Amazon Tried Not to Pay a Woman After Driver Totaled Her Car

https://jalopnik.com/amazon-wrecked-womans-car-and-tried-not-to-pay-her-1850409798

by t23 • 3 years ago

63 49 3 years ago

I’m naive to how American laws work, but why is Amazon involved at all?

When a company car hit me, I got insurance information from the driver and then the insurance companies dealt with each other. I was made whole in days.

piperswe2• 3 years ago

That's how it typically works in America as well. I'm thinking the victim here didn't have collision insurance, so their insurance company wouldn't be involved in this claim.

nvahalik• 3 years ago

Even if they did, it wouldn't matter unless they have what under most policies is considered "comprehensive coverage" (aka comp). Unless you buy a better policy, most jurisdictions only require you to have a collision/liability policy... where if you hit someone, the insurance company pays for the damages.

If someone hits your car while it is parked, your insurance company would only be involved if the driver doesn't have insurance. And even then, ONLY if you have a policy which covers it. If it's a hit-and-run, and you don't have comp, you will be out of luck. (This happened to us once...)

Symbiote• 3 years ago

I think the article is written for the anti-Amazon headline. It refers to "Amazon’s insurance company" partway through.

(There is some responsibility for Amazon -- if they don't want articles like this, they should choose a better insurance company.)

Waterluvian4• 3 years ago

It scares me more to think that the auto insurer is being like this and not Amazon.

Is everything a high anxiety uphill battle when it comes to insurance in the states? They don’t just profit by volume and are, ultimately, a very boring industry?

IOT_Apprentice2• 3 years ago

The description of the incident was their driver destroyed her parked car. They determined it was totaled and sat on it for TWO months. Having dealt with insurance companies you are tied to the behavior and efficiency of the adjuster at that firm. I had a situation where we burned through the 1st one quitting the company with zero notification, then an another who did nothing either.

In this case, publicly going to Amazon via the press was the right call and forced the resolution of the issue.

Beyond that Amazon, as a company is known for treating its employees poorly, more so the warehouse workers, drivers and also the tech side of the house. It is what it is.

IOT_Apprentice2• 3 years ago

It is an Amazon Delivery Truck, owned by Amazon, and insured by whoever they use. Whoever the insurance company was they were slow walking resolving this when it was clear they hit her parked car in her driveway.

The Insurance company dropped the ball, and by going to Amazon it forced the hand of the insurer to pay up after burning 2 months of time.

Waterluvian4• 3 years ago

True. This might just be a sloppy jalopy of an article. Insurer drops the ball. Get Amazon’s attention via a reporter and suddenly someone at Amazon is calling their counterpart at the insurer asking WTF?

WarOnPrivacy• 3 years ago

Florida allows self-insurance if you post a bond.

Aloha2• 3 years ago

Large companies are usually self insured by posting a surety bond with the state they operate in.

In this case Amazon was their own insurance company - now if her insurer was involved or not is a matter of how she chose to approach the issue, and whatever coverages she has.

Waterluvian4• 3 years ago

Wow really? That sounds like a horrible setup. It would really help for an insurer to be at least arm’s-length from the fleet employer.

ntac• 3 years ago

It's possible Amazon self insures. A lot of large companies do and in my experience, it's a nightmare for their victims.

fishtoaster• 3 years ago

The title doesn't seem to reflect the actual content:

They made her wait more than two months while they decided whether or not they were originally right about the car being totaled. Maybe they were going to try to fix it.

So it sounds like Amazon was dragging their feet figuring out if they were going to pay for replacing a totaled car or pay for fixing a near-totaled car. Then a reporter got involved and the expedited it.

That doesn't exactly reflect well on Amazon, but it also doesn't sound like the headline ("they tried to not pay at all") was actually the case.

civilized• 3 years ago

If they want to provide evidence that they were pushing a reasonable process forward I don't think there's anything stopping them.

And for anyone who wants to know more about why this might happen - look into Delay, Deny, Defend, the strategy McKinsey proposed to help Allstate increase its profits.

CydeWeys• 3 years ago

Two months is an awfully long time to go with no working car and no money to buy a new one. This could be a substantial hardship.

Gibbon1• 3 years ago

Tip from my old boss. If it's 100% the other parties fault first sign of push back from the insurance company go out and rent a car.

btilly• 3 years ago

After 2 months of waiting, it is a reasonable conclusion that they were hoping that if they just waited long enough, they would never have to pay.

This certainly isn't the behavior that I'd expect out of a customer obsessed company like Amazon aims to be. Certainly someone failed miserably at the first leadership principle, Customer Obsession.

https://www.amazon.jobs/content/en/our-workplace/leadership-...

gumby• 3 years ago

Is insurance weird in Florida? In most states I know of your insurance takes care of you and then hashes out the details with the other vehicle's insurer. At least that's what happened in the few situations I or family members have had.

hamandcheese• 3 years ago

Florida has one of the highest rates of uninsured motorists (about 1 in 5 drivers are uninsured) so perhaps the woman did not have insurance herself.

sokoloff2• 3 years ago

If you have collision insurance, you can submit through your insurance and let them subrogate the claim against the at-fault driver. If you don’t, as is common for an older/lower value car, your insurance has no obligation to help you.

tyjen2• 3 years ago

I would avoid letting your insurance "take care of you" if your car is totaled. Insurance companies push through these transactions fast and loose, of course to their monetary benefit and your detriment. For instance, my insurance company's proposed settlement offer to take care of my totaled vehicle was about ~$5k less than the what I negotiated with the at-fault driver's insurance company.

I'd recommend reviewing up your local laws and negotiating accident settlements with insurance companies yourself unless there are physical injuries involved or need to take someone to court.

em-bee2• 3 years ago

i am confused that there is any need to negotiate. in austria or germany the insurance pays exactly the amount for an equivalent replacement car (minus the value of the totaled car, if any)

miked852• 3 years ago

This is an insurance company issue, not an Amazon one.

konschubert• 3 years ago

Isn't Amazon self-insuring its fleet?

miked852• 3 years ago

I believe they offer an option to go through them, but it isn't mandatory.

fmajid• 3 years ago

They've done far worse and tried to disclaim responsibility for fatal accidents caused by their over-worked and exhausted truckers under the pretext they are independent contractors:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/the-deadly-toll-of-a...

Amazon Tried Not to Pay a Woman After Driver Totaled Her Car

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