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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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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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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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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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Worst Insurance Company Ever!!

by Me on Jan 28, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

As a repair facility we have a lot of insurance companies we deal with. Most actually care about their customers. the Personal adjustors have the worst attitude with customers and repair facilities hands down. Even their company appraisers dislike working with them. They us the cheapest parts they can find, nickel and dime repairs, refuse to return phone calls in a timely manner and blame the repair facilities for any delays. No email addresses are given to the repair facilities to correspond back and forth therefore leaving everyone waiting for instruction.

As a repair facility in business for 35 years I would like to say that buying insurance is much like buying anything else, you get what you pay for... In the case of buying insurance written by the Personal you most likely will be disappointed if you find yourself having to use your policy. The repair facility can only do what the insurance company you have allows...

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Will find a way to deny repair

by El Gringo on Jun 14, 2015
1.5 out of 5 stars

Was rear ended at traffic light in my 2012 dodge caravan. Was persuaded to send vehicle to preferred shop from Personal. Three weeks later get car back, AC does not work and large discoloration where evaporator coil is located in rear quarter panel. Returned it to body shop who says they never painted panel and adjuster says AC unit was broken before accident. Claims rep tells me I haven't used AC this year (spring) so it must have been pre-existing problem. I have all my service records from dealer, nothing about broken AC unit. Unbelievable. Now I will file complaint to Insurance Ombudsman of Ontario.

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Auto claim collision with deer

by cthiess1@gmail.com on Sep 25, 2014
3 out of 5 stars

The first claims advisor did explain everything to me on the phone, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that for a deer strike the comprehensive deductible of $100 is paid instead of the $500 deductible if a collision with a car or other object. Took the car to the bodyshop. A few days later received a letter from a different claims advisor with her phone number. She was not very responsive to voicemail but I did speak to her once during the start of the initial 5 weeks the car was in the body shop for very minor front bumper damage. Then there was another 4 week wait for a back ordered part, not the fault of the insurance company, but they sure don't do anything to try to get the bodyshop to speed up. I was dissatisfied with a couple of minor issues with the car at the bodyshop, I left messages for the claims advisor and never did hear back from her. I did receive another letter from the Personal with a survey asking me to rate my experience at the bodyshop and with the claims advisor. Overall I'm glad my car is back and it only cost me $100.

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Do not waste your time

by FormerUnderwriter on Apr 3, 2020
1 out of 5 stars

As someone who has worked in the insurance industry for more than 8 years, I hate being lied to by people who are supposed to be "experts." If you have a claim with this company, get ready for the run around of your life. I filed a claim back in January and only resolved it this week. I did everything that I was told to do, submitted all the documents and was told I would be contacted as soon as possible. Fast forward three weeks later and I had called and e-mailed for some sort of update. I told my advisor that I needed my car fixed by the middle of February because I had a new job in another province. I literally begged my advisor's help which was followed by silence. Meanwhile, my claim was denied weeks prior because their adjustor couldn't determine the damage, to the car, which did not make sense to me as I provided all the information they needed. I was even told that the adjustor physically went to the shop to see my car. I called the shop as soon as I found this out, only to be told that that was a lie. Long story short, I spent more than 10 hours on the phone speaking to multiple people, told that I had to pay for all the repairs and to submit the documents. It was a wonderful time borrowing money from family members and also being told that my job was given to someone else because I was going to be 2 weeks late. When my original advisor finally got back to me, I was told that they went on vacation. So glad their priorities were in check, and if you're curious, they had a wonderful time. They had no remorse for what they put me through that I hung up on them in disgust. They do not care about you at all. Remember, these people are so desensitized that you are nothing more than a voice on the other line. The best part is that you can not even escalate the call, you are stuck...

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Warning

by Choppdnscrewed on Jan 21, 2020
1 out of 5 stars

Like many other comments, I have had similar experiences with this company regarding filing a claim. To make a long story short, while on vacation out of province my vehicle was hit while parked. This company should hire me to work for them seeing as I had to do the majority of the work for my claim myself. Including when booking my return flight back after being hounded on short notice to pick my vehicle up from the garage. So after working nights and travelling provinces, I arrive at the approved repair garage to find out my car still requires repairs. I contacted the person who offered no solution or even any sense of accountability since they limit your choices for body shops. This is a warning to others if you have a new vehicle do not use this insurance company, they don't care for their customers (car members) they are only out to line their pockets off of the Canadian military. The only reason why they even have a star on this website won't let anyone rate them lower.

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The worst company ever

by Nonosh on May 15, 2019
1 out of 5 stars

I have a claim, it took me 3 weeks to get in touch with them. They send me to their own auto body shop the write off my car for a small dent and want to replace the bumper that has nothing on it even not a scratch. They will rip you off your money. It was not my fault and I lost my money and my car. In their estimation to fix the car, they gave $200 extra than the car value, so they can write it off?! My car has a dent that can be fixed by suction. The worst company ever...

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