careful, you might be setting the bar a little high LOL.

I am with Pem Bridge, which is AllState.
I do have one experience to share with everyone.
A month ago my neighbour backed into the side of my car. I went out of my way to visit a few shops and get quotes. THere was a thread here about me encounter.
All shops, including the one recommended by AllState stated that the door needs to be replaced.
To make long story short, the claim was processed and I was told by the shop that AllState will only authorize the door repair. In addition they won't pay for blending of adjacent body panels, which is part of proper repair.
I tried to explain that I had independent shops assess the damage recommending door replacement, including the shop recommended by AllState.
They absolutely refused, and told me that they will do anything to make me happy… .
Anyway, the door was fixed, but it came out miss shaped, and wrinkled.
I complained, the assessor came and right away said that the door needs to be replaced. This is the same guy that refused to authorize replacement on the first try. He claimed that the body shop should have stopped the work once they realized the door could not be fixed right….that’s what everyone stated from the beginning.
Anyway, the door ended up being replaced the second time around, but again not blended with the adjacent body panels.
I was told that this is not the first time this has occurred….
AllState might be cheap, but you get what you pay for.

Yes, but here's a story that goes to the nature of what you put up with. I don't know your personal way of dealing with the company you were with, Jakub, but here's my experience.

I had my silver Talon backed into. I took it to CarStar, and they said "Oh, about $1800 to fix it". I was with TD Insurance at the time, so I called them and expressed my concern at having them paint a silver car, as the colour is tough to match. TD told me that I should make it clear to the dealer that I would not take the car back, or have TD pay them, until I was happy.

The guy requotes for $3400 (doesn't matter to me at all, I'm not paying) and blends the paint like you wouldn't believe. All because I said "Look, I will make sure you're not paid until I'm happy and I talked to the Insurance company ahead of time".

The company that put that door in didn't do a good enough job, and I'm not sure you should have settled. You should have called AllState and said that you were unhappy with the service and don't feel your car is complete until that door looks right. Then again, if you felt it was you vs. the Insurance Company (due to poor customer service), you may not have felt you had the chance to do so. But we'll have to hear what Grant thinks about this issue.

There is more to the story, I tried to keep it short.
The first time around the company that fixed the car both times had the door onsite ready to be put on and the work order included paint blending. The insurance company sent out an assessor onsite, before the replacement was authorized. He concluded that the replacement is not necessary, same as the blending. At this point the shop called me to inform me about the changes. I went ahead and called the adjustor. I spent almost two hours pleading and trying to explain politely that this is against what was recommended by reputable shops. You should have heard the bs arguments this guy was feeding me…insinuating that I had prearranged the delivery of doors to the shop ahead of time. I asked the assesor why he would not authorize blending, to which he responded "we are not trying to make your car better".
The discussion was hopeless….they clearly do not care about customer satisfaction, I do understand why.

This is the reason:
I am not the only victim here, the shop, being the recommended by insurance had to eat the rental cost as well as the first repair cost, even though it was the insurance that forced them to perform inadequate repair.
As a result, the insurance company did not lose money by attempting to cheap out on the repair, it was the shop that paid for it. Unfortunately, they have to take it, if they want to receive more business.

I have been insured for more than 20 years, with a few companies, and a few claims under my belt. This is the very first time I had to deal with such nonsense.

With many other things in life, it all comes down to the individual.

You can't blame the company that person is working for really, but that person directly.

If they move to another company then that level of BS will continue on there.

Hopefully that SOB isn't at Allstate any longer.

I understand that, but unfortunately this is not the case. There were a few people involved here, not a single person. Initially, the assessor came to inspect the car with his boss, and they had made the decision not to blend and replace the door. In addition, I had been dealing with the adjustor.
Let’s face it, maximizing profits means reducing overhead.
.

Insurance eh? Hmmmm... I've been with Belair for about 8 years now with discounts coming out of my a$$! Currently paying 180/month with a GSX and a GS (not driving). Mind you, I'm not currently "living" in the GTA.

I'd be interested to see where this goes though. I'll be keeping an eye out.

And I did notice that ~3% increase last renewal... thought it was complete and total BS. They're already screwing us so why do we have to pay more when we've never put a claim through and have a clean record?

Do they know about your mods Johnny? Or do they think your car is stock?

Thanks for more of the story, Jakub.

When the Insurance company will override the suggestions of reputable car repair companies (that they themselves recommend) to save a buck, then it's time to GTFO.

I wonder if dealing with Grant would help with the situation, or if in 6 months, he'll find his hands tied too.

This sucks, I can't login from work. Every time I try, it just gives me the same login screen so I can't reply to PMs or post.

Please email me at gredfern@allstate.ca for the quickest response, thank you!

Sorry to hear about your claim experience, Jakub.

Pembridge is under the Allstate umbrella, you are correct but they do have their own claims handling division. It's good that they eventually saw it your way and paid for the second door but it is unfortunate that they did not authorize the blending.

Since every claim is highly unique, there's no rule of thumb that applies here. The only thing I can say is that if you feel that something the insurance company is wrong, don't be afraid to fight back and voice that opinion.

There are many avenues through www.fsco.ca to voice your disapprovement of the way you have been treated.

Best of luck getting it sorted, I know that an experience like this can leave a bad taste in your mouth sometimes.

Would love to see if I can help you out Johnny.If you like, you can always send me an email to gredfern@allstate.ca and I can reply back with what I would need for a quote or just keep up with the thread as it progresses if you like.

My name is google-able if you are looking for more reviews of my service over the years.

I think you should know by now Michael that I'm never too busy for clients (or non clients and you just have a question as many of you know as well).

I've gone to bat for so many of my clients against SF I've actually gotten myself in trouble a few times but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I truly treat each policy like it was my own and use every tool I have to keep premiums reasonable even when it is beyond my control.

I remember the damage. Door was repairable from the pics you sent me. Regardless The shop should have dealt with the insurance company, not you.

I like to think I'm capable of breaking any service bar.

Mike - They know the car is modded but it's never been in for an inspection nor have they asked me for specifics. I for nailed by a piece of scaffolding that fell off a truck a couple months ago and they called, still didn't inquire. As for the GS, it's also modded but nothing in comparison to the GSX. Funny thing is, when I owned a '97 cavalier they wanted that in ASAP for an inspection "People in your age group usually modify these vehicles, we just need to see what is done to it." they said. lmfao!

Grant - I might take you up on that. Need to make some changes to my existing policy and we'll see what happens there.

Hey Johnny, just got your email today. I'm in the office tomorrow (Saturday) as well so I can take a look at your situation then and let you know what I can do.

Nice to see so many people from the board contact me!

There's a few nice DSMs on Allstate's books now

Thanks for the awesome service Grant!

Guys, Grant is the real deal.

Inquire within!

That doesn't GUARANTEE you the best rates in town, but very competitive and possibly the best price in town with the BEST care.

No nonsense here.

Cheers man!

I'm referring everyone I know over to you!

Oh I got renter's insurance with Grant as well.

All together cheaper than just my previous auto policy by itself.

You were an absolute pleasure to deal with. I found every little way possible to get your rate down as low as I could while still giving you maximum protection on that nice newly refreshed DSM you own.

I sincerely appreciate the referrals, my entire business is built on them as I don't believe in cold-calling for insurance.

Cheers Michael!

Couldn't have said it any better then Mike, Grant is an awesome guy to deal with.

I happily made the switch when I learned that Grant was moving to All State.

Thanks Grant!

Great to see so many familiar faces (or email addresses at least).

Reception has been amazing so far, I'm all caught up on my backlog of quotes and looking to quote some of your beaters for the impending winter season.

Remember if you have two cars, you can suspend the coverage of one vehicle (and pay a minimal fee for fire/theft only coverage) while you drive one or the other. A lot of people aren't aware of this and are under the impression you either have to have all coverages on a car or none at all. This could potentially save people thousands of dollars who have coverage on all vehicles year round.

For anyone that I haven't gotten back to, please send again.

Cheers,

Grant

An update, this is not over yet. I was going through my credit cart statement recently, and noticed a $400 charge applied to my balance by the car rental company. Long story short, the AllState refuses to cover the rental charges during the first repair, and so does the shop. Well, that leaves me...that's the reason for the charge.
Now, naturally I've contacted the shop, the service rep I dealt with is no longer employed. I contacted the insurance, the adjustor is also no longer employed as well....the plot thickens.

Alredy pass your contact info to my people.

Thanks for taking care of me Grant.

-Manuel

So it's OFFICIAL.

I'm NOW covered by All-State with the help of Mr. Redfern.

I didn't tell you this over the phone or by email Grant, but you just SAVED me $2,004 a YEAR!!!! NO JOKE!

I was being SCAMMED by my last insurance broker/agent (won't mention names) but it's clear to me now.

Grant, I can't thank you enough for all your help and efforts with getting these policies in place. You sir are a diamond in the rough.

For everyone reading this post, if you havn't got in touch with Grant about switching companies, you're an idiot! I'm not saying he can save you as much money as he did for me but HOLY frack! This guy is looking out for us in the best way possible. This is the bandwagon to be on. Especially if it's saving you a TON of cash that could go towards your car, house or your wife/s.

Thanks again Grant, I look forward to this new business relationship and so will many of my future clients.

Truly grateful for all the positive comments.

I really do put a lot of effort into each policy trying to understand what coverage would work best with each situation so it means a lot to hear that time and effort is appreciated.

This board has been amazing to me over the years and I really owe it, and its members a lot.