve-Year Old Girl While Standing On Sidewalk. Our daughter was injured as a pedestrian in a serious car accident while standing on a sidewalk with a friend when an underinsured driver jumped the curb while making a left turn and hitting our daughter straight on, flying her up in the air where she landed on top of the car hood and was slammed to the ground as the car continued on driving down the road without any regard to our daughter's well-being.

We learned from her doctors that she had sustained a brain injury resulting in cognitive impairment in addition to other physical injuries. Directly after the accident, she had to relearn simple math and forgot how to walk home from school as one of many examples. The accident occurred in 1997, and she has made substantial progress through great effort on her part and a relentless desire to get back what she had lost in the accident.

Allstate Denies Injury. Allstate contended that we had fabricated our daughter's injury and we had convinced her that she had suffered a brain injury despite medical testimony to the contrary. Despite Allstate's lowball offer of $15,000 to settle our daughter damage claim, the arbitrator awarded our daughter $1.4+ million dollars in damages for the injuries she sustained. Although Allstate represents that you are in “Good Hands,” they offered only $15,000 on a $1,400,000 injury under our Uninsured Motorist coverage.

During the arbitration proceeding, Allstate was even able through their crafty lawyers to get their own expert to change his testimony whereby he had written a prior report that indicated that my daughter had suffered a closed-head injury and had suffered some degree of unconsciousness as a result of being hit by a vehicle as a pedestrian. Again, my daughter was hit by a vehicle, thrown on the vehicle's hood, and was slammed to the ground as the driver drove off down the street without any regard to hitting my daughter.

The Allstate expert changed his testimony during the arbitration hearing by indicating that my daughter did not suffer a loss of consciousness, which is often a material element in supporting a brain injury, since the force of a car hitting a pedestrian did not necessarily constitute sufficient force to render such an injury. These facts alone should speak volumes about what I consider Allstate's deceptive insurance practices in denying claims to their own customers. This is precisely why Allstate has one of the lowest ratings of all insurance companies in the United States.

Inadequate Insurance Coverage. Although I was advised repeatedly that the Personal Umbrella Policy that I purchased in the amount of $1,000,000.00 applied to my daughter's injury under the Uninsured Motorist provisions, Allstate prevailed in subsequent lawsuits through the appeal process, after we had won two prior verdicts, by convincing a jury that no such coverage ever existed with respect to Allstate's Umbrella policy.

Allstate never offered such protection although they advised me on several occasions it was my fault for not reading cover to cover my lengthy policy with more loop holes than Swiss cheese. Instead of $1,250,000 of protection, we only had $250,000.

Umbrella Policies and Uninsured Motorist Protection-Buyers Beware When I purchased my Personal Umbrella Excess Liability Policy from Allstate Insurance Company, I was advised that the $1,000,000 million of additional Umbrella was in addition to my underlying $100,000 of Uninsured Motorist coverage, which was later increased to $250,000, as well as to my bodily injury portion. Subsequently, when I asked to increase my Uninsured Motorist coverage,

I was advised by Allstate that all I had to do was simply increase my Umbrella from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000, which I did in order to protect my family in the event one of us were injured by an uninsured or underinsured motorists. Uninsured motorist coverage can be obtained at very little expense, and the protection to one's family is of most importance due to the high number of uninsured and underinsured motorists in the State of California.

This is precisely why certain insurance companies do not advise their insured to get additional uninsured motorist protection, since they do not want to pay large claims for injuries sustained by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

California Law. California only requires by law that a driver carry a minimum of $10,000 of bodily injury coverage per person. For example, the woman who hit my daughter was only required by law to have $10,000 in insurance to cover my daughter's injuries which were in excess of $1.4 million. An umbrella policy offers substantially more liability protection in amounts of $1,000,000 or more at very little additional cost. In my situation, at the time I believed I purchased the polices, I only had $100,000 in Uninsured Motorist coverage when I was led to believe I had an additional $1,000,000 of coverage on top of that.

The uninsured limits were eventually increased to $250,000 only because Allstate now required higher underlying limits for the Personal Umbrella to apply. The Allstate agent testified in court that Allstate would never advise you to obtain more uninsured motorist protection once you met the minimum of underlying coverage for the Umbrella to apply since he would never advise you that the Umbrella did not apply (“sneaky”), again leaving their insured subject to substantial risk and exposure if hit by an underinsured motorist.

Under California State law, an insurance agent is not required to advise their customers that they should obtain increased uninsured motorist coverage nor are they required to advise them that their particular Umbrella Excess Liability policy is not linked to the uninsured motorist portion. However, certain insurance companies doing business in California offer an umbrella excess liability linked to the uninsured motorist protection, such as Farmers Insurance Company. State Farm Insurance Company used to link the two but stopped doing so in 1996.

I contacted a State Farm insurance agent on January 21, 2010, and asked if the two were linked, and she indicated she was not sure but would contact her underwriter and get back to me, whereby she was informed that State Farm no longer offered Umbrella protection linked to the Uninsured Motorist protection as of 1999. I then asked her what the maximum of uninsured motorist coverage one could obtain through State Farm, and she did not know off the top of her but after looking at one of her policies she indicated $250,000, which is not adequate in my opinion.

When an Umbrella Policy purchased from Farmers Insurance Company (at least as up to a year ago when I last checked), the insured is offered an option of having the umbrella tied to the uninsured motorist portion by checking a box. However, Allstate has no such election or coverage. It is also possible to go outside of the “Good Hands” Allstate Company and obtain a stand-alone umbrella policy which is linked to the uninsured motorist coverage.

Our Agent ** Goes Outside of Allstate to Get Protection not Offered by Allstate. In fact, our agent with Allstate, **, did exactly that -- he went outside of Allstate and obtained such an Umbrella policy from State Farm that was tied to the Uninsured Motorist policy in order to protect his family. He admitted in a court of law that he never advised any of his clients over his 20-year career with Allstate that (1) the Allstate Umbrella policy was not linked to the Uninsured Motorist coverage, and that, (2) an insured can go outside of Allstate to obtain an inexpensive Umbrella policy that was in fact linked to the Uninsured Motorist coverage as he did.

When I obtained an Umbrella policy, he had already gone out of Allstate to obtain such protection for his family that was never offered to me, since he testified that it would have been too confusing for me to understand this concept and this would be a recipe for disaster. The recipe for disaster were not having Umbrella protection for my daughter's injuries, a concept that totally escaped Mr. **. I had referred ** numerous clients including my mother and other friends. I also lectured at his church on estate tax matters. I considered ** a friend but he concealed this information from me. He indicated that he did not have a duty or a moral obligation to tell me.

He also admitted in a court of law that during his 20-year career, none of his customers ever asked whether the Umbrella was tied to the Uninsured Motorist coverage. The reason that no customers ever asked this question is that the belief that such coverage under an Umbrella policy applies equally in a situation, that if the insured, someone or if someone in their family is injured, the Umbrella protection applies. Even insurance agents are under this mistaken belief as are attorneys, judges, as well as the average consumer.

Even the attorney that was representing me in the court action with over 30 years of insurance litigation experience was not aware that his Umbrella and Uninsured Motorist protection were not linked until he took my case and checked with his insurance company. After checking with his insurance company, he immediately went outside of his insurance company to obtain an Umbrella policy for only a couple hundred dollars a year in premiums that was in fact linked to his Uninsured Motorist.

Dirty Secret. This is one of the dirtiest secrets in the insurance industry, and Allstate is one of the worst offenders and has one of the lowest ratings among attorneys who represent clients against Allstate for denial of claims. I strongly advocate that the law in the State of California as well as other states and perhaps even under federal law should be changed whereby an insurance company that does not offer Umbrella protection linked to the uninsured motorist provisions should be required to advise their customers that they can go outside that particular insurance company to obtain such a policy at very little expense and without terminating any of the insurance coverages with the primary insurance company.

A better solution would be to require all insurance to offer Umbrella policies tied to Uninsured Motorist protection. The Personal Umbrella policy which was sold to me protects everyone in the world for injuries caused by me but my family are the only ones in the world who are not protected under this same policy to the extent I protect total strangers. This is so hard to believe that my family happens to be the only ones outside the Umbrella. The ordinary consumers as well as sophisticated individuals are not aware of this serious potential gap in insurance coverage.

We believe that Allstate's conduct over a substantial number of years is despicable and immoral. We strongly advise the California Insurance Department change the laws in California to protect other insured from the same fate that we suffered under the “Good Hands” of the Allstate Insurance Company.

Allstate Decreases Insurance. When I first met Mr. ** to discuss my insurance needs, I had three times the uninsured motorist coverage then, than I had when I walked out of the meeting with Mr. **. Although he testified in a court of law that he never decreases the insurance coverage of an insured when he reviewed their existing coverages, he subsequently decreased mine by two-thirds of what I had in place before the meeting.

Although I was teaching income tax and financial planning at UC Berkeley, at the Graduate School of Finance level, attending the graduate law degree program through NYU law school in taxation, and working as a tax attorney for a sophisticated East Bay law firm, ** stated in a court of law, but only after being prepped by clever Allstate attorneys after his deposition, which went poorly in my opinion, when he made no such claim that I was incapacitated to make any insurance decisions on behalf of my family and that my wife had to make all of the insurance decisions on my behalf.

He further testified that we declined any increased uninsured motorist coverage because my wife wanted to save $18. My wife was not even involved in discussions regarding our insurance needs since she was taking care of our two small children at the time. His testimony that I was incapacitated to make such a decision on behalf of my family clearly is without merit and a complete fabrication of the truth. This is further evidence that Allstate will go to any length to Win a case in blatant disregard of the truth in my opinion.

Change Hands - Change the Law. We believe that the testimony of ** as well as Allstate's egregious actions in this case, should serve as the “Poster Child” and “Poster Company” for reform of the insurance laws in the State of California as well as on a federal level. Join me in making this a reality and forever changing the insurance laws so that when an insurance company represents that you are in “Good Hands” that you are in fact in “Good Hands” with all fingers attached and without serious gaps in coverage which they do not disclose to you.

Please check with your insurance company to be sure that you have adequate insurance protection as well as having an Umbrella policy tied to your Uninsured Motorist protection. If necessary, change hands. We would never want anyone else to suffer the same fate that we experienced by not having adequate insurance protection for our daughter's injuries due to lack of disclosure as well as misrepresentation, in my opinion, on behalf of an unscrupulous insurance Company.

Replies
You're not in good hands.
By -

ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY'S BEST KEPT UGLY SECRET. Car Hits Twelve-Year Old Girl While Standing On Sidewalk. Our daughter was injured as a pedestrian in a serious car accident while standing on a sidewalk with a friend when an underinsured driver jumped the curb while making a left turn and hitting our daughter straight on, flying her up in the air where she landed on top of the car hood and was slammed to the ground as the car continued on driving down the road without any regard to our daughter's well-being.

We learned from her doctors that she had sustained a brain injury resulting in cognitive impairment in addition to other physical injuries. Directly after the accident, she had to relearn simple math and forgot how to walk home from school as one of many examples. The accident occurred in 1997, and she has made substantial progress through great effort on her part and a relentless desire to get back what she had lost in the accident.

Allstate Denies Injury. Allstate contended that we had fabricated our daughter's injury and we had convinced her that she had suffered a brain injury despite medical testimony to the contrary. Despite Allstate's lowball offer of $15,000 to settle our daughter damage claim, the arbitrator awarded our daughter $1.4+ million dollars in damages for the injuries she sustained. Although Allstate represents that you are in “Good Hands,” they offered only $15,000 on a $1,400,000 injury under our Uninsured Motorist coverage.

During the arbitration proceeding, Allstate was even able through their crafty lawyers to get their own expert to change his testimony whereby he had written a prior report that indicated that my daughter had suffered a closed-head injury and had suffered some degree of unconsciousness as a result of being hit by a vehicle as a pedestrian. Again, my daughter was hit by a vehicle, thrown on the vehicle's hood, and was slammed to the ground as the driver drove off down the street without any regard to hitting my daughter.

The Allstate expert changed his testimony during the arbitration hearing by indicating that my daughter did not suffer a loss of consciousness, which is often a material element in supporting a brain injury, since the force of a car hitting a pedestrian did not necessarily constitute sufficient force to render such an injury. These facts alone should speak volumes about what I consider Allstate's deceptive insurance practices in denying claims to their own customers. This is precisely why Allstate has one of the lowest ratings of all insurance companies in the United States.

Inadequate Insurance Coverage. Although I was advised repeatedly that the Personal Umbrella Policy that I purchased in the amount of $1,000,000.00 applied to my daughter's injury under the Uninsured Motorist provisions, Allstate prevailed in subsequent lawsuits through the appeal process, after we had won two prior verdicts, by convincing a jury that no such coverage ever existed with respect to Allstate's Umbrella policy.

Allstate never offered such protection although they advised me on several occasions it was my fault for not reading cover to cover my lengthy policy with more loop holes than Swiss cheese. Instead of $1,250,000 of protection, we only had $250,000.

Umbrella Policies and Uninsured Motorist Protection-Buyers Beware When I purchased my Personal Umbrella Excess Liability Policy from Allstate Insurance Company, I was advised that the $1,000,000 million of additional Umbrella was in addition to my underlying $100,000 of Uninsured Motorist coverage, which was later increased to $250,000, as well as to my bodily injury portion. Subsequently, when I asked to increase my Uninsured Motorist coverage,

I was advised by Allstate that all I had to do was simply increase my Umbrella from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000, which I did in order to protect my family in the event one of us were injured by an uninsured or underinsured motorists. Uninsured motorist coverage can be obtained at very little expense, and the protection to one's family is of most importance due to the high number of uninsured and underinsured motorists in the State of California.

This is precisely why certain insurance companies do not advise their insured to get additional uninsured motorist protection, since they do not want to pay large claims for injuries sustained by an uninsured or underinsured motorist.

California Law. California only requires by law that a driver carry a minimum of $10,000 of bodily injury coverage per person. For example, the woman who hit my daughter was only required by law to have $10,000 in insurance to cover my daughter's injuries which were in excess of $1.4 million. An umbrella policy offers substantially more liability protection in amounts of $1,000,000 or more at very little additional cost. In my situation, at the time I believed I purchased the polices, I only had $100,000 in Uninsured Motorist coverage when I was led to believe I had an additional $1,000,000 of coverage on top of that.

The uninsured limits were eventually increased to $250,000 only because Allstate now required higher underlying limits for the Personal Umbrella to apply. The Allstate agent testified in court that Allstate would never advise you to obtain more uninsured motorist protection once you met the minimum of underlying coverage for the Umbrella to apply since he would never advise you that the Umbrella did not apply (“sneaky”), again leaving their insured subject to substantial risk and exposure if hit by an underinsured motorist.

Under California State law, an insurance agent is not required to advise their customers that they should obtain increased uninsured motorist coverage nor are they required to advise them that their particular Umbrella Excess Liability policy is not linked to the uninsured motorist portion. However, certain insurance companies doing business in California offer an umbrella excess liability linked to the uninsured motorist protection, such as Farmers Insurance Company. State Farm Insurance Company used to link the two but stopped doing so in 1996.

I contacted a State Farm insurance agent on January 21, 2010, and asked if the two were linked, and she indicated she was not sure but would contact her underwriter and get back to me, whereby she was informed that State Farm no longer offered Umbrella protection linked to the Uninsured Motorist protection as of 1999. I then asked her what the maximum of uninsured motorist coverage one could obtain through State Farm, and she did not know off the top of her but after looking at one of her policies she indicated $250,000, which is not adequate in my opinion.

When an Umbrella Policy purchased from Farmers Insurance Company (at least as up to a year ago when I last checked), the insured is offered an option of having the umbrella tied to the uninsured motorist portion by checking a box. However, Allstate has no such election or coverage. It is also possible to go outside of the “Good Hands” Allstate Company and obtain a stand-alone umbrella policy which is linked to the uninsured motorist coverage.

Our Agent ** Goes Outside of Allstate to Get Protection not Offered by Allstate. In fact, our agent with Allstate, **, did exactly that -- he went outside of Allstate and obtained such an Umbrella policy from State Farm that was tied to the Uninsured Motorist policy in order to protect his family. He admitted in a court of law that he never advised any of his clients over his 20-year career with Allstate that (1) the Allstate Umbrella policy was not linked to the Uninsured Motorist coverage, and that, (2) an insured can go outside of Allstate to obtain an inexpensive Umbrella policy that was in fact linked to the Uninsured Motorist coverage as he did.

When I obtained an Umbrella policy, he had already gone out of Allstate to obtain such protection for his family that was never offered to me, since he testified that it would have been too confusing for me to understand this concept and this would be a recipe for disaster. The recipe for disaster were not having Umbrella protection for my daughter's injuries, a concept that totally escaped Mr. **. I had referred ** numerous clients including my mother and other friends. I also lectured at his church on estate tax matters. I considered ** a friend but he concealed this information from me. He indicated that he did not have a duty or a moral obligation to tell me.

He also admitted in a court of law that during his 20-year career, none of his customers ever asked whether the Umbrella was tied to the Uninsured Motorist coverage. The reason that no customers ever asked this question is that the belief that such coverage under an Umbrella policy applies equally in a situation, that if the insured, someone or if someone in their family is injured, the Umbrella protection applies. Even insurance agents are under this mistaken belief as are attorneys, judges, as well as the average consumer.

Even the attorney that was representing me in the court action with over 30 years of insurance litigation experience was not aware that his Umbrella and Uninsured Motorist protection were not linked until he took my case and checked with his insurance company. After checking with his insurance company, he immediately went outside of his insurance company to obtain an Umbrella policy for only a couple hundred dollars a year in premiums that was in fact linked to his Uninsured Motorist.

Dirty Secret. This is one of the dirtiest secrets in the insurance industry, and Allstate is one of the worst offenders and has one of the lowest ratings among attorneys who represent clients against Allstate for denial of claims. I strongly advocate that the law in the State of California as well as other states and perhaps even under federal law should be changed whereby an insurance company that does not offer Umbrella protection linked to the uninsured motorist provisions should be required to advise their customers that they can go outside that particular insurance company to obtain such a policy at very little expense and without terminating any of the insurance coverages with the primary insurance company.

A better solution would be to require all insurance to offer Umbrella policies tied to Uninsured Motorist protection. The Personal Umbrella policy which was sold to me protects everyone in the world for injuries caused by me but my family are the only ones in the world who are not protected under this same policy to the extent I protect total strangers. This is so hard to believe that my family happens to be the only ones outside the Umbrella. The ordinary consumers as well as sophisticated individuals are not aware of this serious potential gap in insurance coverage.

We believe that Allstate's conduct over a substantial number of years is despicable and immoral. We strongly advise the California Insurance Department change the laws in California to protect other insured from the same fate that we suffered under the “Good Hands” of the Allstate Insurance Company.

Allstate Decreases Insurance. When I first met Mr. ** to discuss my insurance needs, I had three times the uninsured motorist coverage then, than I had when I walked out of the meeting with Mr. **. Although he testified in a court of law that he never decreases the insurance coverage of an insured when he reviewed their existing coverages, he subsequently decreased mine by two-thirds of what I had in place before the meeting.

Although I was teaching income tax and financial planning at UC Berkeley, at the Graduate School of Finance level, attending the graduate law degree program through NYU law school in taxation, and working as a tax attorney for a sophisticated East Bay law firm, ** stated in a court of law, but only after being prepped by clever Allstate attorneys after his deposition, which went poorly in my opinion, when he made no such claim that I was incapacitated to make any insurance decisions on behalf of my family and that my wife had to make all of the insurance decisions on my behalf.

He further testified that we declined any increased uninsured motorist coverage because my wife wanted to save $18. My wife was not even involved in discussions regarding our insurance needs since she was taking care of our two small children at the time. His testimony that I was incapacitated to make such a decision on behalf of my family clearly is without merit and a complete fabrication of the truth. This is further evidence that Allstate will go to any length to Win a case in blatant disregard of the truth in my opinion.

Change Hands - Change the Law. We believe that the testimony of ** as well as Allstate's egregious actions in this case, should serve as the “Poster Child” and “Poster Company” for reform of the insurance laws in the State of California as well as on a federal level. Join me in making this a reality and forever changing the insurance laws so that when an insurance company represents that you are in “Good Hands” that you are in fact in “Good Hands” with all fingers attached and without serious gaps in coverage which they do not disclose to you.

Please check with your insurance company to be sure that you have adequate insurance protection as well as having an Umbrella policy tied to your Uninsured Motorist protection. If necessary, change hands. We would never want anyone else to suffer the same fate that we experienced by not having adequate insurance protection for our daughter's injuries due to lack of disclosure as well as misrepresentation, in my opinion, on behalf of an unscrupulous insurance Company.

Replies
Allstate Agents
By -

I have never had insurance with Allstate and I never will. I was involved in an accident with one of their customers a couple of days ago. The lady that hit me was really nice and was very sorry for rear ending me. A day later I was contacted by Allstate by some lady who was talking so fast I had to ask her to slow down 6 times. I told the lady that I was on the road and that I could write some numbers down that she kept rattling off but she would just have to be patient with me.

I was rushed through the process of getting a contact name and number (the agent helping me was **) and then she told me that they would provide a rental car for me as long as I had insurance, a credit or debit card and a valid driving license. She told me as long as I have all of those the only thing I would pay for is the gas that I would use. I told the lady I had all of the above and she said she would have someone call me about a rental. At this point I'm thinking maybe Allstate isn't that bad I might switch to them.

So I get up to Enterprise to pick the car up. They told me I would have to pay an additional 14.99 per day for full coverage in seeing that all I have is liability. I told the man to put it on their tab. He stated that they did not discuss that when arrangements were made. No problem I say let me just call the good people at Allstate to let them know about the issue because I was not informed about this sudden change in plans. I speak with ** about the problem and he informed me in his exact words that it is not his duty to cover the fee his job is to pay for the rental and that's it not a penny more or less.

I proceeded to tell him that I was informed differently and he began speaking over me and kept doing it throughout the entire exchange. He was very short with me rude and extremely sarcastic. I asked for his mgr's name and number and he said he's not there, he was the only guy there. I asked again for his mgr's information and he finally gave it to me. He then told me it wouldn't matter if I spoke with his supervisor because he will say the same thing (I wanted his mgr's info so he could be informed about the rudeness of his employee and not the miscommunication on the additional fee.)

By now I'm livid and did not want to deal with him at all anymore on the phone. Before I could tell him that I would call his boss tomorrow he hung up on me. The scary part about this whole deal is we just started this process and they haven't even sent out anyone to look at my Jeep yet. I am not looking forward to dealing with Allstate nor will I ever recommend them to anyone and I haven't even been a customer of theirs. If anyone for Allstate reads this please contact me about this joker. He does not need to be working for you guys. All he had to do was try to work with me but he didn't even try at all he just wanted to tell me off. My email is **.

Replies
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Secret Documents Reveal Insurance Strategy
By -

Investigators: Secret documents reveal insurance strategy. Shortchanging accident victims SEATTLE - Insurance industry profits are up, but the amount of claims paid out is down. Consumer advocates believe they can trace the trend to a secret set of business documents, started by a company Allstate Insurance hired years ago. Those documents turned the insurance industry upside down. They're from a business consultant hired by Allstate to boost profits. The consultant suggested a new business model that critics say is now widely used to shortchange accident victims who file a claim.

In the aftermath of her 2004 car crash, Bonney Lake resident ** wasn't just angry at the driver who caused the accident and sped off. "Just out of nowhere the car next to me came into my lane and slammed into my car," she said. "It whipped my head around a lot and hurt my neck, my back. I had a lot of pain in my shoulders."

Since the "at fault" driver got away, ** relied on her uninsured motorist coverage from her own insurance company, Allstate Corp., to pay her mounting medical bills. "But after several months in, I started getting more bills that hadn't been paid," she said. ** says Allstate ' the company with the slogan "You're in good hands" - was rejecting her claims. She hired attorney **, who says it's a familiar scenario. "You're in a moderate car crash and for some reason your insurance company is making you jump through incredible hoops to collect on a modest policy," she said. Now she's suing Allstate in a landmark court proceeding in Washington State.

**'s legal team is trying to unearth the secret "McKinsey documents" -- the blue-print that several major insurance companies used to pay claims. "These documents are the 'Da Vinci Code' of the insurance industry," Koehler said. Documents obtained by the KING 5 Investigators show the strategy: New York business consultant McKinsey and Company urged Allstate to trade in its "good hands" for boxing gloves - in some cases to use more aggressive tactics when settling claims to send a message to lawyers and the public. The consultants said that paying "promptly and fairly" does not reward Allstate shareholders with profits.

KING 5 didn't obtain actual McKinsey documents. We obtained notes from a New Mexico lawyer who was allowed under court order to view them, but could not make copies. Allstate offered ** what she called a lowball $9,000 payment. After two years of delay, the insurer suddenly asked to see one of their doctors for the first time. "He went in and dismissed everything, said it's not important - she doesn't have fibromyalgia - she doesn't have whiplash," ** said. "There's no way these can continue for so long - so she doesn't have a problem."

**'s lawyer says it's textbook McKinsey strategy, which she says violates laws that require insurance companies to settle claims in good faith -- properly and promptly. "McKinsey set up a way for them to cut clams. Make profit - cut claims," ** said. Insurance companies used to focus on making money by selling more policies. But McKinsey offered a way to boost the bottom line without selling more policies or raising premiums. One way to measure McKinsey's effectiveness may be through "loss ratio." That's a percentage showing each dollar collected in premiums - and how much of that dollar is paid out in claims.

In the mid-1990s, when Allstate hired McKinsey, it paid out about 75 cents per dollar in claims. But a consumer group says that percentage dropped to just 47 cents on the dollar nationally last year -- meaning Allstate is keeping more of the money. KING 5's review of records in Washington state show two of the three insurance companies with the lowest loss ratios - Allstate and State Farm - are former McKinsey clients. "This is about how to build a better mousetrap," said **, Allstate lawyer. "How to run a better insurance company."

Allstate denies it's not following the law. In two cases -- including **'s -- Allstate lawyers are appealing judges' decisions to hand over more than 12,000 McKinsey documents, arguing they contain trade secrets like how to root out false claims. "These are precisely the things an experienced insurance company spends a lot of time and money researching to figure out what is the best way to handle claims," Cooper said. **'s lawyers believe many policyholders have been shortchanged by McKinsey strategy, and that the documents are powerful evidence in "bad faith" cases against insurance companies.

They're asking the courts to release the documents publicly so that other crash victims can use them without expensive legal battles. ** thinks it's only fair. "They shouldn't be able to hide things and they shouldn't be able to conceal important facts when we have to reveal all of our private information," she said. "You know, I had to have my medical records, my personal life, everything dissected." Allstate isn't giving up the McKinsey documents without a fight - in this state and several others. In Missouri, the company is in contempt of court and is being fined $25,000 a day for refusing to give the documents to plaintiff's counsel.

In Washington State, the appeals court says the documents can be kept secret while Allstate appeals. Claims payments in general have been dropping industry-wide. Many insurers say they're not being dishonest, they're reducing fraud, which they say was once widespread. But experts say many insurance companies are feeling the competitive pressure to keep premiums down, and this is one way to do that and still make money.

Replies
Bad Hands
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

Our motor home has been in the repair shop since June and now it is October. Allstate refuses to pay our repair shop to finish up the work on our motor home so we can get it back. We bought our motor home to use in the summer months, we never got to use it all summer. Our repair shop and us have contacted Allstate many many times and they refuse to pay to finish it so we can get it back. SAVE YOUR SELF A LOT OF TROUBLE AND BUY YOUR INSURANCE ELSEWHERE. SIGNED IN "BAD HANDS."

Replies
Customer Service
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

Very very frustrating. Cannot get through to claims or agent. Keep leaving voicemails that are not returned.

Replies
Personal Accident Plans Are a Joke!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

MELBOURNE, FLORIDA -- Absolute joke, Went back to the duck. Had to send appeal after appeal and complain to the state to finally get them pay less than half of what they owed us. Really hurt my family. They set guidelines that are not in your control and lack any true customer service. I suggest run not merely walk away from their so-called Accident Polices. They don't pay up!

Replies
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Would Be Tough to Do Without Using Profanity
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA -- Have a definite sewer problem, agent kept on calling me to hire a plumber, she had no recommendation, no help at all. Just closed case without my consent. Kept on finding reasons not to cover loss. I agree with all these other reviews, Allstate homeowners is a joke. If you get it, you are throwing away money. Amica I hear is very good, or I'm sure just about any other insurance agency.

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Allstate Insurance Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.2 out of 5, based on 32 ratings and
72 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Allstate Insurance
2775 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
1-800-255-7828 (ph)
847-402-0165 (fax)
www.allstate.com
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