Ameriprise: Auto Accident Claims and Settlements

 

A look at Ameriprise Financial’s website will tell you that auto insurance appears to be mostly an afterthought.  The company does everything—financial planning, banking, retirement and annuities, investments and lending. 

The company has been around since 1894, but it is a relative newcomer to the insurance field.  It started writing polices about twenty years ago. They do not have a significant market share in Maryland or Washington, D.C. but Ameriprise seems to be adding market share.

Dealing with Ameriprise on Injury Settlement Claims Before Filing Lawsuits

       Ameriprise is a very large company. Our accident lawyers have found them to be a challenge to deal with on car crash claims. Ameriprise is typically slow to move, and many clients come to us because they cannot make any progress settling their claimsameriprise by themselves. One of their unstated goals must be to bury accident victims in paperwork before paying claims.  Recent surveys indicate that, even among Ameriprise clients, customer satisfaction is only at about 67%.  Take these surveys with a grain of salt but they did comport with our law firm's experience with Ameriprise. Sadly, in many cases, the best course of action in an accident claim with Ameriprise is to file a lawsuit.   They do not have in-house counsel in Maryland (and I doubt other jurisdictions), so Ameriprise is forced to hire a lawyer who will generally make them look at the case more seriously (Rollins, Smalkin, Richards & Mackie, a Baltimore firm, is doing at least some work defending Ameriprise). At this point in the game, some level of sanity is often restored if only because we can deal with a law firm that understands Maryland law and can rationalize with Ameriprise. We find that many Ameriprise claims that we are forced to file lawsuits for settle before trial when an experienced defense lawyer enters the equation.  

Ameriprise and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

        One great way to judge insurance companies is see just how ticky tacky they are with their own insureds. In Ameriprise's case, the answer is pretty ticky tacky. Beginning late last year, our lawyers noticed that Ameriprise was trying to require recorded statements from our clients before paying on PIP car crash claims. (PIP is no-fault coverage that pays for, among other things, medical expenses and lost wages (See our main PIP webpage here.)  There are very few insurance companies in Maryland asking for a recorded statement as a matter of course for a PIP claim. It just underscores what we are dealing with in Ameriprise.

Ameriprise and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

Our firm has been seeing a lot more Ameriprise cases in past years.  We are accustomed to their delay tactics and their ridiculous defense postures.  If you have been in an accident involving an Ameriprise insured, contact us at 1-800-553-8082, or click here for a free evaluation of your case. 

More Information on Dealing with Ameriprise

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