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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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avoid at all cost!!!

by mind on Oct 26, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

Worst experience ever! with the company for over 15 years, wife had no fault accident, the adjuster treated us like we are the one to be blamed, and they doesn't even want to payout, all in all it was a painful experience, switched insurance right after, cannot deal with this kind of company, stay away!!!!!!!

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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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Bad driving record? Your insurance rates can be double the standard insurance rate. Let us help you get the better auto insurance rate without breaking the bank.

Pathetic Company

by DragonGrave on Aug 12, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

They gave me an accident on my report that they didn't pay out. I'm not sure why I have a negative review on my record when your findings say that the other person was trying to scam you. As well they kept sending my insurance slip to the wrong unit in my condo and my insurance ended up costing too much because the company wouldn't take those marks off my record since THEY screwed up. Somehow they had two different unit numbers, 1 for my auto and 1 for home. They then cancel it and want me to keep my home there...

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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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Badddddd customer service.

by Naqib on Aug 2, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

I called in to open a claim but unfortunately Richa D. hang off the phone on me. For just very simple question. I will change to a company that cares for clients.

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Total scam of a company

by enuffIsenuff on Apr 21, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

My existing insurance was coming up for renewal, so I decided to look around in hopes of finding a more cost efficient alternative. I proceeded to contact The Personal since my husband is part of a group that they honour. Anyone that has gone through this process knows how time consuming, and invasive a process it is. The whole thing took roughly two days, due to a delay on The Personal side due to my house being valued at a certain amount. Anyway, once I was finally provided a quote, I reviewed all of the details and confirmed that all of the information that I provided and that I was informed was 100% accurate. Great, I thought, it was looking like I would be saving at least $40 per month switching to The Personal. After a few days of contacting other companies for competing quotes, I decided that The Personal was the one to go with. I called in to start the policy, and within the first 15 minutes of the call, I was informed that the quote I had received was incorrect. Basically, their agent had provided incorrect, misleading information and therefore they would NOT honour their quote. I was quite upset, since I had confirmed with the agent all the details just a few days prior, and was assured that all was good. Yeah, right! What a total scam! As you can imagine, I decided I would NOT go with The Personal after all.

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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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Treated like a criminal!!

by arthur99 on Mar 22, 2016
1.5 out of 5 stars

After having insurance with The Personal for more than 20 years I was involved in an accident. They could not determine who was at fault, so I was forced to take 50 percent of the blame, even though they said the other guy driving a company vehicle would never admit to wrong doing or he would loose his job. I have never had any type of claim or tickets, insurance rate has almost doubled!!! no wonder so many people drive without insurance. No on has accident forgiveness, it does not exist. I have tried to get other insurance, no chance to move once you have an accident, you are a marked target.

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WORST TERRIBLE GARBAGE SERVICE

by Anonymous on Feb 25, 2016
1 out of 5 stars

Unfortunately this site doesnt have an option for zero star. I have been insured with the personal since 2010, and last week was my first claim ever, someone rear ended me, although they say they have 24/7 claim service but thats bs...I called them at around 11 pm (from the OPP reporting centre) a representative answered, took my name n contact info and informed me someone will call me the next day to get all the details... I asked questions about my coverage, he replied cuz it's after hours, he didn't have access to my policy info n was unable to answer any questions...Hello so whats the point of staying open just to get down my info... Then when i spoke with the claims rep, i gave him all the info for the drivers involved etc he then told me the adjuster will call me to discuss further... I wait... Guess what?? Nobody calls me back!!! I have to call them and find out status of my claim... Then i was advised that my car was a write-off... Then the next day i call again re: status of my claim, the other person talks about repairs etc... I tell that person, please read my file, my car is write-off, why are you discussing repairs with me? I always have to call them..even when i talk to them all the reps are illiterate and ask me dumb questions, then my adjuster asked me for a police report, she confidently told me its ready and i have to pick it up from OPP, cuz if they order it, it takes them weeks... So i call OPP to find out if my report is ready, they tell me police report takes 10 business days and there is no option for us to pick it up, they would mail it which takes an additional approx. 5 days... Basically i was given fake information, as a client when we dont know about how things work we rely on our service provider and trust what they say to us... As for the past 6 yrs they have been taking money from my bank account, and now in return instead of service, i am getting nothing!!! my policy is due on June, there is no way on earth i will be renewing it with them, even if elsewhere is expensive but there is peace of mind, i definitely will choose peace over a few dollars!!!

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