On July 27th, two cars veered off State Road 3 in LaGrange County. Both cars went onto the property of Lake-N-Land Storage. They not only damaged a sign and fencing but hit Tim Johnson's boat and trailer
Tim Johnson "both people had insurance, we figured that the boat would be taken care of"
The boat's trailer suffered the most damage, In the police report, driver #1 was faulted for an improper turn, but his insurance company,Progressive Insurance, did it's own investigation and sent Tim a letter indicating their driver wasn't at fault and his damages of a few thousand dollars wouldn't be covered
Tim Johnson "they said that we did our own investigation and we don't feel that our insured is at fault, therefore we are denying your claim"
Safe Auto covered the 2nd driver and also sent Tim a letter stating that they weren't paying. Tim's next move was correct in filing a complaint with the Indiana Department of insurance, they determine whether companies are denying claims that should be paid. An insurance company has 20 days to respond when the department looks into a complaint.
The Department of Insurance said they handle about 5-thousand complaints per year from consumers and while they've returned $8 million dollars to date to those consumers, they say most insurance companies are playing by the rules.
Betty Foy/Chief Deputy Commissioner, Indiana Department of Insurance "we have a few bad players but a majority of the companies are good"
Tim was told by the department that Progressive had followed the proper procedures. Progressive was quick to respond to our questions and said it's a misconception that because a driver was cited as "at fault" by law enforcement that they're automatically "at fault" in an insurance settlement. They maintain that their driver was not at fault. Tim says no one involved in the accident has been paid, including the owner of the storage facility.
Tim Johnson "people pay their premiums, you would think that insurance companies would step up and pay the claims, but they're not paying"
Tim will consider legal action since he's left with damages from an accident that he was not involved with.
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