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.

I was a customer with Economical for 4 years. Never made a claim, only had minor infractions, and never paid less than $200/month for bare-bones liability only. It's worth noting I never missed or was late on payment either. At the time of renewal, I cancelled my policy for a better rate elsewhere. Cancellation in itself was a mess as Economical was difficult about releasing my information to my new provider. Also, if you've ever been on hold with Economical, you know it's a long, physically painful process. The waiting music (that you'll listen to for an average of 30 minutes per call) sounds like someone recorded elevator music over a car radio. I wasn't notified of any outstanding balance on my account when I cancelled the policy but was sent a letter with the remaining amount on my premium. No big deal, Economical has been taking money automatically from my bank account every month for 4 years now. Surely they'd do the same this time around? Except no -- I was expected to manually pay, which would have been great information to provide when I called to cancel my policy. I paid it online once Economical jumped the gun and threatened me with debt collectors less than a month after my policy expired. Confusingly, Economical promptly returned this final payment to me. According to their letter, I actually didn't owe any money. This was annoying since I was threatened with debt collection just the week before, but I got my money back so no harm is done. Just kidding. Economical forwarded my information to debt collectors for failing to pay my bill. The debt collectors were just as confused as me when I explained that I did pay my bill and the money was returned. I had to forward the debt collectors 7 different documents to prove that I did not, in fact, owe any money. Also, while I don't know this for sure, I think those debt collectors sold my phone number to telemarketers because I've been getting phone calls from mysterious numbers non-stop since this all started. Really great, Economical, I appreciate that. Essentially what happened is that Economical's automated system didn't detect I was making a payment on my 2018-2019 premium and instead attributed it to the 2019-2020 renewal that I cancelled. Let's be clear here: Economical doesn't have a real, living human review your account before sending your information to debt collectors. Even a cursory glance at my account history could have prevented this issue. By this point, I've been dealing with the ramifications of cancelling my policy for three months. Three months. All I wanted was assurance that changes would be made to their system to prevent this from happening to others. That's all I wanted and I would have been satisfied. However, Economical couldn't even lie to me about promising that. At the end of my experience, I spoke with three different Economical representatives about getting this resolved so it wouldn't happen again. Instead, all three representatives echoed the same sentiment: "We're sorry! Have you considered speaking to our billing department to pay the balance (again)?" There was no assurance anything would change to prevent others from having debt collectors called on them for system errors. The apologies did not seem genuine and all Economical was concerned with was getting their money - again. In fact, to re-make this payment I had to call and make the payment manually because even Economical couldn't trust their online system to not mess up again. If you have the option, do not associate with Economical. They don't care about their customers, they only care about their customers' money. They're the embodiment of opportunistic bottom-feeders. If their system messes up, you'll spend three months navigating yourself through a resolution to the problem or face the call of debt collectors - probably both.

Make sure to get your cancellation penalty amount in writing! When I enquired about cancellation they told me someone would call shortly to discuss; the employee calculation my cancellation fee and then I ended up being charged more than double of what I was told! They didn’t even give me a breakdown of why I was being charged so much. I fought to get money back, but they just said I was misinformed about the cancellation fee and too bad for me.

I had sent several emails in the past to correct my information on my policy as it was incorrectly written on my Letter of Experience. I had provided an updated letter of experience proving that I was in fact not at fault for an accident and had been told by a representative of the company that the information was updated on my file, only to find out two years later that the letter of experience was NEVER updated on my file! Resulting in this insurance company overcharging me for the past two years for an accident I did not commit. Since finding out about this, the company is hardly responsive to my emails and they seem to avoid me mentioning that I've been overcharged for this amount of time. The negligence and lack of customer service from this company are truly upsetting and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Save your money and choose a different company that will actually do their due diligence rather than scam you for your money...

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!

Middle of August I had taken a car off the road and purchased a new vehicle. They wouldn't allow me to remove the car not in use of my policy until I sold/scrapped it. Fine. He also provided me with an approximate amount I would be paying in insurance on my new vehicle. When he emailed me my policy slips it ended up being $100 higher than stated. Again irritating but I accepted it. Then being 7 months pregnant and having to abruptly go on sick leave due to complications in my pregnancy needed to switch my payment dates from the beginning of the month to closer to the end of the month I ended up just choosing the 20th. When choosing the date the horrible agent I was dealing with NEVER advised me that because my policy is up for renewal February 18 and they wouldn't be able to charge me for that month that they would double-bill be for the month of September having to pay over $400 in car insurance that I couldn't afford. Of course, if I would have been advised especially given my situation I never would have agreed to this. When speaking to billing they even told me he should have advised me of this. Instead, he just sent me an invoice that came with my new policy papers that on the 2nd or 3rd page states the amounts that would be withdrawn from my account in September. And unless you are purposely looking for that never would have noticed or realized especially when you are trusting in your agent to not screw you over. He then tried to defend himself stating he was unaware that I would be double-billed for the month of September and there was nothing he could do for me. Isn't that his job? I don't work in insurance or billing how would I as a customer be aware of this unless I am advised. Horrible horrible service. I will be cancelling my insurance with them come to my renewal date and DO not recommend this company to anyone!

I will make it short. The company put an accident on my driver file four years ago. Unfortunately it was not mine. Once I located the issue I spent three months probably 10 hours with various individuals who were rude uncooperative and usually did not call back. Only through my efforts I finally get a refund $1932.28. I requested compensation with interest on the overpayment. Their answer was - thank you for correcting their error and helping to teach their staff. Basically get lost.. NEVER EVER AGAIN WITH ECONOMICAL!

This is the worst insurance company ever! I have been tossed around like a coin for about 2 months. Now this company will do anything, say anything and tell lies just to avoid a claim! The customer service is a nightmare. The adjusters are very rude and always not available to return calls or on holidays, what a mess! This company should be closed cause they are thieves and a rip off! Worst of all, no car rental was given to me I had to spend my own money on getting a cheap car for me and my family. I will be taking legal actions since they have money to pay for lawyers than settle claims!

Wrote my truck off, gave me maybe %80 of the value and refused to even consider my concerns, resulted in me needing to finance a vehicle that didn't suit my needs at all (going from a 7000lb towing capacity to 1500lbs) They use an appraising system that assumes selling prices off of AutoTrader from within 100's of km from your area. Trucks in the rural area I live, in the condition mine, was in are not cheap and hard to come by, I am not driving 300kms to look at a truck that might be as nice with 280K on it when mine had 160K on it. They write things off and send them to auction with minimal damage as they know they'll recoup more of their loss at auction and they won't let you buy your vehicle back once they've decided this(which seems illegal to me, I intend on contacting FSCO about this) The ONLY thing they were efficient with, was setting up a rental car, that was quick and easy. They are not a good company, rates are good currently, but if I had to choose, they would be on the bottom of my list, pay a little more, go to Aviva, Intact, ANY Mutual, even CAA. Economical is right in the same category as TD, Desjardins, Sonnet, Bel-Air, yes they're cheap, but trust me, you're paying for it, one way or another.

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.