Chicago Accident Lawyer Blog
You conscientiously pay your auto insurance premium month after month. You pay extra for full collision coverage. You have never made a claim in years. Then for no fault of your own, someone driving with no insurance rear-ends your vehicle. You are taken to the emergency room in an ambulance and your car is totaled. This is the time when you need your insurance company to come through for you. However, you call the insurance company and wait on hold for 45 minutes. The insurance company takes forever to adjust your claim and when they finally make an offer it is for far less than your car is worth on your car damage claim and they contest your personal injury claim, only offering nuisance value that doesn’t even cover your medical bills. At this time your are wishing that you had picked a better insurance company, even if it would have costed a little more. Completely frustrated, you call the Illinois Department of Insurance to make a complaint but you are told that your complaint will be recorded but the agency is too understaffed to do anything about it. The Illinois Department of Insurance used to post complaint ratios of insurance companies to advise consumers of which insurance companies received the most complaints, but stopped doing that in 2020.
The Chicago Sun-Times recently did a study of Illinois Department of Insurance data and determined a small number of substandard insurance companies account for a large percentage of the customer complaints. The Sun-Times decided to analyze the raw data from the departments webpage themselves for the years 2021-2023 from the departments website. The study revealed that eight substandard insurance companies accounting for 5.28% of the of the passenger car liability insurance market accounted for an stunning 40% of the complaints filed. The study used a formula to compare companies. The complaint ratio was calculated by taking the number of complaints divided by the amount of premiums paid in millions of dollars. Below are the substandard insurance companies that received the most complaints:
- First Chicago Insurance of Bedford Park ranked highest in complaints in Illinois in 2023 with 180 complaints according to the Sun-Times article, with the highest complaint ratio of 5.14 which was 39 times higher than State Farm.
- The other substandard companies that rated high in the number of complaints were United Equitable Insurance, American Heartland, American Alliance, American Freedom Insurance, Direct Auto Insurance, Safeway Insurance and Founders Insurance.
The personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. have abundant experience dealing with substandard insurance companies. Many personal injury firms are reluctant to take cases where the defendant was covered by these substandard companies since attorneys know that these companies will not make a fair offer or may not make an offer at all to settle the case requiring the attorney to file a lawsuit and to litigate the matter in court which requires substantially more time and work. Personal injury lawyers are restricted by how many cases they can handle in litigation since they have only so much time. This fact leads to injustices. For example, an Uber driver who is insured with a substandard insurance company may have his car badly damaged by a hit and run driver while his car is parked in front of his house and cannot be driven. This occurrence is a devastating tragedy for the Uber driver since he needs his car to earn a living. The substandard insurance company drags its feet in paying the for the car. No attorney wants to take the case since the damages are relativity small and there were no personal injuries. Like the Uber driver, the attorney has to make a living too and an attorney cannot invest time in a case where he or she cannot make money. The Uber driver makes a complaint with the Illinois Department of Insurance who states that they do not have adequate staffing and there is nothing they can do. On top of that, the Uber driver still has to make payments on the car he cannot drive. Unfortunately, in Illinois, this scenario is not uncommon.
When shopping for an insurance company it is important to do your research. The substandard insurance companies generally have many one star reviews. If you can pay a little extra and there is nothing in your driving record to preclude you, its best to stick with the big name insurance companies like GEICO, Progressive, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, AAA and State Farm. If for some reason, such as you have a bad driving record, and you are limited to buying insurance from a substandard insurance company it is wise to do the following:
- On the insurance policy application, be sure to disclose all the information that is asked. Some substandard insurance companies may deny a claim and cancel the policy because the insured failed to disclose a previous accident or previous tickets. Additionally, make sure all household members who will be using the car are listed. If there are younger drivers in the household and they will be using the car, make sure they are listed on the policy, otherwise they may be excluded from coverage. List all household members on the policy even if they cannot drive.
- Read the insurance policy carefully. Make sure it is clear who in the policy is covered and who is excluded. Make sure that you are clear on the requirements on making a claim.
- If you are in an accident, report it the the insurance company immediately. Some insurance companies require that hit & run accidents be reported with in 24 hours and for other claims to be reported within 30 days. After an accident, be sure to make a police report immediately and then immediately call your insurance and be absolutely clear on what steps need to be taken to make a claim. Some companies require policy holders make a written claim within 30 days of the accident otherwise they will deny coverage. It is extremely important that you know the reporting requirements for your company to avoid being left with no coverage for failure to comply with the fine print of the policy.
If you are in a crash and injured by a driver who is covered by a substandard insurance company it is important to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer immediately. The personal injury lawyer will be familiar with the claim requirements of the various substandard insurance companies and will make sure all reporting requirements are complied with. Call the experienced personal injury lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. for a free consultation if you been injured in an accident in Cook County.