A double listing for an accident on a CLUE report can be valid.

Q: Around March of 2011 I was involved in an at fault accident. I was in my mom’s car. Her policy didn’t have enough coverage, so my dad’s policy was involved and had to cover the rest. I’ve been checking out different companies and trying to get quotes. On the CLUE report it shows the date of the accident and has me at fault which is correct. For my dad’s report it also shows the date of the accident and has him not at fault. So, the question is, Should both of us be listed for that accident even though he personally wasn’t involved in the accident. If Yes, why? Should my dad try to get it removed from his report?

A: It sounds like the accident is listed just as it should be. You are listed as being the at-fault driver on your CLUE report because you were the one driving, and your dad is listed as not at fault because the claim was made on his insurance policy. I know he wasn’t involved in the accident itself, but his insurance policy was; which is why it is now showing up on his CLUE report.

J.D. Power Claims Department satisfaction results

What you can do if you aren’t one of the many that are satisfied with their claims department.

In part one of this article, I introduce something about insurance claims departments that may be completely inconceivable (any Princess Bride fans out there?) by many of you. But unless J.D. Power surveyed a completely biased group of 12,508 people, overall satisfaction with the claims department of the car insurance companies has indeed improved.

So what if you are not one of those that feel the same way about the claims department at your insurance company?

The Results of the Claims Department Survey

When wondering why everyone else is satisfied with their claims department and you’re not, it might be because of the specific company you are with. Insurance companies all ranked differently in satisfaction, and there were some that just didn’t do well at all. Your insurance company may be listed on the bottom of the satisfaction list; which would explain why you are not as happy with them as others are with their insurance companies.

Click on picture to your right to find where your insurance company landed on the survey.

What Can You Do if You Are Not Satisfied With Your Claims Department

Regardless of where your insurance company falls on the above survey results, the claims department that you are working with due to an accident has the responsibility to treat each claim fairly and reasonably. If you find yourself not receiving either, there are steps that you can take to correct the situation.

First, if you are not working with the claims department of your own insurance company it may be time to contact them. Yes, filing a claim under your own insurance policy will make you subject to your deductible, but you will get that back in the end if you are found not at fault for the accident.

By filing with your insurance company, you are no longer fighting the other insurance company alone you now have the legal power and claims experience of your insurance company behind you. In fact, once you file with your insurance company and they start taking care of your claim, you may never have to talk to the other insurance company again.

Second, if you are already working with your insurance company and not getting anywhere with your adjuster it is time to talk to someone else. First, ask to speak to your adjuster’s manager to try and resolve issues. If that does not work, ask for their manager and continue to move up the ranks until there is no one left. When you have reached a dead end in your claims department and still have no resolution, it is time to contact the Insurance Commissioner or Department if Insurance in your state.

The latest J.D. Power survey brings surprising news about how we feel about insurance claims departments.

How would you have rated your claims department?

Have you had a car insurance claim lately and come out of the experience satisfied with the claims department you were working with? If not, you probably weren’t one of the many people that J.D. Power surveyed recently about claims satisfaction then. From their survey results more people are happy with their claims department dealings, and the satisfaction rates are up even more than they were last year.

How Claims Department Satisfaction Ratings Were Determined

Because I can’t say it any better than J.D. Power did in their press release, here are the details of how the results of this claims department survey were gathered.

“The 2012 U.S. Auto Claims Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 12,508 auto insurance customers who settled a claim within the past 6 months. The study excludes claimants whose vehicle only incurred glass/windshield damage or was stolen, or who only filed roadside assistance claims. Survey data was collected between November 2011 and September 2012.”

What Was Rated for Claims Department Satisfaction

J.D. Power used 6 different factors for people to rate the claims departments on at the insurance companies. They were rated by:

• Overall Satisfaction: Score is based on how the survey participants rated their overall claims experience.
• First Notice of Loss: Based on how survey participants, that were claimants, rate the insurance company itself based on the claims process.
• Service Interaction: Rated from how the survey participant felt about how their claim was handled by the claims department or adjuster.
• Appraisal: Score based on how the survey participants rated the insurance company’s handling of the appraisal process.
• Repair Process: Score based on how the survey participants rated the insurance company’s handling of the repair process.
• Rental Experience: Score based on how the survey participants rated the fairness of the settlement for the claim by the claims department that was handling the claim.
• Settlement: Score based on how the survey participants rated the insurance company’s handling of the appraisal process.

Overall Findings of the Report

J.D. Power used a 1,000 point scale when compiling the results of their survey for each of the different factors that they had survey participants rate. They found that overall claimant satisfaction was at 852 which is a 6 point increase from last year. In fact, most of the factors that were rated saw an increase in satisfaction from the survey participants.

This increase in points means that people are more satisfied with their claims experience this year than they were last year.

(to be continued in part 2)

Allstate’s Mayhem brings us the nightmare situation most of use fear during the holidays

Allstate Commercial

Commercial opens with a close shot of Mayhem and a broken picture frame being dropped in the shot that says “Home Sweet Home”.

Mayhem: I’m the holiday get together that you can’t leave because your car’s battery is dead. And since you don’t have Good Hands Roadside Assistance, you’ll have to stay another night while your parents argue whose fault it is that your brother is such a huge disappointment and your Uncle keeps telling you how impressive your thigh muscles are.

Oh, and wait until you see who I am flying in later tonight. Here’s a hint – Cousin Mike was granted parole (doorbell rings). Get Good Hands Roadside Assistance from Allstate and be protected 365 days a year from Mayhem, like me.

Screen changes extremely quick to a contact screen with where you can sign up for Good Hands Roadside Assistance.

Point of the Allstate Commercial

This commercial was from December of 2010, so Allstate was playing on the whole dreaded family gathering for the holidays that many experience. I bet that it made many people think about whether they already had a roadside assistance program on their vehicle when they saw this commercial.

If they didn’t, they probably thought about contacting Allstate so they didn’t get stuck.

What Allstate Wants You to Do

Allstate wants you to know about their roadside assistance program.

Many people already have it through AAA or other sources, so the competition for this coverage goes beyond other insurance companies for Allstate. I know that we have roadside assistance through Toyota for free on our truck and Rav4, so we turned down our insurance company when they offered theirs to us.

I am sure that Allstate hears similar statements from their clients.

My Thoughts on this Allstate Commercial

I like most of the Mayhem commercials because they drive home a point and they do so in a way that makes you laugh. I actually chose this commercial because I was looking for holiday commercials to bring to you this month and this one fit the bill.

This will be just one of a handful of Christmas commercials this month for your entertainment. So I will not be giving out ratings this month, I just want you to sit back and enjoy the festive insurance commercial fun.

The 2012 Mini Cooper is a small car that runs along an average path.

The adorable 2012 Mini Cooper

When people first see the 2012 Mini Cooper, the country of England most likely comes to mind. These foreign cars were first introduced to us colonists through movies and television, and we don’t see them in person very often in most parts of our country.

They are a novelty that we point out to our kids when we see one on the road, and for some reason they make us happy to see them. My neighbor owns one and I can’t help but smile every time I see her drive by. Maybe because as an American I am accustomed to larger vehicles and the Mini Cooper is the equivalent to a cute baby car.

But with the increasing popularity of buying smaller, more environmentally friendly vehicles, the Mini Cooper has slowly started the vehicle version of the British Invasion.

Safety Ratings for the 2012 Mini Cooper

The 2012 Mini Cooper has just slightly above average ratings when it comes to safety.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the 2012 Cooper two acceptable ratings and two good ratings. The good ratings were given for front crash tests and rear crash tests. The acceptable ratings were given in side impact crash tests and rollover crash tests.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration only tested the Mini Cooper with one test and that was the rollover test. The vehicle did earn 5 out of 5 stars for this test; which is interesting since it only earned an acceptable rating with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Insurance Thoughts for the 2012 Highway Safety

About average, is the best I would think the insurance cost would be for the 2012 Mini Cooper.

There is not much to the car as this car is the ultimate example of the label “compact car”. However, the price ranges from just under $20,000 to just under $35,000 so the cost of totaling or fixing it has a large range. On the lower end it would be rather cheap in the comprehensive and collision coverage, but that would most likely raise as you got up in the more expensive versions.

The medical payment and PIP coverage is also where you will most likely see the coverage hover at about average. The vehicle is not a Top Safety Pick and its safety ratings are on the upper end of average. This means that you are still well protected in your vehicle; you are just not excellently protected.

Where owners of the 2012 Mini Cooper are going to fair best in their insurance premium is with the liability. This vehicle is not known to be popular with driver’s who have bad driving records and the 2012 Mini Copper is also not going to be able to do a lot of damage to anything that it hits.