PCTG Consumer Complaint Report Record ID#: 1367590109

Department of Insurance Our customer was involved in two separate accidents with her 1999 Honda Civic. Her vehicle was brought to our repair facility on March 3, 2013. Our customer signed our repair authorization on March 8, 2013. This consumer complaint is a complaint against Progressive Insurance Company for illegally steering our customer away from our repair facility. When our customer contacted Progressive she was told to release her vehicle to her insurance company and they would move the vehicle to their repair facility. When our customer explained she wanted Crawford's to repair her vehicle she was told by the Progressive claim handler that she was required to move her vehicle to one of their Progressive repair facilities and she would have to contact Crawford's and release the vehicle to Progressive. When our customer contacted us to release the vehicle, we explained her consumer's rights under Pennsylvania Law and she should explain to her insurance company that an authorization to repair has been signed and they need to stop steering her into one of their repair facilities and to have an appraiser sent to Crawford's. On March 12, 2013 Progressive appraiser Mr. Jeremy Wolfe signed in our facility @ 1:00PM to inspect our customer's damages. Mr. Wolfe completed his assignment and signed out at 2:30PM. The repairs continued as per our customer's request and the vehicle delivered to her on April 1, 2013. This claim is an excellent example of how Progressive Insurance Company worked outside of the law to steer and direct our customer away from our facility. On several occasions our customer explained her choice of repair services to Progressive however they continued to steer and direct her away from Crawford's until she gave in and agreed to call Crawford's to release her vehicle to Progressive. Once our customer was able to convince Progressive she had the right to choose her repair service and she signed her repair authorization, Progressive sent out their appraiser. The law reads that Progressive must advised the customer they have a right to choose where her vehicle is repaired, that there is no requirement to use any specific repair shop. It is wrongful that Progressive badgers consumers into moving their damaged vehicle to contracted Progressive repair facilities. ---- "Not mention the name of any repair shop, unless the appraiser includes disclosure that there is no requirement to use any specified repair shop." ----- Our customer complained to Progressive and the claims supervisor listened to the recorded conversation between the claim rep and our customer. The supervisor apologized to our customer in agreement they had steered and directed her away from Crawford's Auto Center, Inc. Please investigate our allegations and file enforcement actions against Progressive for noncompliance of State Laws and Regulations.