Bristol West Insurance Reviews

This is the worst company on earth to deal with. In a time of need they have done nothing but make me feel Terrible, as if I have done something wrong when in fact I am the victim in this situation. Rude, Careless, Horrible Claims Handlers who make you feel like a POS and end every single phone call in tears. So what happened was my bf who is unlicensed stole my car in the middle of the night, I did not give him permission to do so, I woke up to the Police at my door explaining that he had got into an accident after a pursuit with the police. A complete nightmare, my car totaled, him in jail and me left with no vehicle and his 2 year old daughter.

Few weeks ago my wife & I were driving along & out of nowhere a deer jumped out in front of us. There was just enough time to step on the brakes but still no way to avoid hitting it. The damage was done & we sat on side of the road & waited for the sheriff to show up. The next day of going through the insurance process, we brought the vehicle to a garage for a estimate. It's been two weeks & the person at the garage has been sending faxes & e-mails to the adjuster & giving him a run around. I tried contacting the adjuster a few times myself after finding out he was having a tough time with them & they still haven't contacted me back. Now my family & I have been vehicles for two weeks.

Please think very carefully before signing up with this company unless you want to have countless ISSUES. I signed up with Bristol West on a 6 month contract, in that whole time I needed to use my roadside assistance ONCE because my car battery died, I called them and they said that I needed to arrange everything myself and pay out of pocket and then send the claim to them and they would 'consider' if they would accept the claim. I pay extra for roadside assistance and was told that I would have great service, have someone come out and help me, no worries, everything included only to be told otherwise on the day I needed help.

I seriously wish I hadn't signed with Bristol WEST. I also thought I was signing up with Farmers Insurance, NOT! I just made my second payment on policy before the due date. The male individual took my information, assured me that my account wouldn't be debited because I paid ahead of time. The next following week, before my payday, Bristol West debited my account when there was no money in there. To top it off, I had to pay a fee to the BANK. I am on week three and the branch office in Arizona said it's been processed. How long does it take? Geez! Now the next payment is due, and I still haven't receive my reimbursement. The icing on the cake, I never knew there is charge for EFT for each payment? Looking to find different insurance carrier.

CAN YOU SAY BROKER'S fee? SO NICE AND HELPFUL until they get their fee and don't send the appropriate paperwork to their affiliate and try to cancel your policy for their mistake. What a joke. If you call yourself a broker, that's exactly what you're doing - making people broker. You should be ashamed to call yourself an insurance company.

Bristol West, how in the world are you going to charge me an early termination fee when I've been a customer since 2003? I told my family and friends to drop their policies with you. Over the years my premium had skyrocketed almost every 6 months.

I was charged $309.00 by this company and never authorized this charge. I assume this company has a very aggressive commission structure and credit card scammers might be using them to process stolen credit cards.

I got insurance. My first payment was supposed to be big and the following ones much less expensive. Come to find out they were the same amount. I have the Insurance Commissioner's office looking into it. They have billed outrageously and I cancelled them. I paid up to date and they are still charging me.

Filed a complaint on date of accident. Was told I'd be hearing from them in the next business day. It's been over a week and I can't get a hold of our claims representative. All calls go directly to voicemail. I'm facing over 1,000 worth in damages for a little bumper tap. They don't seem to care about your claim. All they want is your monthly payment. Don't use this company ever.

My accident was in the middle of August. It is October now and they still haven't settled. Why? Well, the main reason is because no one there picks up their phone. Their representative left a voice mail with a return number for me to call. I called it about 15 minutes after I missed her call and she was already gone. Her voice mail informed me that she was on vacation for a week and a half. She didn't leave me with any other phone numbers or emails to contact her staff with. The day she got home, I received 1 voice recorded call and then another call saying my rental car was to be turned in that day even though they had done nothing. It takes 7 calls to get a hold of one person.

I can't believe this. I filed a claim a day before but they switched my adjuster and made a new claim number without notifying me first. Then she gave my case back to the first guy w/o telling me again. No one responded to my calls or had any info I provided about 5 times. When the (first) adjuster finally called, he made an extremely racist comment against my ethnicity and when I called him out, he raised his voice and responded with bad, bad attitude. I couldn't be more shocked!!!!! His name is Brian **, fyi. Don't use this company. They are rude, unprofessional, and apparently has "no way to make any complaints".

A friend of mine was driving my insured vehicle. Unbeknownst to me, his license had been suspended when he was driving my car and hit another car. He checked out on me and so did Bristol. They ended up finding his driver's license in the DMV files only to find out it was suspended and now I'm left paying $11,000 for an accident I wasn't even in the country for. Shame on you, Bristol! My car should have been covered! I pay for coverage on time - every month! I should have lied to your punk ** and said it was a hit and run... Ugh! Pissed!

I do not have Bristol West as an insurance company, thank the good Lord, but someone who hit me did have it. It took more than two months to settle the claim. No one returned my calls for a month. I was not sure if anyone even worked there. Then my claim was turned over to another adjuster. They paid for my rental car but took it away when we "settled" the claim, meaning they told me how much the check was going to be for (my car was totaled). It took another three weeks for them to even mail the check. ** Bristol West! I am so excited to be done with those ** morons. What a nightmare. The check still has not come and it has been 3 weeks since it was "settled."

I am more than furious with the injustice this company is getting away with. I have been with other insurance companies & never experienced this before. In the last two policy renewals, which occur every 6 months, my payments have increased with approx. $50 per month every time, adding up to $100 per month in the last year alone. I have reached out to them & have received no reasonable reason & no adjustments whatsoever! I have had it with them. I am ready to find me an insurance company that's not a gold-digger like Bristol West & their counterpart, Farmers. For anyone out there looking for an insurance company, please stay away from both of them. Trust me, it will spare you a lot of money & headaches/stress.

I signed up for insurance with Farmers a year and a half ago. After 6 months, my policy increased $50.00. I called to ask why and was told it was across the board increases. Not great but I accepted. Now another 6 months later, another $50.00 increase. Again, I was told across the board increases. $100.00 increase for no apparent reason in a year and a half is crazy. I am waiting to hear back to see what can be done. If nothing, I will be shopping elsewhere.

I thought I was signing up for Farmer's Insurance but it turns out to be Bristol West. I was quoted at $241 a month, then it jumped up to $385 less than 2 weeks. Who in their right mind is going to pay 385 dollars for a 2005 Lexus IS300?! So, I canceled with them and now they're charging me a $231 canceling fee. According to them, the 5 months that I won't be using with them, I will be charged 10% of my premium. How does a company quote a low premium then raise it drastically and expect you to stay with them? Then it's legal for them to charge you the canceling fee because you don't stay with them. They're a bunch of crooks! Plus, the agent's name was Nash ** based out of Millington, TN. He doesn't like to return calls. I'd rather crash into a tree than use this company.

We switched to Farmers a year ago, got a good deal on cars and house. Unknown to us, Farmers outsourced our policy to Bristol West. We received an increase of $67.00 after the first 6 months. We weren't happy but paid. Our insurance was due to be renewed this past week. The amount due was $248.36 higher for an increase of $315.36 in a year! And no, no accidents, no tickets, nothing whatsoever. I started shopping immediately. I would not recommend this company for any insurance for anyone. Oh and they raised the home insurance too.

I bought a car last year. The dealer recommended me an agent which I never met. She told me she would sign up Farmers Insurance for me, but she ended up giving me a company called Bristol West Insurance, which is not what I heard or wanted. When I received the paperwork, I found out this Bristol West Insurance is some company under Farmers. I was charged of $105, but I then disputed this charge and talked to one of Bristol West’s agent together with the bank representative. The charge was refunded and I thought it is over, but later on Bristol West Insurance kept sending me bill of $101.80 and even sent it to a collections agency. I had to call this Bristol West again and one supervisor told me if I could show proof that I have insurance covered since November 7 of 2011 (I bought the car on the 6th), then they will solve this. I have sent them my State Farm Insurance policy effective on November 7th, 2011. But Bristol West still keeps billing me for $95.80. The issue is never over. I have called them many times for hours, but they don't do anything.

Bristol West has provided horrible service with my insurance policy. Last year, I was in an accident for which I was not at fault. I discovered one year later that Bristol West had flagged me "at fault" and overcharged me. When I brought it to their attention, they issued a credit, however, I am unable to verify whether they reimbursed me correctly because every time I added or deleted a car, they changed the assignment of drivers and it's impossible to figure it out.

Bristol West is charging me a fee to cancel my policy with them. They rationalize it by claiming that if the cell phone companies can do it, so can they. However, I'm not required to get a cell phone. I am required to get an auto insurance.

I received a renewal policy from my broker One Stop Auto Insurance in Costa Mesa, CA. They transferred me from AIG to Bristol West with a $615.80 increase in my auto insurance for bare bones minimum liability auto coverage. What is this increase based on? In August 2008, I was struck by a driver 30 years younger than me who was driving his wife’s car. He looked right at me and kept driving. He took out half of my passenger car resulting in $4500 worth of damage. Am I paying for his inability to drive? This is outrageous! You people are scamming the public.

I had been with Bristol West for 3 years. It went ok. They charged my card for monthly payment until I was a little late on one month so I paid the $25 fee and called them to verify that my coverage would resume. I talked to a rep there and he assured me all would be a track again but they cancelled me, he didn't tell me what I had to do to keep the things rolling. He just said to me over the phone it's ok, all is well. I asked him 3 times! But to no avail. It was not all right! I had to start up all over again and pay freeway insurance $300 to start up a new policy. I was furious!

I recently cancelled my coverage with Bristol West because I could not afford their rate hike. I financed a vehicle and the insurance tripled. I found a better rate with another insurer. I then cancelled my policy with Bristol West and they are now charging me a fee to cancel. Please help!

I received a check from Bristol West Insurance Group in the amount of $3880.30. A letter from Reader's Digest accompanied the check saying that I had won $355,069.00 in a sweepstakes draw. The letter went on to say that the credit department of Reader's Digest failed to notify me back in November 2009 that I had won. I am supposed to keep this award confidential until my claim is processed and the price remitted to me. I am supposed to call a phone number to activate my claim. The letter states that they sent the check for $3880.30 to help me cover any charges that may be required before I receive my winnings. I need to know if this is a scam or if other people have received this same notice. I found one article from a Rachelle from Glendale Arizona on the consumer complaint webpage describing exactly what I have just described but she did not elaborate on whether she actually received her money or not. I could not tell whether she was complaining about Bristol West or Reader's Digest. The letter has many typos and does not sound official in some aspects. I need to know if this is a scam and I don't know where to turn.

We had a total loss situation for a 2007 Ford F150 pickup. Because of Bristol West's mistakes, delays, and incompetence, it took 4 and a half months to resolve this claim. After three CCC reports due to their mistakes, sloppy paperwork, wrong names and dates, and wrongly denied coverages, they wanted to give us an unreasonable settlement, which is approximately $5000 less than the vehicle was worth.

I was rear ended by one of their insured in May of this year and all I get is the runaround from them. Here it is now Aug 5th. I had a passenger in my car who was a witness to the accident but they failed to do their job and did not contact him to get a statement as to what happened. They keep telling me that the person who rear ended my car won't give his statement but I feel they are using it as an excuse to not do the right thing when I had my co-worker in the passenger seat. When I first reported the claim, they didn't want his info at all. It seems so shady that I can't get my car fixed and there are tons of complaints against this company on the internet with the same problem as I have.

I have a trouble with my insurance company called Bristol West. The person of the insurance company who is in charge of me, her office is in Phoenix. I have received a check from my insurance company due to a collision issue of my car. However, I needed to send it to Toyota Financial once to get their signature, but they never received the check and I thought the check has been lost somewhere. Then I am trying to reach the person at the insurance company to let her know all the details regarding this issue. However, she never answers the phone and I left her messages more than 3 or 4 times. I also had talked to the other representative and told her all the issue I am suffering, but she said that I only can leave a message to the person and I have to wait till she calls me back. I have been wasting my time by calling this person for more than 3 weeks so far and I am seriously concerned about my check.

When my husband died, I wanted to take his name off the policy. They made me start the policy and over-charged me almost three hundred dollars. When I wanted to remove to cars from my policy, they said I had to start a new policy again! They again charged me almost three hundred dollars! Then, they said I was not covered for two months and told me I had to pay two hundred dollars more to continue my policy! I called canceled the policy! Now, I am getting bills from them for five hundred dollars! No more!

We received a notice that there was a class action suit over 3 years ago and I needed to do NOTHING to be included, but have not received any other information, Please advise what to do!

Cancelled insurance policy, after payment had been sent on time for non-payment of premium, could not locate the check that was mailed to them for 3wks. after recieving a cancellation letter from the company on September 01, 2007 sent a letter requesting that they enforce the cancellation and return the payment, they proceesed the payment and offered to send a $17.00 refund check. After they unable to verify that they had received the payment on September 07, I obtained a new policy with a different provider, but i'm being charged for services they did not render.

I was in an accident September 7th, 2005, not my fault at all, I called the morning of the accident knowing I only had liability, but I wasn't sure if I had towing and I asked the claim dept. and they said no - you have liability only. Then I recieved a check in the mail 15 days after my accident, and I thought maybe since I didn't have a car to insure anymore, they returned my premium. Then my Laywer recieves a letter from my insurance company stating that I was cancelled due to non-payment. The funny part was that I had auto-withdrawal from my bank account setup - so I went and found where they withdrew the money and sent that in prooving that I did pay them, happened to be the day before they say I was cancelled. Then they wrote another letter stating that in fact they made a mistake, I was really cancelled for non-proof of mileage. Another bogus reason - but I don't know how to proove that they never even asked me for some kind of proof of mileage.

I called the Marshall Insurance Agency, who utilize Bristol West Insurance Group as an underwriter. Marshall Insurance originally quoted standard liability insurance rates for me of $76 per month, without any tickets or accidents in the last three years, plus a non-refundable processing charge of $60. Each consequtive month, the insurance rate was raised. After four months, the rate was raised to the amount of $92 a month, plus a $11 Installment fee, and a $10 late fee. The total was $113 each month. The first excuse; Bristol said that the rates were being raised as a result of going through Marshall Ins Agency to utilize them. This was not brought to my attention prior to the original contract being signed. The second excuse; a ticket from over three years earlier had not yet been removed from my record.

I have had insurance through Bristol West Insurance (brokerage--Eastwood Insurance) for over two years. When I was to renew my insurance in July, I received notices in May that my insurance would be coming up for renewal. The first year I was insured, my monthly payments were $70+ per month (I can't remember exact figure). For 2002, I was informed that I would receive a good driver discount and my payments were down to $66 per month.