As you may already know, in October of 2016 I was rear-ended by a child driving illegally. There was damage to my car, my friend sustained serious neck injuries and I had back and neck injuries, including having two discs bulge, a shoulder injury and headaches for five months following the accident. It was a terrible experience.
To literally add insult to injury, the AAA Appraiser belittled me, addressed me as, Honey, and not only called me a liar, but accused me of insurance fraud. All he was supposed to do was take photos of my car, and write up the damages. Unfortunately, that's not how it went. Looking back, I'm still in complete disbelief over what happened...
Since the child who hit me accepted full blame, AAA sent an appraiser to my house to assess the damages. "Josh" arrived on time in a marked AAA vehicle. He got out of the car after a few minutes and we exchanged pleasantries.
I walked to my car with Josh, and pointed to the damages on my bumper, trunk and the buckled panel on the driver side. I walked around the car to show him a small area of damage by the back passenger wheel well. He told me, "that did not happen in the accident. I'm not even sure anything you're showing me happened in the accident."
I stood there in disbelief.
"I'm sorry? What? There is damage to my car that is clearly new and a result of the accident. I have an estimate from a collision center I'm happy to show you."
"Yeah, go get that."
I retrieved the estimate and handed it to him.
"Which one of your friends made this for you? There's no need to do half of the stuff on this estimate."
"I went there at the request of the father of the child that hit me. I don't understand? Are you trying to tell me I'm making this up?"
Josh walked around to the back of my car and got on his knees and looked under my car.
He looked up at me, and I shit you not, said these exact words. I'll never forget them...
"Honey, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I see this scam all the time. I just came from their house and saw the minimal damages to his bumper. The kid merely tapped you."
"I'm sorry? What?" I was beside myself. He not only just called me Honey, he called me a liar and scam artist. "Wait? How fast do you think he was going when he hit me?"
"Maybe five miles an hour."
"GET FUCKED!"
I did, I yelled that at him. I'd had enough. Though, after the fact, I'm angry at myself for taking the bait. I should have walked off the first time he called me a liar.
I was so fucking mad. I couldn't see straight. I live in a lovely house, in a zip code that Zillow named a top 10 in the country. I have a great job. How dare he call me Honey, a liar and be so nasty.
He stood up and told me "this appraisal is over" and then said, "Good luck getting a penny out of this." And walked to his car.
I stormed up the steps to my front door. He yells at me halfway up the stairs, "Yeah, how's that back injury now?"
I was so irate, I was in tears.
I was met at the door by my Sister-in-law who witnessed the entire thing. I was a mess. I called the insurance agent working the case and left a voicemail recounting the experience. I then called the attorney who offered to help me with the case and asked him to get me through this. I realized I was in over my head and AAA was going to beat me up worse than the kid who hit me.
A few minutes later a neighbor across the street came to the door to make sure I was OK. She saw the entire incident, and, too, was in disbelief.
When I recently parted ways with the attorney who took over the case, I contacted the AAA agent assigned to my case to move forward. In doing so, I asked her about the situation with "Josh" and if any action was ever taken. I honestly believed he was the personal agent for the family of the child who hit me and must have some sort of vested interest. Her response was this.
"I cannot comment on anything that happened between you and "Josh". I was not present and there are always two sides to every story. He is the staff appraiser that estimates the vehicles."
Holy shit. Did she just call me a liar, too?
I asked whom I should speak to, this was a serious issue. She provided me with his manager's number.
I immediately called Josh's manager to report Josh's behavior and to ensure Josh NEVER treats another accident victim that way again. I was told he was never informed of the incident. NEVER INFORMED!
Here are the facts. If Josh did his job the way he was supposed to, take photos and write-up the damages, NOT to decide if I'm a liar, scammer or to pass judgment on my injuries, there never would have been an incident. I never would have been brought to fury and tears, leaving a message to the fact on the agent's voicemail. For the record, AAA sent a "neutral" appraiser a week later who estimated two hundred more than the original estimate from the collision shop. The neutral appraiser was kind did his job, recognized the damages, and there were zero issues.
More facts:
I have two MRI's to show injuries I've never had before. Medical records listing repeated complaints to my primary caregiver about pain and headaches. FYI: I DO NOT take pain medication, it wrecks my stomach trading one pain for another. I don't even take Tylenol unless I absolutely have to. The kid who was driving accepted blame. He was underage and should have been driving with an adult.
AAA has been horrible through this entire process.
Why I'm telling you this:
After hearing that my issue was not taken seriously, and merely brushed off, I can't help but wonder, Is this behavior AAA policy? Does AAA encourage this behavior to intimidate accident victims in the hopes they will drop the issue?
Unacceptable. #TimesUp
As you may know, I'm not only a blogger but an Author and international writer. I've decided to research this issue, across all insurance providers, to see if this is the culture of the appraisal system.
Are auto appraisers trained to goad and intimidate, especially, women?
I will launch a full-blown assault on the Auto insurance industry if I find out intimidation is part of the culture. Haven't accident victims been through enough? Don't we pay our astronomical premiums to ensure auto accident victims are "made whole again." It sure doesn't seem so after my experience and the little research I've done so far.
Have you given up a claim after an incident similar to this?
Please, if you or someone you know had a similar experience, email me (April @ AprilMcCormick.com) or comment below.
