Allstate Worst US Insurance Company, Lawyers Say
July 30th, 08The American Association for Justice (AAJ), an organization representing the concerns of lawyers mostly working for plaintiffs in civil trials, gave Allstate its lowest rating today in its study of US insurance companies. This statement comes on the heels of a long history of legal conflict between Allstate and its customers, who have been taking to court their demands for allegedly wrongfully withheld claims. The AAJ asserted today that Allstate is the worst insurance company in the country, based on the rates it charges its customers and its unfair treatment of many customers.
Allstate began to draw this criticism from the AAJ, and from consumer advocacy groups, at the end of 2007. The company petitioned the state of Florida to increase the rate on its Florida homeowners’ insurance by 40%–a move the state insurance officials found suspicious, as Allstate had decreased its Florida homeowners’ insurance rates by 14% just a few months prior. The Florida Department of Insurance was, additionally, wary of the fact that Allstate had denied homeowners’ insurance to 300,000 of one-time customers, forcing these paying individuals, whose risk-worthiness had not increased in any overt way, to seek homeowners’ insurance elsewhere.
As a consequence, the state of Florida launched an investigation of the company’s practices. Allstate drew additional ire from the public and from the lawyers that represent it when it declined to work together with the Florida state-employed investigators.
Meanwhile, Allstate continues to assert that its business decisions of the past few years were both legal and justifiable. The company claims that legitimate money worries made it force the 300,000 customers to leave. Allstate asserted that it needed to protect itself in the event of a major hurricane destroying the homes of its Florida policyholders. The company has been using the controversial new computerized models to predict the likelihood of natural disasters striking certain of its customers. These models suggest that there will be a dramatic increase in the frequency and severity of hurricane storms.
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You know I think all Florida home insurance consumers could understand on some level, Allstate trying to reduce its losses. But what really makes me mad is that they’ve moved forward with requesting massive increases when the rest of the Florida homeowner insurance companies have been required to present modest rates or even cuts.
The other frustrating thing is how unwilling some in Florida are to dump Allstate for a new company. Here is an article I read that helped me find a new company and move on:
http://www.homeinsurancebuyers.org/
Keep up the good work on this blog!