quichedem

iTrader: (4)

Because there are not many choices here in southern Louisiana, my only viable choice for car insurance was Hagerty. Other than the high premium (I pay over $1,300/year) for 2000 miles and $50k valuation, I never had any issues with Hagerty. Until recently.

In mid-late October, I was West-bound on the highway between Louisiana and Mississippi, and caught a rock to the windshield. No crack, but quite a chip around a quarter sized diameter. I was sweating this because I have read in the past that replacements can be difficult to find. I set-off to get the chip assessed, by casually sending an email to Hagerty on the 29th (a Saturday) asking what their windshield policies are. Wednesday, I receive a call from someone from Hagerty asking about my claim. I mention that I was not filing a claim yet, but wondered what their SOP is. I was told to schedule an appointment with a glass repair company. Typically, my main auto insurer, Allstate, would offer to arrange glass assessment and repair on my behalf. Not so much with Hagerty. Hagerty's policy is to cover a discretionary repair amount (I guess up to a couple hundred) by way of reimbursement, but the insured pays their full deductible if a full replacement is necessary.

The following Friday (Nov. 4), I called Safelite, and schedule an appointment. I tell them my insurer is Hagerty, and they mention they will contact Hagerty. Someone from Saflite shows-up, and I'm told that they will need payment from me. I sign some stuff, and the Saflite person goes to work on a repair. When it's all said and done, I pay $105. I get the receipt from Safelite emailed to me on the following Sunday (Nov.6), and I promptly forward to Hagerty. So far, it seems nobody works at Hagerty on the weekends.
After not hearing anything for close to a week, I call Hagerty to speak with someone about the claim status. This is where things slow down. Since forwarding the receipt, I heard nothing back. Around Wednesday of the following week, I get someone on the phone, and ask what is taking so long. The Hagerty person has no status update, but offers to take a message for the agent "handling" my claim. To-date, I still haven't actually spoken with that agent. Currently, she is on vacation with nobody following-up on her claims. A few more days pass by, and I receive an email on Nov. 17th from a 3rd party insurance company, named Markel, who owns another company named Essentia who underwrites Hagerty claims. How about that? To receive a direct deposit, I have to agree to Markel's terms and conditions. I have a few minutes that day, so I read the Ts & Cs... Not only do I need to agree with the deposit, but I have to agree with them taking money from my account if they mess-up and over disburse. My insurance agreement is with Hagerty, so Markel won't get any agreements from me. This shouldn't work for anyone, so I promptly call (still Nov. 17th) Hagerty and tell them I do not agree and to mail me a check. I'm told that the offer from Markel expires in 4 days, and just wait because a paper check would be issued. I let Hagerty know that this is unreasonable, that the whole ordeal has been unreasonable, and ask why it's such a problem to ask for a check to just be cut an mailed that day. The Hagerty person on the phone that day (Nov. 14th or 15th) said she would get that done. This was, of course, a lie.

Again, not having heard anything back since last week, I call again today to complain about the same problem. I also realize the previous lie and still have to wait for the paper check to be issued. Looks like I'll be waiting, as no one at Hagerty seems to be concerned with any part of my claim.
My point is this (also something I told the Hagerty person): If it takes the better part of a month to get a windshield repaired, I cringe to find out what I'll have to go through if I need to total my FD and need my full pay-out! My plan, should that happen, is to handle everything through an attorney.

TL;DR: Hagerty is a publicly-traded company, and they treat their insured customers the way a publicly-traded company treats non-shareholders.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

That’s unfortunate you don’t have many insurance companies available to you.
This being said, everyone knows getting anything done thru insurance is going to be a nightmare. Especially when it’s a smaller “specialty “ shop. Did you honestly think they were going to treat you as if you mattered??
Also, it’s a small chip repair. You “claimed” a $100 repair thru them?? That’s super strange…

Despite having many insurance companies in my area, I refuse to use these speciality shops because there are a ton of fine print restrictions. Can’t use the vehicle unless it falls under certain criteria. It’s my vehicle and I’ll use it however I see fit. Thus I’m stuck paying a “regular” insurance company premium for my now 28yr old ride. Just another expense you have to live with when you own a collectible.

ATC529R

thx for the heads up. I have hagerty; hope i never need them.

c0rbin9

iTrader: (2)

I have Hagerty as well and experienced the same unresponsiveness when I had a claim on my other car. The estimate itself was fair, but the communication was lacking and the payment process was convoluted. Was surprising since I would have expected more from Hagerty.

arghx

iTrader: (3)

They don't have a lot of resources processing $105 comprehensive claims because there isn't a lot of demand. Making small claims is a bad idea in general. They will raise your rates next time and you will pay more in premiums than whatever you got from Hagerty. I don't make insurance claims unless they are in the thousands of dollars range. I have a friend who has over 6 cars with them (lot of older European cars), and they will pay out his claims no problem. A lot of their customers have a bunch of collector cars, and if one gets some minor damage they just drive another one and eventually get the damaged one fixed. It's a whole different concept than insuring daily drivers or even regular weekend drivers.

Also, Hagerty is actually a pretty small company. They have an office in northern Michigan. It's not a gigantic skyscraper with tons of people in call centers.

Your premium is not especially high as car insurance costs have been increasing in general. Insurance premiums are based on amount of overhead (call center staff, sales offices, etc, like a traditional agent) and based on risk. The more claims you make, or the more miles you drive, the higher risk of a customer you are (setting aside covered value or your driving record). The more demands you have for service, the higher their overhead will be, and the higher their rates go.

quichedem

iTrader: (4)

For this first point, your're right, but Allstate and State Farm don't seem to have much trouble at all. As a matter of fact, Safelite does most of their work for them.

Second, I noticed that many folks haven't actually read my story. I did not immediately move to file a claim. I asked Hagery what their policy was, and they initiated a claim. All the things I did were instructed by Hagerty.

Final thing, and I'm sure most of you did not notice because it apparently wasn't very newsworthy: Hagerty is a publicly-traded company, as of late last year. I would not label a company that purchased the Concourse d'Elegance as "small."

arghx

iTrader: (3)

I did read your story, and I do think you're expecting full service insurance company experience for a collector insurance price. For example I had State Farm for 10+ years. I switched to progressive, and I generally pay less, but I don't have a neighborhood office I can go to anymore. They have less overhead but less amenities.

Getting back to your details: If safelite says "what's your insurance company?" all you had to say is that you're paying out of pocket, which is exactly what I've done with Safelite when getting glass fixed. I think I paid around $1100 out of pocket to get the rear windshield fixed on a 2019 Mustang, but my insurance had a $1000 deductible. Of course I could have had a lower deductible and higher premium... but in the end it costs more. This is like insurance 101. If you run the numbers there's a financial incentive to not make a claim.

If you called Hagerty and they told you to file a claim, then you can follow through with it or not follow through with it. "Nevermind, it's only $105, I'll let this one go." You decided to follow through with it, which is fine. They're not going to tell you that if you make a claim they'll raise your rates, but I would be really surprised if they don't. They took a while to get back to you because their business model is not about having a fast response time. This is just a mismatch in expectations.

Being a public company doesn't mean it's a big public company with a huge staff. It's not in the S&P 500.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

I’ve had not one but two windshields replaced (not repaired) over the years on the FD. Both were the only claims since the car was insured with Hagerty. And with both my experience was pretty much a 180 from yours.
As I recall in both instances I contacted the glass shop, got an estimate, snapped a pic of it and the windshield to send in to Hagerty, and had a check in the mail for that amount in a couple of days. The last time as I recall the check arrived even before the car was able to be scheduled in. Zero deductible on comp…somewhere around $450 I think.
The last claim was probably 5 years or so ago. I don’t recall noticing my premium increase afterward, so if there was one, it wasn’t significant.

IMAGINETHAT

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear that. Perhaps I missed it, did they replace your windshield entirely or repair the chip ?

mr2peak

$105..

quichedem

iTrader: (4)

Not about the money, smart ***.

For everyone else,
Again, this is about the change in the way hagerty handles it's customers. This is a suggestion to our community to make sure you are exploring your insurer options, which are few to start with.

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Thanks for posting this. I'll be shopping for insurance when I get my car back from paint and back together.