Economical Insurance Auto Insurance Reviews

I only wish there was an option to leave a 0-star review. This insurance company is a bunch of crooks! They are only decent if you never have to contact them or make a claim. BUT, the purpose of insurance is just-in-case, right? So you want a company that answers the phone or email and provides the service that you are paying for... I filed a claim for a fairly minor accident that I was not at fault for. It took 2 weeks to get a claim number and begin the process. They required I get an estimate at their partnered shop that is not even qualified or set up to fix my car. In the meantime, I got an estimate at a qualified shop and provided it to Economical for approval (still not approved). 8 weeks later after trying to contact them countless times, they reach out claiming the other insurance company wants me to admit fault. I referenced them back to the police report, detailed witness statements and the other drivers statement all admitting the other driver at fault. They backed off. 2 Weeks after that Economical called and said my car was a write-off (sight unseen). I asked how a car worth $36,000 with $6000 worth of damage could be a write-off and they replied, "it's just easier this way." I asked how much the settlement would be and they said it needed to be evaluated but probably around $4000-$6000. I said: absolutely not! It's now 6 months later and I haven't been able to get in contact with them since. What a joke of a company! I have read my contract in detail. A lawyer has reviewed my case and what they are doing is in fact illegal. Read other reviews, you won't find a single positive one.

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!”

I had an accident 8 months ago. My vehicle is still sitting in the driveway not drivable. The insurance company's preferred shop did not repair properly and Economical has not followed up. Rather, they have ignored emails and calls. They are the worst company I have dealt with for insurance in over 20 years.

My daughter recently got into an accident that was 100% not her fault. The problem started when the car was written off, and they lowballed me on the offer. I did some research online using the Canadian Black Book and found out they were offering less than half the value. When I pointed this out to them, I was told that they were sticking with their process (I think they find the 10 cheapest comparable cars and give you the average price) and that they would send me forms to submit a dispute. I had receipts showing that I had spent more on repairs in the last 18 months than what they were offering me. Didn't matter. No discussing it with them. With previous insurance companies, there was always some back and forth discussion, and some compromise. Not here, just a take it or leave it attitude. The worst insurance company I have ever dealt with. Since the payout is so low, my daughter cannot even get another comparable car.

Had an accident. Had some injuries and they offered me physio and massage, but never followed through, and never sent me the forms. On the vehicle side of things they were of no help, wouldn't call the body shop back or the tow truck company or me. I have been with this company for almost 20 years and my family has been with them for over 40. They used to be ok, but now the company runs things more like scam artists.

Total loss on my car, not my fault. They wouldn't cover for my storage at the body shop it was at, wouldn't pay for my repairs that was done on my vehicle (e.g. new engine & transmission).Wouldn’t pay for my child seats that was in the car. They didn't care about my injuries that I sustained in my accident and was only concerned about cutting costs on their end which ever way they can. Adjusters Ricardo and Shalini (extremely rude) and the whole company was just trying to take advantage of me on my first accident example by asking me "if I'm injured why do I have a rental? "You should return it if you not going to use it. Why does it matter if I have a rental I'm entitled to it under my policy and I can have it parked the whole time at my House or drive all over with it. It’s up to me on what I want to do with it.

This insurance company is by far the worst I had to deal with. The basically steered me to go to a "preferred shop" by claiming that my repair claim wont be guaranteed or that I may not be fully covered and extra prices might be charged to me.

So I went with the shop that they suggested and when I received the car it was so poorly reassembled and they didn't do all the work. They also used a non certified aftermarket part even though I was told verbally that it would all be OE and everything would be fixed to my satisfaction. They played the "You signed the agreement" card to try to wipe their hands clean.

When I complained the insurance company told me I was ungrateful and selfish for complaining. They didn't take my complaint seriously until I told them that I was forced to go there and that if they don't restore my car to pre-accident condition that I would be following suit for both them steering me to a preferred shop and approving non certified parts onto my car. Not long after they agreed. I know its mostly the body shop I went to that should be blamed but I have to blame the insurance company for forcing me to go there and not taking responsibility and pushing the blame over to me.

I have since changed companies and even though most companies are the same the one I am with now is a little better.

Remember to always go to a dealership with their own body shop that only uses OEM parts. NEVER agree to use a preferred shop.

I had a car accident, I was not at fault. A SUV hit the back of my car. I put in a claim. I went to my body shop I do business with and they said it a write off. So I said to the insurance company and they said to take it to their body shop, so I did. One week later the claim department phoned me back and said the car not a write off. I explained about the car is going sideways down the road and the frame broken and they said give 700$ if I do want to repair the car. I said I cant get a another car for 700$. The car is a 05 Chev Malibu worth 2500$. So I said to claim department, I have to drive my family in a unfit car.

They deserve less than 1 star, but unfortunately 0 stars is not an option!

I was involved in a hit and run accident in which my car door was dented. I spoke to people at the insurance company 4 times, while I was debating whether or not to make a claim. Each time, they promised me that because it was a hit and run, my rates would not go up. I was responsible for the deductible but that was it.
I asked them if I could just try and knock the dent out myself, and they said that I could definitely not do that because then if it didn't work, the adjuster might deem it to be not from the accident and it wouldn't be covered. They advised me to get it fixed as soon as possible.
I went ahead on their advice and got it fixed.

The day I was due to pick the car up, someone from Economical called me and said that they were wrong, and that now they had decided that I was at fault in the hit and run, and that my rates would go up accordingly because I had made a claim. I told him that I never would have put in the claim knowing that, and that they promised me this wouldn't happen. I asked him if he could go back and review our phone calls as they were "recorded for quality assurance". He said he would. I asked him if he could send me a copy, and he said he could not do that as they were for internal use only. I asked about the "Quality assurance", and he responded "that is for OUR quality assurance, not your quality assurance".

I then told him what one of his workers had said about the knocking out of the dent, and he directly contradicted what I had been told by someone else. He said that I should have tried to knock the dent out myself, and they still would have covered it.

They basically encouraged me to make a claim, promising me that it wouldn't make a difference to my rates, and then directly went back on their words. I am immediately switching insurance companies, and I will forever suggest to my friends that they do not use Economical!

Do not insure your car with this evil company!

Yesterday, my fiance was in a collision, thankfully he was not hurt but the car was wrecked. he was not at fault, and it says so in the police report. Since we put in a claim however Economical has given us 24 hours of hell, and I expect many more days of hell to come.

First, they refused to loan us a vehicle until they can get the police report, so they can prove he was not at fault. We gave them the incident number and the contact information of the police officer who responded to the scene. The incident number says my fiance is not at fault, they refuse to believe that, and they refuse to speak with the officer who responded to the crash. The lady who is in charge of the claim spent more time on the phone lecturing my fiance about how he doesn't have their most expensive insurance plan to compensate for this crash than actually helping. She also insisted we contact the police and get the report from them in order to speed up the claim process. Needless to say the insurance is responsible to collect the police report, so the police would not give it to us and were even horrified that the insurance asked us to collect it.

Next they asked my fiance to go to the impound by Friday (the collision happened on Wednesday) to fill out the proper release paperwork that would allow the insurance company to take the car from the impound lot. We get a call from the impound lot an hour later stating that the Economical has informed them that they would be picking up the car the next morning. They impound lot called us because they thought it was strange, because no paperwork had been signed yet to release the car, which had just came into the lot that day. My fiance said he would be there in the morning to sign said paperwork, remove the licence plates, and collect our belongings.

This morning he goes to the impound lot only to find out Economical had sent a tow to collect the car in the morning before he had gotten there. Somehow they had taken the car without the paperwork filled out and took our licence plates and belongs with them! They essentially have stolen the car because we did not have the paperwork filled out that gave them permission to take the vehicle. Now we are fighting them to get our belongs and licence plates back! The people we have spoken to on the phone have been nothing but rude and awful to us, essentially saying it's our fault they took the car without our consent.

On top of that the lady in charge of the claim won't answer our phone calls. I am outraged! Do not get insurance with this company and save yourself the stress and horror we are going through now.