GEICO review: Failure to cover insurance total loss payment

Subject: Claim #: [protected]-01 - 2nd Attempt with No Response

Hello,

I am writing this letter as a formal complaint and a call to action regarding the Claim#: [protected]-01 that Geico deemed as a total loss.

Date of Loss: 08/05/2023 03:00 PM. Geico accepted the auto repair shop that the emergency vehicles towed it to and agreed to their terms. Geico received an initial estimate and paid approximately 7,000 to Hail for their work.

This is where the ball was dropped by Geico and there was some failure of communication between Hail body shop and Geico.

The manager at Hails said that the normal process at that time would have been for Geico to come with cash to cover the bill and then the vehicle would be released to them. Our representative Colin told me over a three-way call with myself and Anugraha that Geico had paid on the Total Loss and that the shop was being difficult about the storage costs. He told me that Geico has dealt with that company in the past and they had also attempted to over charge them on those occasions. He told me he was giving up and he was bringing us a check for 12,000 for a 2022 Honda CRV valued at 26-28,000, and for us to go and try to bargain with the repair shop.

For one, that is totally unprofessional asking a client to go and confront a body shop that you are working with to argue the point that they were over charging Geico. That could have put us in jeopardy, as well as the shop owners. I’m an Air Force Veteran, and I worked in Third Party Liability. That is not the way claims are handled, and it is also not legal. For whatever reason, Geico failed to go and retrieve the vehicle after the payment was made, which is the routine way of doing things with that shop. Collin did not pay the claim and retrieve the vehicle, which is the cause of this entire issue. That is not our problem, nor should we be shorted for over 13,000 from the value of our vehicle because the body shop that Geico agreed to work with has high storage fees. Our vehicle is valued at 27,500, not 12,000. That is absurd and as I mentioned, also an illegal business practice.

We should not even be involved in this dispute of payment between Geico and Hail. Your company has lawyers in place to take care of these types of disagreements in the background, but the client should never have to wait or be offered a ridiculous and illegal settlement because the shop they work with on a regular basis is being difficult. Again, 27,500 is the value!

Another concern is that Colin, our assigned Geico rep, is at that location almost on a daily basis according to management. There is no plausible reason why he could have been going to a place where he is well aware of their storage fees on a daily basis and not completing our claim by having that vehicle removed. We are currently in limbo without a vehicle and will have to turn our rental in shortly. I am attaching the charges that Hail is saying they are due. It’s been over 2 months; this issue needs to be resolved soon! Also, resolved without involving us because the vehicle was deemed a Total Loss and should have been paid out at the current Kelley Blue Book and Carfax value. Any disputes about repair costs should have been taken care of privately and professionally between the auto repair shop Hail and Geico and not involve us having to go in and fight with repairmen in the name of Geico.

I obtained Collins supervisor's phone, and I called several times and also left a message. The repair shop Hail said their calls all also went unanswered. After being told about the encounter between Collin’s immediate supervisor Derrick Williams, and the repairmen, I felt the need to skip up in the chain of command and not even attempt to work with that individual to avoid almost certain conflict. The Hail representative said he was berated and belittled with things about his personal finances and even his type of shoes. I will not tolerate that type of disrespect.

This issue is not going to just go away on its own by ignoring phone calls, because I will go to the top of Geico, or as far as I can go, to include the media, online, and seeking a lawyer, that your company will have to ultimately pay for in the end. The facility says the rate is increasing by the day for storage fees and they are telling us to invoke an appraisal clause and also to sign a DocuSign they sent us that will release us from the charges that Geico is refusing to pay as stated in our policy for a Total Loss vehicle. I didn't want to sign anything with them yet because this entire process so far has not been handled unprofessionally, illegally, and not in accordance with Geico policy regulations.

If Hail was already known to be difficult and to overcharge, then Geico should have rejected them in the beginning as a non-participating body shop and had the vehicle taken to another repair facility. Geico chose to work with Hail and they are well aware of their charges and therefore should not have any gripe on completing this process. You've already assumed responsibility by partially paying them. It appears Colin,

Derrick Williams, or one of his other colleagues obviously dropped the ball here and if the payment was made and the vehicle recovered like Geico normally does with this company, we would have received a check in the full value of what our vehicle was worth. We are not going to cash the check sent until the remaining amount is forwarded. We will invoke every legal avenue we have to resolve this matter. I am very disappointed with Geico with the way this claim is being handled and the lack of professionalism and sense of urgency being shown by the representatives involved. I say again. Geico is required to pay the value of the car they deemed to be totaled. Their failure to pick up the vehicle and follow the normal process is not our responsibility and should be handled between the two parties and not involve the value of our car or our settlement.

I am in urgent need for someone from upper management, other than Collin or Derrick Williams, to please reach back out to me on this matter as soon as possible. We are not accepting 12,000 for a 26 - 28,000 valued vehicle because Geico representatives failed to complete their job by compensating the shop and retrieving the vehicle as they have done and continue to do with this body shop. This should be a disagreement I never even heard of and taken care of behind the scenes between the two, and my correct payout being made. We are beyond two months now and this is not acceptable by any means. I have faithfully paid my payments and Geico has failed to cover me as promised in the policy.