Finally, someone seems to have noticed the notoriously bad behavior of two of the worst auto insurance companies in Texas. The Dallas Morning News ran a lengthy story this week detailing the volume and variety of complaints the Texas Department of Insurance has received against Fred Loya and Old American County Mutual insurance companies. The two companies are connected, and Loya is one of the managing general agents for Old American. Sadly, as bad as these two companies are, there are many others only marginally worse. Those just don't seem to have drawn the volume of complaints.

All insurance companies are in business to make money. The way they make money, other than investments, is to take in premiums and to pay out as little as possible when claims are made against their policyholders. Or when claims are made by their policyholders for collision or comprehensive damage. The basic problem reported by the newspaper is that certain insurance companies are much bolder than others in finding creative ways to refuse to accept liability and pay out money.

Most insurance carriers will decline to pay if their own insured refuses to cooperate with them. They say they can't get an accurate version of the accident, and therefore should not have to pay. Some carriers though seem to make this argument in a very large percentage of their claims. This makes you wonder if the carrier has really tried to get the insured to cooperate. Perhaps they sent one letter or made one phone call, and receiving no response, denied liability coverage. Or maybe they never even sent that letter.

Another tactic we frequently see from certain companies is to claim the vehicle was stolen or used without the permission of the owner, and therefore the carrier denies coverage. These companies also almost always claim that the plaintiff was partially at fault in some way, and contributed to the collision. Then they offer to pay only half or perhaps 60% of the total damages.

I hope you never have the misfortune of being involved in an auto collision. But if you are, I especially hope you don't get insult added to injury (literally) by having to deal with one of the bottom-feeding insurance companies like Loya or Old American County Mutual. And while they may be the worst, as measured by consumer complaints, there are plenty of others only marginally better. If you start getting the runaround early in the process, your best bet is to hire a lawyer to fight for you. Otherwise these companies will just grind you down until you're willing to accept almost any offer just to be rid of them.