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I'm hopping perturbed at Nationwide Insurance and I'll tell you why:

I recently bought a new used 1996 Ford Taurus economy car at the Canton, Ohio municipal auction on July 9th 2008. It turned out to be an undercover cop car which my ten year old boy thought was pretty cool. I have to admit I did too.

I'm a pretty conservative type and have only financed one car throughout my entire adult life and that was in my single days. I just don't like paying interest. Frankly I'd rather use the money I save for family or going out for Chinese or sushi ;)

While almost all of the '96 Tauras's which are now used by the city of Canton Ohio were selling for $1500 or more at the auction and were lined up as the first 30 or so cars out of 177 according to the auctioneer, I managed to get one for only $650. I think because mine was the only one painted gold as opposed to the standard white governments seem to prefer, and it wasn't announced as being a city car.

Well as to be expected, buying a car at an auction one can expect something to be wrong. After I got my 30 day tag, I promptly noticed that it made a humming noise between about 30 miles per hour and 56 mph so I took it to get aligned. The mechanic told me it wasn't alignment at all but rather the bearings were bad and in the cars from around '96 to date the whole wheel hub had to be replaced and gave me a quote of $1000.

So I have a mechanic friend in Canton who said he'd do it for $150 labor if I bought all the parts. Well, I saw savings and scheduled a weekend that would be good for us both and that was the weekend of the 21st of July.

Upon replacing the wheel hubs he discovered that the right ball joint was also bad and he explained to me that if that came off, the tire could come off and be potentially deadly. So upon discussing this with my business manager and because I didn't wish to have my wife and children's potential death on my mind, I told him to replace anything he had to make the car safe for the road and my family. He said he'd like an additional $150 in labor since it required a lot more work. The total for the repairs was abut $300 in labor and $600 or so in parts from two different AutoZone's.

He replaced both wheel hubs, both ball joints, and a tie rod. One of the new tie rods is still in my trunk as he didn't have time to finish that weekend.

Upon driving back from Canton, Ohio to my home in Ravenna... no humming noise... Yippee.. I couldn't have been happier!

On the 21st of July I worked a few hours and in the late afternoon I decided to take my wife Rose and 2 year old daughter Shoshanna visit my daughter Jean and grandchildren largely to show my wife first hand that the car didn't make a noise any more when it reached 30 mph. Well, in true form, I didn't call my daughter to see if she was home until I was on the road so I decided to show my wife a back road scenic route to Streestboro, Ohio for when she might take a shopping adventure.

Upon traveling West on Ravenna road just past Mogadore reservoir I came upon an S-curve with a lot going on. Just past the first curve there is an railroad underpass then the second curve. Just after the second curve is a bridge and o the left is the Akron, Ohio water works. This is where the accident occurred.

Upon slowing down to 25-35 mph upon rounding the first curve and just starting the second curve, I saw a large pickup truck heading straight for me in my lane. My wife started to yell "What the Hell" but only getting the "What" out as I swerved to miss the truck when the impact occurred. Since there was a guardrail that came right up to the road I could only move right so far without going through the guardrail and landing in the Cuyahoga river. In any regard, thank G-d the truck swerved at the last moment but he still hit me with such an impact it threw my body with a great deal of force against the seat belt. The truck hit the car in the front drivers side quarter panel just missing the headlight which caused the door to be very difficult to open.

Upon reaching a complete stop as I heard both the car and truck tires squeal upon impact, I landed with the front of the car aimed toward the guardrail and the back toward the yellow line at about a 45 degree angle in my lane. At first I thought the truck driver was going to hit and run but he drove a little further and parked off the road in the middle of the two curves.  

Of course, I looked at my wife then my daughter to see if they were OK. I once saw a boy fly out of his seat beat hitting a window and breaking his nose due to the position his car was when it made impact and that was what went through my mind at that moment. My 2 year old daughter Shoshanna wasn't crying and I asked Rose is she was OK which she respond yes. Again, I thanked G-d that it appeared no one was hurt other than my sore shoulder. 

As I was trying to get out of the car the driver of the pickup truck walked up to my truck and said "what were you doing on my side of the road"? I knew instantly there would be a dispute and thought "what balls" this guy has! On second thought I came up with a lot of reasons why he'd try to say it was my fault with the potential of his insurance rising and the possibility of being cited being at the top. So I grabbed my cell and called 911!

Upon calling 911, I informed the dispatcher what just happened and that everyone was OK, and when they asked where it happened they said they had to transfer the call to the Franklin township police department aka Kent, Ohio PD. Upon telling the same story and that everyone was OK, they said they had to transfer me to the State Highway Patrol and once again I told the story and that everyone was OK. Damn as if I wasn't shaken up enough I had to repeat my story to every PD dispatcher in Portage County, Ohio!

I had asked the last dispatcher if I should move the car out of the road since traffic was starting to drive by and I was worried that with my wife and daughter in the baby seat that someone could hit the car since it was in the middle of the curve. The women dispatcher said if I though I could get it off the road it would be fine.

In relatively short order I saw a Portage County Sheriffs car, then a fire truck, then an ambulance, then... Dang, what a show! The Kent EMS and firemen confirmed with me that everyone was OK, then left. The Portage County Sheriff directed traffic until the State highway patrol officer arrived and then he left shortly thereafter.

The driver of the truck still maintained that I was in his lane upon the State Patrol officer asking "what had happened" and he took his statement first while I stood nearby. The two of them walked up to where the tire parks were and the Patrol officer looked the scene over. He pointed out at one of the tire tracks that this was the trucks right rear tire and walked a few feet and said he's where the impact occurred pointing left of the other drivers left of center. The other driver said " that must of been my left rear tire" to which the office walked back a few feet and said come here and look and pointed straight ahead. The patrol officer then said "if that was your left rear tire you'd have hit that sign" to which the other driver said "I sure came close to it". 

At that point I looked toward the sign which was off the road about 4 feet just after the guardrail ended on the East bound other drivers side of the road. I noticed the area had not been mowed by the highway maintenance department in some time as the weeds were a couple of feet high. I thought to myself that the officer must be laughing because there were no tire tracks or weeds depressed by tires anywhere nearby the sign. Just as that thought when through my mind the officer said I don't see it that way and am citing you (the other driver) for being left of center to which the other driver finally retorted "I guess it could have happened that way".

The officer then had us exchange insurance company information while he started writing his report. Upon the exchange he asked me if I thought I could drive the car which I said I did move it in reverse a few feet and didn't hear any metal or friction noises and thought it might be OK. I also mentioned that I have a daughter that lives nearby in Brady Lake, Ohio about a mile away. He said if I had any trouble to telephone the number on the back of the insurance exchange form and he'd see that we got home.

My daughter Jean telephoned me in the midst of the EMS arrival and I told her that I'd call back and would visit after everything was over. SO at that point I drove directly to her house to show her my new "used used" car. On the way to Jeans house we noticed a thumping noise in the front of the car and I commented that we just experienced the most expensive 50 miles of car maintenance in my life.

After visiting with Jean, her husband Jason and my grandchildren, for a few minutes we went straight to our home in Ravenna some three mile away.

On the 22nd I telephoned the Nationwide agent listed on the Insurance exchange form and damn the number was wrong. I took a look at the phone to verify I dialed the right number and it matched one on the form. I thought I might have been screwed by the other driver and maybe he wasn't insured.

On the 23rd, My wife and I decided to look up in the phone book what the correct Nationwide agent phone number and to call in case to verify that there was or wasn't insurance coverage. It turned out the last two numbers of the phone was reversed and the thought that went through my mind upon discovery was I guess the other guy was shaken up a little too from the impact an that it was probably an honest error.

Upon reaching the local Nationwide agent in Kent, Ohio I was informed that a claim was already started and I should hear from an adjuster by friday.

Sure enough, a female adjuster telephoned me and asked me for a statement. At the start of the statement she said it may be recorded and I said that was fine and proceeded to tell the story above the best I could and to answer any questions she asked. Upon the end of the interview I was then told that they had approved the claim and I would hear from another Claims adjuster soon.

Sure enough, what sounded like an older gentleman telephoned me and went on to tell me the process of getting my car fixed, gave me a choice of Nationwide "Blue ribbon" body repair shops. One of them being a local Ford car dealer known as Klaben Ford. Humm, the fact that one of their Blue ribbon repair shops was a Ford dealer sounded pretty good to me. He also explain  to me the process of getting a car rental and said that it was basically up to Klaben to determine if the car was drivable and if it was I'd schedule an appointment to get my car fixed. I called Klaben Ford minutes after I got off the phone and talked to a man named Scott who said I could come down after his lunch break around 1 pm that same day to look at the car.

So off to the body shop we go... Well, I actually went to the Klaben new car dealer service department on the West side of Kent, Ohio who told me where I needed to go was on the East side of Kent. Oh well, what's a few extra miles in these days off record gas prices? Besides, it was an opportunity to stop at Arbys in Kent on the way to the Klaben building we were supposed to be heading to.

Upon leaving Arby's and turning right on Main street aka Route 59 we noticed that not only was the car thumping getting louder, but a loud metal sounding screach (sp) noise was really obvious.

Once we arrived at the Klaben Auto Body shop on East Main street, we explained the whole story to Steve and further pointed out what we experienced at Arbys and also that Nationwide said it was the body shops call as to if we'd qualify for a rental with the car being unsafe for the road. I explained that I had just got through spending what I felt was a lot of money to get the car safe for my wife and 2 year old daughter and picked up my car the very day with less than 50 miles before I was hit head on! 

Steve took a bunch of pictures and after spending what seemed like an hour, he said we qualified for a car rental and would contact Enterprise car rentals where Nationwide had arrangements for such problems. He then called Enterprise to send someone over to pick us up and he further explained that it could be about two weeks before our car would be finished and gave me a copy of the $1,800 quote it'll cost Nationwide for repairs.

About 15 minutes later we were picked up by the Enterprise Car rental company and drove us to their offices again on the West side of Kent. After about 15-30 minutes we were finished with the car rental paperwork and back on our way home in a new 2008 Chrylser 300. It was now around 4 pm.

So far, I was impressed that it seemed Nationwide was really "on my side" and I wasn't even a client of theirs. But everything was about to turn South .

Within a couple of days I was telephoned by the Nationwide insurance adjuster who told me that they had another Nationwide Insurance adjuster look my car over at the body shop who determined it was total loss. He then basically explained that a total loss was determined when the cost of repairs would exceed the value of the car. I explain to him that I was concerned what value they would arrive at and that I just finished repairing all the potentially deadly repairs worth several hundred dollars that I borrowed from my company not more than 50 miles of my car being hit head on by their client. He said to me that they would take that into account and could probably help me with those car repair expenses.

Again, a Nationwide Insurance adjuster would be back in touch with me soon with a settlement offer and no money or values were discussed so far other than my telling him my insurance company Progressive had the car valued at about $2695.

So at this point we start researching the values of what a 1996 Ford Taurus is supposed to be and preparing to shop for a new used car....

The NADA.com site says it can be worth as much as $3,200.

The Kelley Blue Book value suggests up to $2,695.

Progressive Insurance now has it within my web account at $2,595.

 

Not overly happy about the time I have to take away from projects I'm consulting which I've already found myself behind schedule, on to shop for a car, I proceeded to drive around our beautiful Portage County, Ohio in search of used car lots. After all, we might as well use the what's been defined to us as a luxury rental upgrade.  Just maybe we'd find another Ford taurus gas saving economy car and return the gas guzzling luxury car rental. Even though the rental was at the expense of Nationwide Insurance, we still had to pay for the gas... Gee whiz, one trip to a Deerfield Ohio car lot and a couple along the route cost my family $20.00 in petrol that day alone :(

My first shock and lesson is that there is a big difference between the buy here, pay here places and a old fashioned traditional used car lot! The buy here places are expensive, very expensive... to the point one could almost buy a mercedes at the prices they want monthly. The used car lots have much better pricing, but go figure almost all the economy cars are running around $3,200 or more. We did see a couple lower, but unfortunately they were older than our '96 model. I found one at $2695.

This past Saturday I received a telephone call from yet another Nationwide Insurance adjuster. This time it was a women and she informed me that they determined the value to be only $1,506.75 to which I retorted I thought they were supposed to give me a replacement value! I asked her how that value as arrived and she said that basically The Kelley Blue Book doesn't take into account where the car is from and that my car had previous damage to the left front quarter panel, the rear bumper, and the right heated rear view mirror. I proceeded to argue that wouldn't the fact that the car had previous repairs mean that it was maintained well and should hold it's value. No sir, that's not how it works! 

I went on to express my dis-satisfaction with the amount and that I haven't found a car yet after driving in the car rental at their expense. She said that she was able to find a half dozen Ford Tauruses within the State of Ohio available for that price in her records. I asked if Nationwide expected me to drive to Cincinnati or all over the state to look at one or more of the six, being sarcastic. Would Nationwide find a Ford Taurus for me at the values they are suggesting and drive it to my house as I've already been inconvenienced by their client hitting me. No sir, but we can give you the name of a third party service that will shop for one for you. So she gave me the name of XXXXx.com and the standard disclaimer that they weren't associated with Nationwide Insurance but only provided a service at no charge to me. 

I also explained that I just gave a 1989 Chevy Van to a friend who took a couple of parts off like the catalitic converter and sold them for about $100 then he took the van and had it weighed in for scrape and got a whopping $638 for it and the bottom line was he just scrapped a van and got about $750. Now I recognize that a van is heavier than a car, but chances are Nationwide insurance will scrap my car and with the prices for scrap at an all time high, they'll recover a chunk of what they are willing to give me from my own assets, the car itself! She mentioned to me that I could apply for a scrap buyout bid or something to that effect which would cost me $200 to be deducted from any settlement.

I went on to express that maybe I should get an attorney, but I thought it was ridiculous to do so over the $1,000 difference, and she said if I did that I'd have my legal counsel contact her and all further direct negotiations with me would cease. Duh, as if I didn't know how the system worked and needed to hear that.

She then told me that she could only authorize the rental until tuesday Aug 5th 2008. About a half an hour later Enterprise car rental telephoned to say Nationwide insurance will only underwrite the use of the rental until tuesday and that if I wanted if after 6 pm tuesday, It'll be at my expense.

I further argued that I made repairs to my car not more than 50 miles before their client hit and damaged my car and spent a lot of money and that the previous Nationwide Insurance claims adjuster guy I talked with said that would be taken into consideration! At that point she asked if could I prove it with receipts and I retorted yes I had to borrow the money from my company and put it all on the company credit cards. She said I could fax her the receipt evidence and that may be able to help me with it. I've heard that twice so far from two different claims adjusters and it is becoming clear that:

I then went directly to my office and faxed all of the receipts for the car work I had already researched and had prepared.

Later that friday afternoon I received a call from the car hunting place who explained that they could find me a '96 Ford Taurus within a 750 mile radius of my home and that Nationwide insurance would work with them financially. He also explained they didn't work on sat and sundays and I should expect a list of available cars to approve. They indeed would bring it to my home and I'd write them a check for the cost. I explained I haven't agreed to a settlement because they said the car value was less than my evidence ad furthermore they are supposed to take into account the investment of my car repairs which took place 50 miles of the incident. He said they would work with me and I should start seeing a list in my email by monday afternoon.

Tuesday comes too soon! I've found myself running around doing last minute laundry, and  shopping for diapers since it now appears I may be without a car for the un-forseeable future! About 4 pm Tuesday the 5th of August I take the car back to the Enterprise Car Rental lot where they give me a copy if the $368 car rental and explained that Nationwide Insurance was paying the bill and within a few minutes was finished. Upon asking if they could give me a ride home since I'm now without a car, I was asked if I could have someone pick me up. When I said all my friends are at their day jobs she aid she could take me to Walmart between Kent and Ravenna and that their company policy didn't permit them to drive out of town to take people home. I told the girl that was fine and I might be able to catch a ride with the bus from Walmart to return home in Ravenna. So she gave me a ride from the West side of Kent to the Walmart on the East side of Kent and dropped me off at the bus station.

It occurred to me while riding the bus home that I haven't been on a bus since 1989! I suppose I should be grateful for the adventure, but I've now concluded:

So now I'm at home waiting for my VA Clinic appointment in a month for them to look at my shoulder to help answer why it is still sore after a couple of weeks?

I still haven't heard anything back from the auto search company either by phone or my personal email account and it's now wednesday August 6th 2008.

I'm now in a position that I have to hire a ride to go anywhere at all including appointments, new job or client interviews, getting baby diapers, or for anything at all! I can't visit my friends, buy food, get my shoulder checked out or anything at all without either paying for transportation or inconveniencing whomever for a ride. We don't even have a taxi service in my small Northeast Ohio community.

The bottom line is I now feel even more victimized by Nationwide insurance than I did by their client starting out to deny that he hit me until the police office cited him and I heard him say "I guess it could have happened that way"! 

Hopefully, this document and the several hours (8 am - 2 pm) it took me to prepare will help serve others that may find themselves in my position and for me some legal course of action because it is obvious that trying to work directly with the Insurance company wasn't a wise choice because:

 

Nationwide gave me a check for $1444.44 after much arguement  about the $1005 that was still being deducted from my checking account at the time of the accident for my Taurus front end repairs.

 

I was also paid $750 to release liability of any potential medical or personal injury.

 

So off the th Canton auction again. This time I wasn't so fortunate to find another cool undercover cop car, I did get a great deal on a '99 Olds silhouette van for $450 and I was starting to get happier at the Nationwie settlements as it appared I'd have some money left over for some minor repairs. The olds silhouette was a very clean vehicle and even had a DVD player behind the driver for the kids.

 

Well, I got about a month of driving out of it when coming back from Cleveland, Ohio the darn thing just died. Fortunately I was able to glide to the side of the expressway. I learned from the mechinic that the engine had been replaced by a former owner and instead of gaskets throughout the engine, tar was used. Geez, my luck. It was suggested that the body was in great enough condition thatreplacing the engine is probably a good idea.

 

So the verdict is. The engine replacement is about $1500. the engine itself we found at a junkyard after months of searching for $500 (a new engien was over $2,000) and the towing bill was $89. and ... needless to say all the money I got for the Taurus is gone. I've been without a vehicle that worked reliably for most of a year.Thank G-d for my loving father who loaned me his car. I hope to have the Olds back soon, but the whole experience has been an adventure to say the least.

 

The moral of my story and what did I learn:

 

If I had to go through it again, regardless of the value of my vehicle, I'd highly recommend:

 

Seek out legal counsel and get a Lawyer!

My regret was having the logic the car was worth less than a lawyer and litigation would cost (I once was involved in litigation that cost $28,000 to get to the courthouse lawn after about two years only to make a settlement equating to a small portion of what I felt I was able to prove was owed me. On yea, I agreed I'd say it was a satisfactory settlement if I ever discussed it :D Well, the fact is I became a competitor of the company that put me in a position forcing me to sue and indeed I was satisfied with that monetary value alone, by the time it got to court (That company since ceased doing business as normal) - LOL

 

Chances are, if you find yourself victim of a car accident, Nationwide Insurance Ain't on Your Side!