I believe Auto-Owners Insurance (AO) underpaid me by $1-2 thousand. It seems they pick "convenient" comps when providing a valuation. I would imagine the 6 comps they used and the 5 comps I provided should both be considered part of the market and carry roughly equal weight when determining valuation. Their customer service was extremely pleasant, but it did not change the payout even in light of the following. I give AO a 2-star rating because they were polite instead of a 1-star rating since the only reason to have insurance is for financial protection with a fair payout (not achieved).
1. I filed an Uninsured Motorist claim for my totaled 2018 Toyota Yaris IA
2. AO calculated a valuation of $9,151 based on 6 comps that I deemed to be under market
a. CCC automatically deducted $1,299 from ALL comps used to compensate for "dealer condition"
i. A deduction is fair, but this seems a bit steep given that AO deemed my vehicle in "dealer condition" in many areas
3. AO solicited comps from me to substantiate my claim
4. I provided 5 local comps (listed below) which AO disregarded by claiming they are all outliers on the upper end of the market.
a. One of the managers I spoke to said, "When determining a value, the first thing CCC has to do is look at the market as a whole. The average market number for the loss vehicle comes from a much broader scope of comparables that determines where the average sits for the market. Comparables are then researched by CCC to reflect that market. CCC will also determine the outliers, meaning, they will find the ones that might be listed in the market and are drastically lower than the average, as well as those that are listed for much higher to ensure we find an accurate and fair value. Those outliers are not considered as they do not reflect the average for the market."
i. Comp 1 - Cars.com - 2018 Toyota Yaris IA - $12,995
ii. Comp 2 - Carvana - 2018 Toyota Yaris IA - $14,790
iii. Comp 3 - CarGurus - 2018 Toyota Yaris IA - $15,447
iv. Comp 4 - Cars.com - 2018 Toyota Yaris IA - $12,266
v. Comp 5 - Carvana - 2018 Toyota Yaris IA - $14,990
5. AO said they conducted extensive research and added 13 comps to the valuation. However, per the manager, these were for reference only and did not change any numbers.
6. In my opinion, AO has not provided a good explanation of why they ignored the comps. Using CCC as the backstop for their reasoning and to explain CCC seems to be circular and not based on the market.
a. To be fair, customer service has been very pleasant. However, nothing has changed based on my concerns.
7. In light of the lower comps used, this might be a great price. But based on the 5 comps I provided, I don't believe it is. read more
