Just got an auto insurance solicitation from Allstate. Immediately threw it out – know why?
Why would I want to get my insurance from the worst insurance company in America? How could I do business with a company that instructs its adjusters to lie to their customers?
Allstate’s confrontational attitude towards its own policyholders
was the brain child of consulting giant McKinsey
& Co. in the mid-1990s.McKinsey was tasked with developing
a way to boost Allstate’s bottom line.11 McKinsey
recommended Allstate focus on reducing the amount of
money it paid in claims, whether or not they were valid.
When it adopted these recommendations, Allstate made a
deliberate decision to start putting profits over policyholders.
The company essentially uses a combination of lowball
offers and hardball litigation.When policyholders file a
claim, they are often offered an unjustifiably low payment
for their injuries, generated by Allstate using secretive
claim-evaluation software called Colossus. Those that
accept the lowballed settlements are treated with “good
hands” but may be left with less money than they need to
cover medical bills and lost wages. Those that do not settle
frequently get the “boxing gloves”: an aggressive litigation
strategy that aims to deny the claim at any cost.
Former Allstate employees call it the “three Ds”: deny,
delay, and defend. One particular powerpoint slide
McKinsey prepared for Allstate featured an alligator and
the caption “sit and wait”—emphasizing that delaying
claims will increase the likelihood that the claimant gives
up.12 According to former Allstate agent Shannon Kmatz,
this would make claims “so expensive and so timeconsuming
that lawyers would start refusing to help
clients.”13
Former Allstate adjusters say they were rewarded for
keeping claims payments low, even if they had to deceive
their customers. Adjusters who tried to deny fire claims by
blaming arson were rewarded with portable fridges,
according to former Allstate adjuster Jo Ann Katzman.
“We were told to lie by our supervisors. It’s tough to look
at people and know you’re lying.”14
So I’ll answer Allstate via this blog post. No, I am not interested – not now, not ever.