Nationwide Insurance It was the first of October, a delightful day as I drove east on I-40 late afternoon approaching Exit 18 seeing traffic bunching up in the right lane. The line of cars ahead were halted and I began slowing down. Still moving at about fifteen miles per hour, my small Mitsubishi suddenly jerked violently, ejecting the contents of the center console, throwing coins like projectiles across the car interior. The violent jolt and deafening noise left me stunned. Realizing I had been hit from behind, I immediately steered onto the freeway shoulder, turning on the flashers, trying to gather my thoughts and understand what happened. After a time I did the usual things in such a situation, going to the other car, verifying all were ok, exchanging information and so on. This was my first accident in over thirty years and I diligently went through the insurance company check list pulled from the glove box. I called Nationwide, the company representing the man who struck me. The representative expressed customary regret for my misfortune then began the process to see about my car. First I needed an estimate of damages. I went to a Collision Center I frequently passed on a major street in my area. The cost to repair the damages was about nine hundred dollars, mainly replacing the rear bumper which had been dented. I left the car for repairs and I was provided a rental car from Enterprise next door. Later further damage was found to the trunk well and some connectors, but the final estimate was still only 50% of the car’s value. After a couple days I learned from the repair shop the car had been declared a “total loss”. A curt Nationwide email announcing the “settlement” had four attached files with details of the method used to arrive at this decision. Downloading, opening and reading such files requires effort and for the moment I ignored them. Later as I questioned what was happening, I studied the documents, discovering Nationwide had contrived to make a determination of “total loss”, allowing an immediate settlement and closure of the case. They had done this by having the collision center inflate the quote with the costs to repair minor damage from years ago, the replacement of a rear quarter panel. In other words, they ginned up repair estimates to the full cost of restoring my car to a like new, unblemished condition. The slight dent on the side panel, of course, was pre-existing and only taken into account to get the repair costs up to the “magic number” necessary to deem the car a “total loss”, the insurance company’s overbearing goal. This best outcome for Nationwide would be the worst thing possible for me. Their “settlement” included payment for the “salvage” value of my car and I had to insist to the agent that my car was just fine, only had a wrinkled rear bumper, and I wanted to keep it. I had purchased the car brand new, kept it in the garage its entire life, and done routine maintenance myself. It was a very reliable car and although 15 years old, still like new. Ok, she said; they would deduct the salvage value from the settlement and allow me to keep it. Now that my car had been unfairly condemned, the body shop would not touch it. Worse still, they denied me the right to come and drive it away. I was forced to have my car towed to a reputable collision center that would replace the back bumper, which turned out to be far less than the trumped up estimates Nationwide had determined in collusion with the original repair shop. Once the insurance company made a “settlement”, I heard no more from them. No one explained to me what was happening, how the “total loss” designation, Nationwide’s overbearing goal, was a disaster for me. Besides being shunned by the first collision center (partially losing ownership rights to my car), my car now classed as junk requiring a tow away, I learned the next month on reading my credit card bill I had been charged for the final week’s use of the rental car when my vehicle was still in the shop and I had no other transportation. When first picking up the rental, the agent had asked for my credit card, saying a one dollar charge would be applied which would be refunded after return of the car. My card number was needed “for any ‘incidentals’ incurred”. After Nationwide issued the settlement check, the rental car suddenly became my expense with no notification from anyone, not Nationwide or Enterprise Car Rental. If Nationwide had promptly repaired my car, restoring it to its pre-accident condition (all I wanted), this ordeal would have been over two weeks sooner. But instead, the insurance company took a different path, a direction I consider unethical. Donna, the Nationwide agent, single-mindedly worked in her company’s best interests while ignoring mine, stretching to brand my car a “total loss”, minimizing her company’s costs in meeting legal requirements and curtailing their responsibility. In doing so they shirked any consideration for me, the claimant, client, or whatever ( victim?). In fairness to Nationwide, once all costs and expenses are considered, the settlement left me slightly ahead in real dollars, but considering the poor treatment, loss of time, stress and frustration, the insurance company still warrants an unfavorable rating. With no explanation and failure to keep me informed, I was left in the dark to face one bad surprise after another for the entire month of October in one of the most unpleasant series of events ever experienced.