Case # 60000425006

This is a running chronology of my experience dealing with my insurance company, AMICA for settling an accident claim that happened on Nov 10th 2009. Over the last 5-6 years, I have assumed a very good impression of AMICA service but I would like to test this assumption to fire and see how well this assumption withstand a real life test.

Dec 3rd
1. I received the cheque of $216 in the mail as promised.
2. I hope to buy the car this weekend

Dec 2nd
1. I am not expecting anything today. I believe the cheque for $216 will come tomorrow

Dec 1st
1. AMICA rep called me and informed me that they have added additional $216.00 towards the value of my car. She informed that they have agreed to value my car at my suggested price of $4950 and then deducted $824 towards the previous damage and finally added $216 towards the less mileage that my car had.
2. I still believe that I was given as additional amount because of less transparent way to determine the price / mile driven less compared to similar other vehicles.
2. My calculation was entirely different following a different logic. I proposed $4950 as my car valuation minus $500 as my deductible. I wanted to get $4400 whereas AMICA finally paid me $4200.
3. I decided to take this offer as I saw some genuiness on part of AMICA rep to help me get a better offer than initially offered
4. My AMICA rep told me that the cheque of $216 will be sent to me by tomorrow.
5. She also agreed to extend my rental car through Dec 7th by when I thought I will be able to buy the new car.

Nov 30th
1. My AMICA rep called me today after receiving in the email that I decided to dispute the price. I had one strong reason to dispute - AMICA paid me 1.5 cents/mile for a total of around 43000 miles that they thought I drove less than a typical 10 years old car. It seems a typical 10 year old car in Fremont is driven around 137,000 miles whereas my car was driven only 94800 miles.
2. I asked for the rationale that they applied in arriving at 1.5 cents / mile for driving less. AMICA rep told me that it was based on an average of around 250 cars for the make and model fo my car. This sounds quite illogical to me as a sample of 250 cars from a pool of let's say a million car is statistically insignificant.
3. I also wanted to find the Median and Mode price in addition to the average. Average can give a very skewed value at times.
4. My AMICA rep finally told me that she will get this reviewed by someone else and get back to me the next day.
5. I am quite confident that the price that AMICA attaches to the mileage that is driven less compared to others is very subjective. People must contest this part in case you land up in my situation.

Nov 26th – Nov 29th
1. It is Thanksgiving day and long weekend ahea. I am trying to finalize my new car which is another tiring process.
2. I have also read the documents sent by AMICA rep carefully and am convinced that a lower valuation has been applied. I have sent an email to the AMICA rep suggesting to increase the valuation to $4950 which I think is fair and reasonable.
3. I have sent another email to AMICA rep asking her to allow me to re-rent a car for next 10 days during which I am certain I will get a new vehicle.

Nov 25th
1. Someone from a company called COPART (not sure if I spell this correct), a partner of AMICA came around 11:00 AM to pick up the car.
2. For sure this was heart aching as I was keeping the car for my daughter to drive when she becomes eligible. Having emotions and attachment to a non living thing was quite strange but we had lot of family memories with this car and that was making it very painful to part ways. Who says you cannot get attached to a non living object?


Nov 24th
1. I returned the rental car today to save some money for AMICA because the schools for my kids are closed this week for Thanksgiving. I have the second car and I can somehow manage with one car
2. I intend to again rent the car starting next Monday because I have not yet got the approval for my auto loan from NWF credit Union. Not sure if I can get any approval this week because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays.


Nov 23rd
1. AMICA rep called me up in the morning. I had sent her yesterday night my decision to sell off the car
2. She asked me to reove all my personal belonging from the car. We also agreed that COVAD, AMICA towing partner will come and pick up the car on Tuesday, Nov. 24th.
3. To my surprise, she told me that I can only get $3910 and some change for selling the damaged vechile. If you see I had earlier noted in point # 5 in my Nov 19th dispatch that the increase of $382 will be applied to both the options. However, the AMICA rep today denied that she ever comitted to such thing and gave me an explanation as to why she added $382 to only the option of owner retained vechile. This is where this whole things goes in a kind of "you said / me said". My whole objective of writing this experienc in my blog was to accurately capture the discussions so that we don't have any confusion at the end. I know it's difficult to fight an insurance company but I stick to my opinion that I was told that $383 would be added for both the options and that is what I noted in my dispatch of Nov 19th.
4. I have asked $4950 as the fair market valuation of my car. AMICA rep asked me documentation that shows the fair market price is $4950. I have very little resources to actually do that. The resources that AMICA has at its disposal is no match to my KBB.com listings. The AMICA rep also disputed my logic that a delaer serviced vechile commands more value. I argued back that if you go to a delaer trade-in and if you cannot show upto date maintenance record then the dealer will actually deduct some amount from your price. Why can't then AMICA honor my reasoning that a delaer serviced vechile needs a better price and AMICA has not even factored that in their pricing calculation.
5. I have a day to get back to AMICA with whatever document I can arrange to support my claim for a valuation of $4950. I don't think I will ever be able to come up with a supporting document but then a average consumer will ever be at disdvantage with the Insurance company. I would certainly contest this unfair valuation of my car where dealer serviced vechile have no advantage over others. Why then anyone needs to go to delar for servicing their vechile and keep it in top shape?

Nov 21st & Nov 22nd
1. This is weekend and I assume no one in AMICA will work and hence I will send my decision on Sunday night

Nov 20th :
1. I received the email about the car valuation and other related documents today in my email. I have gone through the document and I would like to contest the valuation for a TOTAL loss. It seems I need to get a reasonable valuation and not just based out on any statistics. AMICA claims to arrive at my car value based on a database that adds some 30,000 cars information annualy. How will you justify that I have religiously got the car serviced at Toyota Dealer at the recommended interval. How will you monetize such things and has AMICA considered such aspects. I doubt!
2. I intend to respond to the settlement offer on Monday.

Nov 19th :
1. AMICA representative called me in the morning and told me that she is increasing the value of the car by approximate $387. I don't know why she did that but was certainly helpful for me. I feel that my car should be valued around $4800. We will discuss this later
2. The AMICA partner who was supposed to deliver my damaged car called and told me that they will deliver the car in the evening.
3. The car was delivered in the evening and parked in my driveway as per the promise.
4. AMICA representative called up my wife at home in my absence and said that she is sending a cheque for approx. $3200 next day.
5. When I spoke to the AMICA rep; she clarified that she is sending that amount knowing that keeping the car was my first preference. I got her committed to say that in case I would go ahead and accept the loss as "TOTAL" then I will be paid approx $1000 more as promised earlier. she said - yes!However, I didn't expect AMICA to send me a cheque until I decide.
6. AMICA rep also asked me to call her back on Nov 25th if I intend to continue with my renatl car. Sounds a bit strange to me as I am entitled to keep the renatl car for 30 days. However, I chose to ignore this question for the time being.
7. So far so good..I have my damaged car in my drive way, I am getting around $3200 in my mail considering if I chose to keep the damaged car and have an option of getting additional $1000 in case I decide to sell the car back to AMICA for a "TOTAL" loss



Nov 18th :
1. AMICA rep, my adjuster from Amica called me around 3:30 PM. I was driving back from work and hence requested her if I can give her a call back within half an hour. AMICA rep told me that she will call it a day at 5:00 PM and hence suggested I should call her back ASAP.
2. I called her back at 4:30 PM as I have to meet someone else in between and apologized for calling a bit late.
3. AMICA rep shared with me that in case I give the car back to AMICA as part of the total loss then I will get around $3900 and some change. In case I would like to keep the car then I will be paid $2800 and some change. She also gave me the option of taking some more time to think about it and then decide.
4. I requested AMICA rep to allow me to take my car back home from the Pan American Collision Center so that the repair shop don’t end up charging for any storage fee as they got me to sign a bunch of papers while dropping off the car. I expected that AMICA rep may not allow me to take my car back to my home but to my surprise she said yes, I can take my car back.
5. After around 5 minutes of my previous call, I again got a call back from AMICA rep suggesting that I cannot take the car back home because the repair shop is citing some liability reasons and saying that the car is not drivable
6. I expected some push back from the repair shop. It was doing all it can to keep my car in their garage and then either charge me or the insurance company some storage fee for doing nothing but still making money or pressurize me to get the repair done in their facilities should I chose not to “Total” my car. This thought is just my assumption but I need some solid proof to refute my assumptions. Meanwhile, I suggest my readers to ensure that they keep their damaged car at their own house and go to garage only when you decide to salvage your car. This way you may avoid some pressure tactics from the repair shop and you will be freer to arrive at the right conclusion.
7. I told AMICA rep that I know the exact damage of my car and consider it perfectly safe to drive the car back whatever the repair shop may say. It’s very funny how in capitalist economy the repair shop is trying to exercise some right in the name of liability. While for everything else in America, you are liable for your action if you are an adult then why can’t I take my car back home when in fact I have driven it to the repair shop in the first place. The Insurance company should take a note of this and the readers should also decide appropriately, in case they get into any similar situation.
8. AMICA rep was nice enough to give me another option to get my car pick up from the repair shop and then deliver it our home. She also said that I will not get charged for this. In fact she also gave me the option to pick the car back from my home if I decide to “Total” the car and once again will not charge me. While I think I have some towing provision in my insurance coverage (and readers should keep this provision in their coverage) but I still give some credit to AMICA rep for arranging this alternate option.
9. AMICA rep asked me to call the repair shop back and give them my approval to help AMICA pick up my car and then deliver it to our house.
10. I gladly complied and called Pan American Collision and gave my approval for AMICA to pick up the car. Daniel from the Pan America Collision took my Driver’s license and then said that he will release the car tomorrow to AMICA.
11. I now have to decide between two options of whether I take the money from Insurance for the TOTAL loss or claim the vehicle as Salvage.
12. I have a week or so to decide. Meanwhile, I extended my rental car today for another 4-5 days. AMICA rep also confirmed to me that even if I remain under my overall limit of $900/month, AMICA will not allow me to keep the renatl car for more than 30 days. This sounds a bad policy to me or AMICA must guarantee the settlement within a given number of days for consumer like me to decide whether to buy a new car or an used car and also actually implement it within 30 days of taking the rental option after the accident.
13. I am waiting for some documents that AMICA rep promised me to send that gives an indication of how the valuation was done based on which I need to pick between the two options.


Nov 17th:
1. Called the adjuster, AMICA rep in the morning but could only leave a voice message
2. Called yet again the adjuster, AMICA rep in the afternoon but again could only leave a voice message
3. Finally got a call back from the adjuster but did not hear any regret of not returning my earlier calls; my image of Amica took the first beating
4. AMICA rep told me that the cost of repair is higher than the value of the vechile
5. She promised me to get back the next day with options for me to consider

Nov 16th:
1. Tried Calling the adjuster, AMICA rep but instead could only leave a voice message
2. She did not return my call

Nov 15th & Nov 14th
1. Being weekend, assumed that there would be no progress

Nov 13th:
1. Logged into my online Amica Account to see any progress
2. Found the claim has been opened and some elementary information included
3. My case assigned to an adjuster. For the sake of privacy of the adjuster, I will refer to her as AMICA rep

Nov 12th :
1. No progress; I didn’t get any call back from Amica

Nov 11th :
1. Took the damaged car to Pan American Collision per Amica’s recommendation
2. Left the car with Pan American Collision after getting the repair estimate
3. The repair estimate is $3886.16 that includes my $500 as deductible payment
4. Picked a rental car, Wrangler Jeep for the next one week
5. The rental car is being billed directly to Amica as I had a policy of getting a replacement vehicle for $900/month restricted to $30/day.

Nov 10th :
1. Accident Happened
2. Reported to Amica, my auto and home insurer for last 6 years
3. Got a case number 60000425006 that I assume will stay with me till the resolution of this claim
4. Got the option to either take the car for a repair estimate to a repair center of my choice or what Amica recommends