@libertymutual – David Long – To whom it may concern, We have insured Our family vehicles with Liberty Mutual for

Diane Benson sent a message to David Long that said:

To whom it may concern,

We have insured Our family vehicles with Liberty Mutual for years. The few times we have needed our insurance, your company has been great to work with. However, I made a claim (#046651435-01) on 8-22-21, but my experience was uncharacteristic of what I have come to love and expect from Liberty Mutual. I am writing to respectfully ask Liberty Mutual to review my case and make things right.

In August of 2020, my college-age daughter paid $5,500 for a 2009 Toyota Yaris after working 60-hour weeks all summer to save up for a car of her own. I called and added her car to our existing Liberty Mutual policy and paid premiums for a year believing the car was fully insured. On August 22, 2021, she totaled her car in an accident. We were STUNNED to discover the accident was not covered because the car did not have collision coverage.

I would NEVER knowingly purchase car insurance for her car without collision coverage. She used her ENTIRE savings to purchase the car and could not afford to repair or replace it. Also, she is still a young driver with only 5 years of experience. Carrying comprehensive coverage without collision on a $5,500 car makes no sense! If I used the word “comprehensive” during the call, it was with the assumption that comprehensive included full and complete coverage as is typical in the insurance industry.

Liberty Mutual advertises, “Only pay for what you need.” A poor, starving college student certainly needs collision coverage. The agent did not inform me that Liberty Mutual’s comprehensive plan did not have collision coverage. The agent should understand the coverages well enough to recognize liability/comprehensive coverage did not make sense in our situation.

I believe Liberty Mutual should cover the total loss of her car because they failed to provide the coverage I asked for. I am willing to pay additional premium to cover what I would have paid if the collision coverage had correctly been applied to our policy last August. The cost of replacement is a small price for Liberty Mutual to pay to retain our business and confidence for years to come. This accident was financially and emotionally devastating for my daughter, and she does not have the means to replace it. She has suffered loss twice—from the accident itself and from Liberty Mutual’s rejection of what should have been a covered claim. My knee-jerk reaction was to pull my Mazda from the policy when I discovered what happened with my daughter’s Toyota. I would gladly return to Liberty Mutual if I felt confident that they stood behind their customers.

Liberty mutual should, at the very least, reimburse us $320 for the cost of the storage since we were waiting for direction from the adjuster before moving forward. Three days after the accident, the adjuster left my daughter a phone message and sent her an email. She called him back and replied to his email, but he did not respond. I called several times trying to speak with a person but could not get beyond the automated system. I put the claim number in and was routed to the agent’s voicemail. I left a message, which he did not return.

On August 27–five days after the accident—we tried to leave another voice mail with the adjuster, but his voicemail was full. I searched the internet for customer service numbers, made several calls, pushed many buttons, and waited on hold until I finally connected with a live person. She tried to call the adjuster and his manager but said they were in a meeting. Later that day, his manager was made aware of the situation, and the adjuster called to say we did not have collision coverage, and we can only be reimbursed for the tow truck.

The news was shocking and incredibly frustrating. His initial email to us said, “When you call, I’ll walk you through the next steps: confirm the incident with you, obtain a statement from the driver of your vehicle, and schedule a review of your vehicle damage and set up a rental (if needed). Again, please contact me as soon as possible so we can discuss the details of your claim—and get you back on the road.”

His email clearly implied that the accident was covered. The claim report said that it was a collision. If he had read the policy and the report, he should have called immediately, told us that only the towing was covered and recommended that we take care of it as soon as possible so as not to incur storage costs from the towing company. After reading the email, I continued to assume that I had full coverage as I intended when I added the car to my policy.

Thank you for giving serious consideration to this matter.

Sincerely,
Diane Benson