Oregon Travelers Insurance Claims for Personal Injury

Travelers offered their first car insurance policy in 1897 to a man named Gilbert Loomis. He was a mechanic who built a one-cylinder car, and Travelers Insurance Company sold him a policy to protect him in the event of personal injury or loss of life. Since then, Travelers have grown to become one of the ten largest car insurance companies in America, with almost 3% of the entire market. They directly employ more than 30,000 people and have 13,000 independent agents scattered across the country. Travelers is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is ranked at around the 100-mark of the Fortune 500. They have the financial resources their founder, James Batterson, could never have imagined when he opened the doors in 1865, but when it comes to Travelers Insurance Oregon claims, does the company with the red umbrella logo really provide good “cover” to its customers?

Travelers Insurance Called “About Average”

In Oregon, Travelers Insurance customers can file claims online, get service (allegedly) 24 hours a day, and Oregon is also one of just four states, along with Illinois, Ohio and Virginia, where drivers can sign up to Travelers’ “IntelliDrive” program, which offers additional discounts to low mileage drivers.

In spite of this, customer satisfaction with Travelers is lukewarm at best. In a J.D. Power and Associates press release in October, 2011, Travelers received a score of 848 points out of a possible 1,000, in a survey of more than 11,000 customers. That score ranks just two points above the industry average and in all, the company could fare no better than eighth out of the 25 companies included in the survey. The J.D. Power Circle Rating was three out of five, which gives them a mark of “about average.”

Travelers Accused of Inflating Prices

Travelers was named as a defendant, along with a number of other large insurance companies, in a lawsuit which accused them of bid rigging, in order to falsely inflate premium prices. The company was also involved in a scheme whereby they paid brokers profit-sharing commissions in addition to standard commissions, in order to steer so-called independent brokers towards recommending and selling Travelers policies to customers who knew nothing of the commission arrangements. The courts considered this practice to be contrary to the best interests of the insurance company’s customers. Travelers pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to pay a multi-million dollar settlement.

Other Travelers’ practices which have drawn the ire of various state agencies and consumer groups include:

• Their website tells customers that their insurance company’s claim representative is the main point of contact for any questions they may have about their accident, and…
• The website deliberately steers people away from calling a personal injury attorney, whereas when filing Travelers Insurance Oregon claims, a Portland personal injury attorney is the first person anyone should call if they’ve been injured in an accident, after they’ve received the necessary medical attention.
• When a personal injury lawyer is retained, those making Travelers Insurance Oregon claims suddenly receive improved offers.
• Travelers Insurance was forced to remove a TV ad campaign from the airwaves in Texas, because they were making misleading claims about the possibility of someone losing their house if they were underinsured.

Travelers Customers Rated Them 2 out of 5

About 50% of the company’s customers are satisfied with the service and price they receive, according to an online review of automobile insurance companies. In that survey, Travelers received a rating of just 2 out of 5, however, and this appeared to be due to the company’s practice of continually increasing premiums, even when circumstances haven’t changed and no claim has been filed. They also have been accused of their own clients of both delaying and denying legitimate claims, as well as offering extremely low settlements.

Travelers Insurance Claims Delay and Denied

One driver sent an official complaint when his car was written off in an accident. He said Travelers had undervalued his car to the tune of $3,800 compared to its NADA blue book value. After four months, no settlement had been reached.

A customer whose parked car was damaged by a hit-and-run driver was told his Travelers claim had been denied. The insurance company said he must have taken the car out at night, crashed it himself and taken it back to where it had originally been parked. This man had been a customer of Travelers for almost five years, with no previous claims.

When it comes to Travelers Insurance Oregon claims, it seems likely that the injured party will be offered less than their claim is worth, particularly if they deal directly with the insurance company, which is what Travelers’ website encourages all people making claims to do. The best independent advice for any Oregonian who is filing a claim against Travelers Insurance is to contact a reputable Portland injury lawyer first. Let them negotiate a fair and speedy settlement on your behalf. They deal with Travelers Insurance and other insurance companies on a daily basis, and understand very well how the system works. They can use that practical experience to your advantage, to get you the compensation you deserve, and get it quickly.