Economical Insurance Auto Insurance Reviews

I was in an accident in August where the other driver was at fault. Admittedly I was scammed by the tow truck driver and had my car towed to what I later learned was their own auto body shop by a different name and not a preferred shop. Lesson learned on that matter. However, the insurance company had deemed my car a write off and then changed their mind because I was tricked into signing a work order from the tow driver while at the scene of the accident (yes lesson learned again, read what you're signing even if you are still in shock from the accident). After the insurance company changed their mind they approved over 17,000.00 in repairs of my car (4-month-old car) and when I finally got my car back over 2 months later the driver window wasn't repaired properly and it was noted and agreed that they needed to order parts... 2 trips back for me to check up on the parts and for the second time I'm told they have no clue who I am or what I need and the guy I dealt with (owner) is away. I asked my rep at Economical to please authorize the repairs to be completed elsewhere and to not pay the auto body shop for the deficiencies but they refuse to do it even though they have been following this disaster from the beginning and says the auto body shop didn't charge for deficiencies. Can you imagine an auto body shop keeping a car on their lot for an extra month and not charging the insurance company? No chance! So now I'm stuck with a car that the window isn't working, the car is less than 6 months old and I will have to take it elsewhere to have the repairs done and to pay for it myself. Needless to say, I will be cancelling my insurance as soon as this is over and will never have Economical in my life again.

DO NOT TRUST THESE THIEVES! I am a 60 years old male that has one accident non-fault in 1978, perfect driving record. Was with the same broker for 23yrs+. Home, Buss. three vehicles full coverage. Claim free. Four years ago was switched Economical Insurance without my consent. Though a lower rate was offered, I had reservations. Since then the rate has doubled! March returned home discovered large dent on drivers door 2 years old truck . Upset, but not surprised in too days society. Contacted broker. Not to worry full coverage we will take care of it. Contacted 4 days later by Kelly. Was basically interrogated rude condescending attitude for 45min. Insinuated that it was I that had slid sideways into another vehicle and failed to contact police file report informed Kelly that it would be up to the adjuster to determine. Contacted broker informed agent of conversation, was told that we have no control who the adjuster will be. Emailed photos of the damage, statement. Waited for response & waited & waited. Contacted broker 2nd week May. No problem we will take care of it. Call not returned. Contacted Kelly 5 times by email no less than 10 phone messages & to other Economical representatives that just blew me off, between June & Aug. 30. Numerous attempts to resolve this matter was ignored by my trusted family broker, one excuse after another over a three month period! During this time I got a price from two body shops $3300& $3600. What kind of Corporation would offer forgivable first claim? Insult the client to the point of legal action. Not even inspect, asses the damage. Would it not be a good buss. payout a minor claim of $3600 ($500 deduct) and keep the premiums flowing in. Guess not at Economical Insurance. Received renewal on Sept 2 and to insult me more Economical attempted to raise my premium by all most 30 %. I had already contacted another Insurance provider in July and received a substantial $ 1000+ lower rate. I have had the repair done at my own expense. Cancelled home buss. vehicle coverage by Broker, Economical in a total of $4400 annually. Just before deciding to warn others, and my 5-star negative experience with unethical business practices of Economical Insurance. My broker that I considered family friends, contacted me wanting to know if the service I received prompted me to seek other Insurance providers. YES!

Do not even consider using this insurance group for your needs. On Wednesday, August 7 I had my first conversation with them regarding hail damage on my vehicle. Initially, they misdirected me to two shops to get repair quotes, finally advising me to visit one specific shop only. I have both printed quotes in hand from both shops and have requested a cash settlement. We have spent the last two weeks in a complete runaround with an incompetent adjuster whose only response is that she cannot do anything until the quotes are "downloaded". I would not trust this company at all. Also worth noting, my broker at Brokerlink has not been helpful in resolving this either.

In December 2018, I had a trip to Montreal with my friends. On the way back, an 82-year old man changed his lane without checking the blind point and hit my car. We reported this case to the Montreal Police. And contacted Economical Insurance. This company tried everything not to solve this problem, and simply pay money to the old man, put all the responsibility on me. Due to this case, I repaired my car by myself and my insurance rate went high. February 2019, I cancelled the policy with them. Now is May 2019, they had $390 payment on my credit card. I was so shocked, if I didn't check my credit card transactions, I won't find out it. I tried to contact them, the thing is that they won't take your call forever. Friends, simply suggestion, just don't be a customer of them. They are a horrible company!

Their collision centre and insurance are in bed together. We were sent to Car Star. They estimated repairs of $9,445.00 plus. Took it to Campbell's Auto Collision Centre who said there were things that reported by Car Star...nothing wrong. Got a quote for $6200. approx. Called Doug Ford's office to change insurance laws. Under your new policy, they have it seems all the rights. They bend the rules to suit themselves. They have the right to write off your car even though it's not a write-off. The write off adjuster is rude and very demanding. Spoke to many professionals and car owners who know of companies "scams". Not all companies and collision centres are the same. You can take it to your own centre for an estimate. There are good insurance companies and collision centres and there are bad ones. These companies give honest companies a bad name.

As far as I am concerned, this company is an absolute scam. My car has been hit almost a month ago at no fault of my own and we have gotten absolutely nowhere. They don’t even have the common decency to answer my calls, emails or even letters. They wrote my $12,000 car off as a “total loss” due to $1,500 worth of damage and have offered me less than half for my car. I have gotten the car appraised by another appraiser as well as multiple quotes from autobody shops and they all have said that the damages do not exceed $1,500 and that in no way is it a write-off. However, their appraiser claims the damages are higher than $5,800. In the beginning, they assured me a rental until my car was fixed (which was originally supposed to be middle of the month) but once they wrote it off two weeks before my rental was due to go back, they insisted that I had one day to return my rental. Despite all of that they even tried to tow my car off of the autobody lot before they even told me that it was wrote off. I so frustrated with this company and have no hope that this whole process will be settled soon based on their behaviour. This company does not care about their client's wellbeing. Insurance is supposed to be there as a “just in case” to assure the client's protection in situations such as accidents. I can’t even fathom the way I have been treated throughout this whole process, especially from the representative in the total loss department.

I have been waiting almost a year for my truck to be returned to me in pre-accident condition. Economical's preferred shop returned my truck to me with a repair that was incomplete and then proceeded to argue with me when I voiced my concerns. After months of repeatedly ignored emails from me, they finally agreed to have a reputable repair shop inspect my truck. Now that their appraiser has seen it for the 3rd time, and been made aware of discrepancies in the original repair, Economical has not responded in writing as required.

The accident was almost a year ago. Their Ombudsperson has not assisted. Their claims manager has regularly ignored written requests from myself and my broker, the president has not responded at all.
Both FSCO and GIO have been aware of this claim since last year and have advised me of my rights, which I have reminded Economical of several times.
Economical has taken what should have been a straight forward, simple claim and turned it into an added source of stress and trauma.

Please think it over, and choose a different provider, this is a great product until you need it. They really tried to screw us but I think we avoided the worst of it by continuing to push back. It does take its toll on you. This is an abbreviation of events we experienced, sorry for the long story, We’ve been with this company for two years with home and auto. The price was better than anybody as a result of an employee discount provided to the Airline that I work for. My wife was hit by a car while crossing an intersection. She was not at fault. Her car was drivable if you crawled in from the passenger side of the vehicle. Not knowing what to do with the damaged car she returned home after the police report was completed and called the insurance to begin the claim process. A message was left, and a day and a half later no reply so we called our broker and shortly after a claims advisor returned the call. We have vehicle loss of use insurance but were told a rental would be given until our car was under repair. I was told to go get some estimates. Got 4 then was told the estimates were no good because the shops charge more than $77 an hr. Still no rental car, and I feel like we’re being run around. After a lengthy argument about the purpose of loss of use coverage and insurance itself, they agreed to provide a rental car...almost a week after the accident. In exchange, we must leave the car at a repair facility. A repair shop was chosen and the car was left there in order to get the rental. Then, Economical didn’t like the estimated cost of repair and sent there own field adjuster to write up an estimate. This took a week and a half and there was a difference in costs due to the shop rate and what comical will pay. Economical wanted us to pay $3200.00 to cover the difference in charges. Unbelievable! So, remember that we did get a rental, they place a time limit on it, and we are now into the 3 weeks of 4 weeks allowed. The car hasn’t even begun to get fixed. As a last resort, I asked for the claims advisor for the at-fault party (another Insurance) and picked up the phone, explained the problem to her, I said there is a shortcoming of about $3200 from what economical will pay due to labour charges. She put me on hold and came back and said: “we’ll cover that go ahead with the repair”. That easy! The car begins to be repaired, parts ordered, etc. Now over a month since the accident. Rental car company calls and says, they need the payment for the rental car or return it, Economical only pays $ 900 worth of the rental. Again I call another insurance company advisor and ask to have that covered by them... No problem! Why is it I’m the one that had to do all these steps. I don’t do insurance for a living, that's why I bought insurance! You’d think that that economical would take care of the details like these. Nope! I did call them multiple times and never, never reached a live agent on the first try, always leave a message and we’ll call you back! Almost 2 months since the accident the car is fixed and we are back to driving our car. I now have an uneasy feeling about our current situation because we are still covered by this company and can’t switch companies until it expires without incurring a large penalty for cancelling in the middle of the policy year. Bottom line “You get what you pay for!”