I am in Australia. 2 years ago I had to make 3 claims. Now it was not my fault!

The flood did it! LOL

Lost the car, house contents.

Took about 10 days to get full payout for the car.

Took 22 days to get full payout for the contents.

Total of 60 days to get payout for the building.

Also received some extras because I did not claim on temporary accommodation. The flood was that big that there simply was no temporary accommodation to be had.

That was not bad and the service was very good. I think if it had been just my claims as opposed to an entire town things would have gone faster.

If you want a good company look at their claims department, it is all that matters.

P

My wife and I were hit from behind on the interstate 7/13/12 on our way to a family reunion. Had just recently paid the car off, which really sucks because getting hit from behind at around 85 miles per hour while you are simply minding your business sitting at the tail end of a traffic jam definitely totals the car.

We had some back pain/whiplash type injuries, my wrist, elbow and shoulder were injured. Nothing too serious but very painful. Long story short...

Nationwide was amazing! They had us submit everything to them, they paid it then submitted it to the at fault drivers insurance agents (which turned out to be Nationwide, FYI, which could explain the great experience I had) to pay them. Zero hassle for us. They gave us a claim number that same day which I gave to my Dr., gave to the pharmacy for meds, gave to the physical therapist, gave to the rental car company. It paid for everything I needed zero money out of my pocket.

When they determined that the car was totaled they gave me what I thought to be a fair price for the car, certainly more than I would of gotten if I traded it in before the accident though not quite what I might have gotten from a private sale. Got the money deposited in my account about 7 days after the accident.

I have since heard that Nationwide is privately owned, good in my book. Not that they aren't in the business to make a profit but maybe they have less of a reason to screw customers over without shareholders and stock price to think about? I don't know.

Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that I was an extremely satisfied customer and was impressed with nationwide throughout the entire experience which is still on-going. They even sent me a $2 check as they made me look bad because they payed a bill a few days late. I didn't ask them for it, didn't even know it was paid late, they just called me, apologized and sent me a check.

Glad everyone in your accident is safe, sorry for the bad experience you had. Just as an FYI, if it hasn't been mentioned yet. If you are not at fault in an accident you always inform your agent and submit a claim to their agent. You NEVER submit a claim to your insurance if you are not at fault unless the other driver is uninsured or if it was a hit and run. Best of luck to you going forward.

Originally posted by new_here
... I stayed on the phone for untold hours, with a high level of stress, plus I had to get really rude to get my due. That's just not right. WHERE WAS MY INSURANCE COMPANY IN MY ONE TIME OF NEED???

Thanks for adding this to the story... (By the way - a very well written story~)
For some "get(ting) really rude to get my due" is a simple manner of course.
Nice to see that you count it (that manner of action) outside the bounds of normalcy.

Originally posted by WanDash

Originally posted by new_here
... I stayed on the phone for untold hours, with a high level of stress, plus I had to get really rude to get my due. That's just not right. WHERE WAS MY INSURANCE COMPANY IN MY ONE TIME OF NEED???

Thanks for adding this to the story... (By the way - a very well written story~)
For some "get(ting) really rude to get my due" is a simple manner of course.
Nice to see that you count it (that manner of action) outside the bounds of normalcy.

Thank you for bringing that out to the forefront, because it really was disturbing (and still bothers me) that a calm, factual tone got me nowhere fast... whereas loud, cutting, insulting/sarcastic words worked like a charm. That's messed up. Basically, they are rewarding verbal abuse.

Originally posted by pheonix358

If you want a good company look at their claims department, it is all that matters.

P

That's good advice. Thanks!
And I'm astonished that they gave extra, of their own accord. Good on them!!!

At least the Call Centre Agents got the holiday off. Sucks to be you.

If you're so stressed about being stuck for hours over the phone, why didn't you just file the claim online?

Originally posted by pheonix358

Originally posted by pacifier2012
And I bet you were not indicating for at least 3 seconds before you put your brakes on to turn?

Sure it's the other cars fault, but if you had done that they would have had warning. Two things were at play here.

1. Car follows too closely and can't stop in time but is not expecting someone to stop suddenly as they are not indicating.
2. Car no indicating and slowly slowly instead of breaking hard to frighten the cars following... ( come on, we all know we do it)

Sorry but quite clearly, the brake lights tell you the car is stopping. See break lights, slow down. It does not matter what else happens! Two cars following way too close or not paying attention, sounds like it runs in the family.

P

Indeed. You should have heard the wife (car 3) breaking bad on her husband to the cop. "I'm a GOOD driver. He stopped too quick when he hit her. I did everything I could not to hit him." Cop: "Ma'am, you were following too closely or you wouldn't have hit him." < dead silence >

Originally posted by swoopaloop
At least the Call Centre Agents got the holiday off. Sucks to be you.

No joke! They needed to change their slogan that day to... "Like a good neighbor, we're eatin Turkey..."

Originally posted by Xaberz
If you're so stressed about being stuck for hours over the phone, why didn't you just file the claim online?

I didn't file online with my insurance company for the same reason I didn't file it with them on the phone-- They told me they could not guarantee my rates wouldn't go up, even if all documentation proved I was not at fault. I didn't file with the other driver's insurance online because I had to haggle with them over getting things done in a reasonable time. When I called them early Friday morning, they started off telling me it would be Monday before I'd get a rental car. This was unacceptable in my situation. I needed wheels, and I needed to be home before Monday.

But thanks for caring about my state of mind.

CALL YOUR AGENT!!!!
DO THE JINGLE, DO THE JINGLE!!!!!!!!!!

Like a good neighbor, Statefarm is there.... In the office, with paperwork already filled out and a claim check in hand.

Originally posted by IntegratedInstigator
CALL YOUR AGENT!!!!
DO THE JINGLE, DO THE JINGLE!!!!!!!!!!

Like a good neighbor, Statefarm is there.... In the office, with paperwork already filled out and a claim check in hand.

Yeah, yeah... in my dreams. I've come to realize that the insurance I have is on my car exists to help out the other driver, should I be at fault. They take my money, but they have been no help to me whatsoever. The other driver's insurance-- they accepted the claim, but I had to stay on them (and on the phone griping to them) to make it happen.

Moral to the story: Get the cheapest insurance you can because it is only going to protect the other drivers, not you!!!

Insurance companies are grand little things aren't they?

Years back I hit a kangaroo then slammed headlong into a tree. The impact was so severe it ripped the front wheel off the car, and broke the engine free of it's mounts. I was in hospital for about a week with cracked ribs and numerous other injuries, and when I finally got out to see the insurance agent about it, the idiot actually said he was going to see if the car was fixable before they paid out for it. I mean even the guy who towed it away said he never had so much trouble extracting a car from a tree. It took three weeks before they finally realised it was dead and paid out.

The second one I had was getting my tyres slashed by a random idiot. Basically he did two tyres, got scared off by someone, and while I was inside making a phone call to the cops, came back and spiked the other two. When I rang the insurance company, they told me I had to claim as two separate claims, each one costing me my excess twice over because I had seen the damage first, and then there was a second attack. After finally speaking to my agent, who luckily I knew, he managed to do it as one claim, but after being without a car for about a week.

And then there's the one that beats all. I reversed into another car a few years back, dinging in the back of my 4WD. Nothing major, busted tail light, dent in the body. But for the sake of it I decided to go through the insurance company and have the damage repaired. They recommended this local repairer, I sent it down to get quoted, all was ready for him to repair it..

Half way through the job, the guy decides he's had enough of this life and locks his shed up, and takes off in the middle of the night, leaving my car and nine others locked inside. Long story short, I couldn't take my car because it was on his property, I wasn't allowed to go on the property while his family went through all the legal BS to sue him for running off and try to get the creditors sorted, even though it was my car. After six weeks of going back and forth with my insurance company just to get my car out of his shed, everyone basically said it was my problem, and they weren't going to help me unless I saw a lawyer at my own expense and sued him to get MY car back.

Finally I got to the top manager of my insurance company and their lawyer, who worked out a deal with his lawyers to get my car out. When I went there the guy's father refused to let me on the property again, and ended up being arrested for it. While the cops were dragging him away, the other 8 people got their cars out. The idiot insurance company then decided I had to settle for another repairer, when I discovered "choice of repairer" on my policy. I shopped around and found the most expensive repairer in town. Apparently it cost them more than the car was worth to fix in the end, but oh well.....

The net result of all this stress? My policy jumped up $30 a month. Yet when I rang them and told them to jam it and I was going somewhere else, they pleaded with me to keep it there, but wouldn't drop the price!

All I can say as advice is read your PDS and your policy VERY carefully before choosing any insurance.