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The Personal Insurance Auto Insurance Reviews

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(191 reviews)
The Personal Insurance
1.6 out of 5 stars:
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Doesn't honor their promise

by rwg037@hotmail.com on Apr 28, 2017
1 out of 5 stars

The personal is very stingy on providing/covering accident benefits even when you are not at fault or not charged in the accident. It has taken more than 8 months to pay out some of their accident benefit obligations. They are very slow to return phone calls and their adjusters avoid your questions or phone calls. They are terrible to deal with. Run to your next insurer.

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8 months and waiting

by chaterbox on Mar 20, 2017
1.5 out of 5 stars

I had a MVA in July 2016; now 8 months later, I am still getting the roundabout and no answers except that they're still waiting for a police report. They told me processes change with the Police (they haven't, I work for the same city!!), then I was told that the July request for the report was done with another department due to "sensitivity", and was now just told that their payment for the police report requested in January wasn't received by the police and had to resend a payment at the beginning of February! I am making car payments for two vehicles but, because my car was a write off, I only have 1! Had to purchase a new vehicle to get to work at the end of September! This is an extremely unacceptable insurance company and WILL NOT be continuing with them. I have let union members know what's been happening and they have started cancelling as well.

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Worst Insurance company period

by Ron Veteran on Feb 2, 2017
1 out of 5 stars

I wish I could give less than no stars for this company. I will share my experience with them over the past number of years. If you don't already know and they do not tell you. They treat their insurance like a cell phone contract. If you wish to cancel the policy you will pay a penalty to have no insurance with them. These penalties will add up. When you talk to them do not let them get away with saying one fourteen. Make sure you get them to say the correct dollar value which means one fourteen is acually not $1.14 but $114.00. They call themselves a national insurance company but base their payouts on Ontario prices. So if you have to hire someone to cut up a fallen tree in your yard get them to give you a breakdown of cost they will cover. Here in Alberta they were only going to pay 15 dollars a hour to do this labour. Tim Hortons was paying 20 per hour to serve coffee. So get this clear before you do anything. I eventually decided to pay out of pocket. Which goes against the reasoning for having insurance. In conclusion the best thing I ever did was getting out of this company and staying out. Be aware that there is no peace of mind with the personal only ways to get more money out of you. Honestly going to a insurance broker was the best thing I ever did. I was paying 573 monthly to the personal and went to a broker and got a better rate at 318 per month and better coverage and better discounts on everything I own. Ps the personal will only cover 10k for flood damage due to backed up sewer. The company to clean up your basement charges 23k for this service so once again based upon prices that are not necessarily in your region of the country. In all honesty if I can say two words NEVER AGAIN.

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Negligence and inaccurate info

by catherine15 on Jan 18, 2017
1.5 out of 5 stars

I was in a not at fault auto accident. Over a two month period my adjustor only called me twice, once speaking to me and once leaving a voicemail. All of my other interactions were with various agents and finally my adjustors supervisor. She told me my car was being repaired, when the shop hadn't even ordered parts. Once the deadline of repair quoted passed I called the shop myself and they told me they had not begun nor heard from my adjustor. I then had to arrange for the repairs myself.

It took almost two months for the at fault party to be declared at fault despite them being charged by the officer on scene for proceeding unsafely. They only declared them at fault after I threatened legal action. It's been 2 months and I still do not have my car back. I have spoken to "managers" and been "escalated" several times only to be told on calling back that these were not managers nor had my case been escalated.

The company told me that I can not cancel my coverage until I have my car back, despite this being after my renewal date for another year comes up. They told me if I cancel that my repairs won't be covered and my physio/health coverage will end. It turns out both of the facts are false.

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3 weeks to get my car back

by Disappointed on Dec 20, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

Car was taken to their recommendation shop was in for 3 weeks
Now got a bill for rental $500. My limit was 1500$ they only paid 5 day rental, enterprise sent me bill for the rest . Have tried contacting adjuster at personal insurance Paul K. 4 times , 2 emails ... 3 weeks later no reply avoid personal insurance company .; no regard to customer after claim ...

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No response to any of my calls

by PHARMAMAN on Nov 22, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

I was involved in an accident, immediately informed the Insurance company, spent 45 minutes to fill out all the questions. The Customer service representative was very nice, after that its almost 3 weeks of my accident and I left 3 or 5 messages every day to my adjuster but she never replied me. I talked to other representatives and they told me that they are unable to discuss my policy because this case is handled by another adjuster.
My advise is not to go with this insurance - its representatives are irresponsible. Please, don't make business with The Personal Insurance.

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The WORST

by Annoyed customer on Oct 1, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

I was in an accident on September 8th, t-boned by another car that was accelerating through an intersection. This was my first major accident (obviously not at fault), so I was freaked out and had no idea what I was to do in this situation. The other driver was almost a century old, and was no help at all.

I had a relative call the start the claim for me, because I was taken to the hospital for routine checks. Luckily I had no injuries aside from minor seatbelt injuries. My relative was able to get me a car rental, as my car was considered unsafe to drive. Probably the only really good thing about this ongoing experience.

The first time I had spoken with the company was with an agent the evening of this accident who just needed a statement from me, so I gave the statement and was told I would be contacted within the next 24 hours from an adjuster. The adjuster didn't call for nearly three days. And this is just the beginning. This company is awful to try and get a hold of, no one here seems to understand the concept of time and is incredibly rude and inconsiderate to the people who are technically paying their bills.

Every single time I spoke with my adjuster on the phone, she used a condescending tone, implying that I was too young to handle something like this. She told me that she needed a police report to understand who was at fault, despite the fact that it is clear that it was not my fault. She told me that it would take her weeks to get a police report if she requested it, and sometimes could cost the company a lot of money. So she asked me if I could get the report, however told me that some districts in Ontario charge over $500 for a police report. As she put me on hold to "confirm" that Durham Region was one of these districts that charged this outrageous amount for a police report, I googled it. What came up? Nothing shy of $65 for a full police report, $35 for a shortened and free for the drivers of an accident. When she came back on the phone, she said that she confirmed it was $500 for Durham Region. I just scoffed, and told her no, I can get it for free but I have a very busy schedule and it would need to wait. She was over-enthusiastic about it, so much to the point that it felt ingenuine for me to do this favour for her.

About a week later, I received a call from the collision centre/auto body shop that had my car telling me that the car was a total write off. It was fixable, however it would cost nearly $8,500. The internal computer of the car was damaged and would need to be replaced. He also told me that it was odd that the airbags didn't go off and it was quite obvious that the car had some issues. He advised me to not take anything less than $9000 (high mileage on the car) for a settlement. So, I patiently waited.. and waited.. and waited.. A week later, my adjuster called me back to tell me exactly what the shop had told me on the phone, and offered a settlement which was above what he suggested so together, with the other owner of the car, we took it.

The adjuster told us that we needed to return the rental car by September 27 and take everything out of our old car so that it could be moved. Now, I commute to Toronto from Oshawa, and it's not easy to get there without a car. The other owner of the car went on vacation, and can't have the settlement released until she comes back because the decision to buy a new car is going to be a joint effort. In addition to this, for me to go down to the body shop which already had limited hours was really unrealistic. The adjuster's fake sympathy came back, explaining that she would try to extend the rental, but of course had to remind me that I've had the car since the 8th. My only reply was that it took her so long to get back to me, and that we could have sorted this all out a lot sooner. She didn't tell me that she couldn't extend the rental until the day before it was due back (a week after the call I made asking for an extension). I asked a relative to empty the car for me, as one of the owners was on vacation and I was in between work and school in Toronto everyday. I found out that the car was not emptied as per my request, and received a very angry voicemail from my adjuster who just kept telling me that it should have been done. The call was borderline unprofessional, as I could sense every single urge of the adjuster's discontent with me.

As all of this is going on, I developed whiplash - as it is normal in the circumstance of the accident. My doctor recommended physio, so I booked an appointment and told my adjuster (who again, took a week to get back to me about it). She told me she opened a claim (On September 20th), and said another adjuster from a different department would be in contact with me. She said she couldn't offer me any details, but that this adjuster would be in contact with me soon. It is now September 30th and I have yet to hear back from the adjuster. It's been nearly a month since the accident, and the fact that I can't even get simple coverage for a follow up appointment is outrageous.

The other issue I have - aside from the already terrible communication - is the type of communication. This company seems to love phone calls (perhaps less to trace? I don't know, but it's definitely weird). I have told my adjuster numerous times that I can only be reached by email, yet she still calls and leaves voicemails and then ignores my emails.

Obviously this is still an ongoing dispute, however my advice to anyone that is considering choosing this company don't waste your time. If this accident was any worse, I don't know what I would have done. You never know what's going to happen in an accident, and you're better off with a company that you can trust to do their due diligence.

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Hopeless Insurer

by alanm on Aug 28, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

I was returning a leased car after 3 years on July 25th 2016. On July 10th I emailed The Personal to let them know. They replied telling me I had to phone them with this information!!! I phoned them and was asked what I would be replacing the vehicle with. I said I didn't know yet. That was an issue. The girl told me that once they cancelled the policy all of my good driving record would be eliminated and when I wanted a policy again (even in a week or two) I would have to be insured as a new driver, losing my excellent driving record of no accidents and no tickets in over a million km. I suggested therefore they could stick there Insurance company where the sun doesn't shine. A week later I received a call from the same agent who told me they had reviewed my policy and would like to offer insurance on my replacement vehicle after all, with my good driving benefits in place. I told her I had looked at a vehicle and would advise in a week or so when I had decided to purchase. On July 19 I purchased a minivan in London and arranged to have it certified etc. and pick it up in London when I returned my Smart Car and on the 20th I called The Personal and let them have some details of my change. On the 25th after dropping off the Smart Car I picked up the minivan and called the agent with the specifics. By email I received confirmation of insurance and subsequently a policy in the mail. A month later I received another policy from The Personal for the Smart Car which I no longer had, together with a list of the payments they planned to charge my bank for this policy.
By the way, don't waste your time putting one of those Ajusto devices in your car to save on insurance. They don't work. My Smart car was garaged each winter and when I checked on line it was driving erratically all over Ontario, then when I was advised I had saved 15 or 20% for my safe driving, there were zero savings. When I asked where the savings were I was told they were absorbed into the total price and in fact every year with these 15 or 20% savings my insurance went up by 15 or 20%. Just a bunch of swindlers encouraged by our Ontario Government to cheat the taxpayers. Sadly I have absolutely nothing to say "good" about The Personal.

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Don't file a claim

by Kgroz on Aug 11, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

Don't file a claim with them. They are good taking your money but, good luck when you have a claim.
Suresh M.... thanks for not fixing my car and giving me and my family nothing but a headache. Still stuck with a car that smells like burnt metal and plastic.
Can't wait to switch insurance company when my term expires.

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I hit a deer.

by Eagle on Mar 24, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

DO NOT GO WITH THIS INSURANCE.
This insurance company is the worst of okay ones.
A deer crossed me December 01, totaled the car. It took them over two weeks to tell me that it was a write off. Initially they only wanted to cover two weeks worth of rental but I spoke to some lady after trying to reach my agent enough times without success and it got extended by one week, I returned the car December 21ish and that's when the policy should have ended according to what they said December 1st.
Then they only offered me about 90% of the market value of the car, I wrote a proper letter with a regression line graph to show what it should be worth, still I didn't even heard if someone read it. Then someone said if I hire my own appraiser I could get a better offer, I looked into it and it wasn't worth it as the cost and risk didn't make it worthwhile, 90% only left me about $700 to pay for the appraiser, and if they said yes I would only regain some $200 after the cost of the appraiser… they play around too. So after I had enough I accepted their offer, now keep in mind during this period of time I tried reaching my agent between 5 and 10 times, only one was successful and only once he called back and i left a message every time with the proper information.
So I got a check around February the 22nd about a week after I accepted their offer.
Now more trouble with these guys as they were committing INSURANCE FRAUD, they were charging me since December 30th every month for a car that was written off, they automatically renewed my policy without asking me and to make it better they jacked it up by $20/month. I’m a pretty busy person so I was hopping they would fix it on their own but after they didn't it took me three calls. The first the agent pointed out there was some “confusion” and that I would be getting back some $3xx.xx dollars to my back account, however their charges up to that point were in excess of $500. So I called the next day and they "couldn't find" my file but I stayed on the line until they did and as turned out, they "couldn't transfer" me to their accounts department. So I called a third time directly to their accounts department. This time they said that I was supposed to call them and cancel because they had no knowledge that I had written off the car... NO KNOWLEDGE!!!
In the end they kept saying that it was my fault for not letting them know the car was written off, and that they had no knowledge in accounting. So in the end they didn't admit to insurance fraud but accepted to deposit the money in whole in two payments, this is what you should expect from these guys, they can't even give you back the money they wrongfully took from your bank account in one payment.
My new insurance offered me $20 off, these guys would have jacked it up $20 - because a deer crossed me.
You might get $5 off/month but the headache is not worth it. I can only image if I had been at fault in a collision with a car. DO NOT GO WITH THIS INSURANCE!!!

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