Finally had a resolution to this, so I thought I would post how it turned out. Before that, however, I should relate what I think about how to approach an insurance claim and my experience with State Farm Insurance.
State Farm was painful to deal with. Initially (right after the accident) I was proactive and tried to do everything I could to move things forward. When I would call, they acted like they had never seen my file or would need to open up the file to see where things stood. In each case, I had to poke them to move forward. This very quickly made things worse as I felt like they were unresponsive.
When they finally did get around to making me an offer for my bike, they used an outside firm who called two dealers, one in Spokane and one in the Tri-Cities Washington. They gave them a price for an “Average” bike of the same year (1999) and mileage (~30K). I had argued all along my bike was not average but rather near perfect with some upgrades. They ignored that and said prove it.
At this point my response to their unresponsiveness and their “I will tell you how it is going to be.” attitude was to lose my temper. Big mistake, as some of the forum members have said—especially since we were only about $600 apart.
I told them I did not have to live with their rules, I could take their insured to court and that was my intention. They said fine, that’s your option. Frankly, I was astounded that they would put their customer through that for $600. My logic here, as stated earlier was that if I had to prove something, why wouldn’t I do it to an unbiased judge rather than State Farm, who was clearly biased.
This really is flawed logic for at least two reasons. First, taking things to court is far more work and will require far more documentation and proof. Second, why put the other driver through that if it isn’t necessary. Sure, they were responsible, but they didn’t do it on purpose.
FYI, I was working with a particular adjuster at this point who I felt was condescending. I never talked with this adjuster again and began to interact with a different adjuster. Perhaps they have a strategy of switching when they get nowhere with someone. Whatever the case, the second adjuster was much better to work with.
At that point, I just spent the winter cooling off (in more ways than one). I couldn’t ride and needed to shop for another bike. Would have been nice to have the money but I could live without it for the time being. They didn’t call me and I didn’t call them for months.
I finally sent them an email saying I would like to get the issue resolved. It took them two weeks to call me back. When they did, the claims adjuster left a message. I called him back within a couple of days and had to leave him a message again. It took him another 10+ days to get back to me and leave another message. By now you are getting the picture here – State Farm is slooooooooow to respond! We went round and round for another couple of weeks and finally connected.
Bottom line, the adjuster said they had their appraisal and could not just give me more money unless I were to show them why. In fairness, the original adjuster did communicate the same thing, just with a more condescending and “this is how it’s going to be” tone. Bottom line, I sent them some Craig’s List ads, they adjusted the price to above what I was asking for and settled.
State Farm was true to the end. After we agreed on the phone, the adjuster indicated that he would send a message to let me know where to pickup the check. He didn’t. I had to call around and find a local agent that could tell me the day I was supposed to settle. When I got to their office, the receptionist was on the phone…and on the phone…and on the phone. This probably when on for 15 minutes with me pacing around before she finally got off and asked me what I needed. All I can say is WOW! How these people stay in business is beyond me. The local agents must have to compensate and shield their customers from this or they wouldn’t have any customers at all.
My advice to those of you unfortunate enough to go through this is to:
1) Stay calm, even if you are mad as a hornet. As prior posters have said, getting mad didn’t accomplish a thing.
2) Document things well. Craig’s list saved me here. I started capturing ad images right after the accident that showed people asking far more than State Farm’s low-ball offer.
3) Complain early and often to everyone who will listen (state insurance commission, adjusters…). I am not sure how much this helps, but it can’t hurt.
4) Never consider buying State Farm insurance.
