Hagerty

Three months, countless calls to Hagerty shops in 150 mile radius, calls and emails not returned, I even started work on the car to try and make a shop find it less labor intensive. I was at a point of seriously considering MAACO. My car will never be the same having to use donor parts, not apply the vinyl top, the bumper on the back and more. I really feel Hagerty will make this situation whole. It's in their best interest financially. Less of a payout than the other shops. 2 weeks every day I contact, no reply. Email no reply. The part that is the worst is I was seriously in a situation this car would never be repaired! A true 1971 GTO numbers matching inside kept survivor!

I call the main claim number and they just leave a msg for the adjuster. "No real help there." I have called the adjuster's immediate supervisor over and over for a month and he will not return a phone call either. I guess you really know what kind of insurance company you have until you have to use it. I wish I would have come to the tons of bad reviews about this company. If anyone could help with a phone number to someone who can hold this Company accountable.

I think the problem is where Hagerty currently stands in their business world. In short, they are in a niche market where they are the king of the hill in a sort of monopoly for the serious car collector. So they act like a Big Kahuna but they are actually kind of a mom and pop operation particularly when it comes to their IT Dept. and payments, payouts and claims processing in general. And I am seeing consumer feedback here and elsewhere online that validates my issues and claims.

For example, I was going to be out of the country for a while. They wanted to send me a check for a claim. I asked them to do it via an ETF to my bank account. They said they aren’t set up for that. Snail mail only, written physical check only. WTH? All insurance and financial companies do this that I have ever interacted with in the last 5-10 years. They say they are working on being able to do this soon. Sure.

Even worse is the analog claims process. They e-mailed me an incident report for an accident that I had to: (1) download, (2) print, (3) fill out by hand, (4) scan and (5) snail mail back. It was incredibly long AND I had to actually draw by hand pictures of the intersection. This all needs to be automated to be done online. These are not Luddite times.

During my claim, I was always having to help the adjuster-for example, I gave her the address of the tow lot where the car was but it sat there for weeks and she asked again and I told her again so they eventually got it I guess. Talk about being proactive about business costs. This was just one of a plethora of issues with her.

During all of these issues I tried to work with management but no one would call my overseas local # or even try through Whatsapp since I was told that Hagerty doesn’t use Whatsapp and I naturally had no US based cell service to use my local US #.. However, a quote manager did see my pleas for help via an e-mail and he did reach out to me via his personal WA account, Tom **. That was quite unlike the actual claims manager, Jeff **, who was rude instead and was threatening me in a subsequent e-mail.

At this point, I’ve run out of things to say. Well, I would say that Hagerty is not alone in crony faux capitalism America these days.. Over the past 5-10 especially, I have seen an erosion of any decent level of customer service by the new stakeholder corporations and how they deal w/their customers. Regardless, I am mentally done with Hagerty. Good riddance.

This past summer on a beautiful Sunday afternoon I drove my classic the 10 miles to Snowshoe for lunch, and on the way back, another deer incident. This time with the Hagerty car. They gave no indication there was a problem until I tried to add a car, so a couple weeks ago I bought an almost new Land Cruiser, and an old Land Cruiser and called Hagerty to add it to the 6 other vehicles they are covering (and I have 3 under Geico) and I was told that they were cancelling my policy in March because I had too many claims. These were mainly with Geico, and were windshield claims, but if the windshield is over $500, Hagerty counts you as a high risk even if they don't pay out and it has nothing to do with them.

So....after all these years of loyal accident free ownership, after sending at least 5 people to them, they have left me stranded to fend for myself with my 6 cars, plus my latest acquisition. So....I feel I owe it to the public (since I spoke so highly of Hagerty for so many years, and convinced so many people to go with them while I was ignorant of the way they treat a person when the Deer strike) to inform you of the fact that if you have Hagerty, you had better never have a problem; on your Hagerty covered car or any other car, or they will give you the boot (unless my experience is a one off case of discrimination,) I felt as though I had been treated like a pariah; they showed me no mercy. A horrible feeling.

My opinion of them now? Well....I feel, based on my personal experience that they were brutally ruthless to me. I suppose I am a high risk danger to society in their eyes, having flown hundreds of thousands of passengers safely, flying in middle eastern conflicts for 12 years, driving a School Bus in college, a taxi; a lifetime of transporting people for hire without incident. Better hope no rocks hit your windshield. Ever. And do not cross the border into West Virginia, the most dangerous state for deer strikes.

You have no insurance with Hagerty, I'm lucky I never had an accident where I was at fault since 2016 as I would have found out the hard way, I have been driving my cherished classic with absolutely no insurance. Today, Dec 13, 2021 I filed a claim with Florida Dept of insurance regulation against Hagerty and Essentia Insurance. Filed a court case against Hagerty in Florida. But according to my research thus far, Hagerty is selling classic car insurance in State of Florida without reserves of any kind, it appears Essentia which underwrites Hagerty policies do not show any funds/reserves for Hagerty. Rather than wait for them to file bankruptcy and not pay for the coverage I had, I'm going after the owners as they appear to be in violation of Florida law so the corporate protection can and will be pierced. Corporate protection is available when a company is operating within the law. Hagerty is operating completely outside the law.

I will get paid, but it will consume funds I should be using to repair my Rolls, but they will pay. I gave them plenty of time. 90 days plus while I did not move forward with compliance and legal action, but criminals rarely voluntarily end their criminal enterprise. Hagerty will be forced to stop taking our money without providing coverage. Pissed off in Central Florida.