Primmum Auto Insurance
Resolving unfair stolen vehicle insurance offers:
We had our Honda Odyssey stolen in Nov. 2009. I was extremely disappointed by Primmum Auto Insurance, (TD Insurance), totally unfair offer. They started at $30,500. Replacement for a similar used vehicle was $40k. Why must the consumer battle it out just to get paid fair replacement cost. Hopefully this bad press will make them think twice.
After many calls to them, they raised their offer to $33k. They wouldn’t budge.
Finally I called the Insurance ombudsmen, who referred me to the Primmum Auto Insurance, (TD Insurance) ombudsmen. I thought here we go again, but was pleasantly surprised by their response. I e-mailed them my fair value comparison spreadsheet. 24 hours later they agreed to $40k, and sent me a chq.
One of many underhanded strategies employed by the ins. co’s third party fair value evaluator was comparing my car to recent similar sales and offers that were mostly US imports. Honda Cda doesn’t honour warranties on US imports. One can buy a third party warranty for between $1,500- $2,500 extra. This extra cost wasn’t being calculated in the “fair value”.
When I pointed this out to the Primmum Auto Insurance, (TD Insurance) I was told they “don’t insure warranties”. What a scam! All I wanted was a bruised apple for my stolen “bruised apple”.
We were fortunate to have two vehicles and didn’t have to rush to settle. The insurance company was in no rush to resolve this. They said my only other avenue was to get a lawyer. If it happens to you, give them your final offer and if it’s not accepted, call the insurance ombudsmen.
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
July 13th, 2011 at 4:13 am
Europcar car rental company in UK should be investigated by human resources for racism, staff bullying and unfair employee contract.
October 26th, 2011 at 1:18 am
Most vehicle policies, even for brand new vehicles, are actual cash value only. This would take depreciation into account when paying out on a vehicle. If you want replacement coverage on your vehicle this often costs more.
It is always a good idea to review your actual policy wordings to be aware of what your policy stipulates for coverage and time to complete claim settlements.
January 16th, 2015 at 9:01 pm
Do yourself a favor and stay away from these guys.
I made a mistake and had a payment bounce (my own fault) which there was a $25 fee for, fair enough. The re-process came out on a date that we had not agreed on, being returned again and creating another NSF fee.
When speaking with a lady, I asked if it would be a problem for the company to ‘grace’ me the second $25 fee, and we could set up a date to clear everything up and get things back on track. She assured me that “That won’t be a problem. You’ve been a customer for a long time and have always paid on time, 25 dollars is no big deal. I’ll contact you once I’ve received an answer from head office.”
She did call back (the only one who did) and left a message, but no extension number in order for me to get a hold of her. So, I got in touch with a new rep who had no idea what I was talking about and re-explained the entire situation. He said he would “take it from here” and that he’d call me once he received word. He never called back.
So a third time I called back, new rep, explained the situation, to which a snappy gentleman responded unprofessionally with “Oh yeah, okay I can see this on the account now. Yeah we asked them and they’re not gonna do it.” Surprised, I tried to reason with him and said “So, they’re not going to reverse the second $25 fee?” He said no, they would not be reversing the fee and explained that if it happened again there would be further consequences. So, I cut my losses and asked which date the payment (with the two added fees) would be coming out. He gave me a date and we hung up.
The payment came out on that date, but not with the two added fees, so I got in touch with them again to get a new date. I also explained the entire negative experience to another new rep who had no idea (and by the sounds of it) didn’t care what I was talking about and said “I can have a manager call you if you want.” To which I said yes, please. She told me that because the managers are busy, they can’t give me an exact time, but it would be within the next 24-48 hours for sure. I was fine with that.
So here we are about 3 weeks later, of course no call from the manager, which at this point, doesn’t surprise me. This is a company that cares only about the monthly payments they’re taking out of your account. A company that after years of giving them thousands and thousands of dollars couldn’t give me a break on a $25 fee from a mix-up we had.
Not to mention they never keep their word on dates, times and promises. The customer service at Primmum Insurance is extremely terrible. For the service (or lack thereof) I’ve received from them, it wouldn’t surprise me if my file was labeled ‘chump’ and placed in the ‘don’t call back’ drawer. My advice, chose another company.
Yours truly,
Chump