Your insurance company treats you like a statistic. I wish this was a surprise.

You may not know or realize this but your insurance company and the insurance company of anyone that is involved in an accident with you is completely controlled by a software program called Colossus. The agent you speak with on the phone has zero latitude to offer you anything outside the lows and highs of the software recommendation. The software does not consider anything about you as a person, rather you are comprised of several hundred data points.

When you are in an accident, everything about this potential claim is captured by Colossus and communicated to the agent. This process is specifically designed to short change you and increase the insurance companies profit. If you thought you could negotiate a settlement yourself, and while the insurance agent may lead you to believe you are capable, the reality is that the demands from a sophisticated party on your behalf in large part has to force both Colossus and the insurance mouth piece into a situation to offer you greater value.

On December 9, 2010, the Consumer Federation of America released a “Consumer Alert” warning Americans who have been injured in auto accidents about Colossus. The CFA offered the following:

1. Find out if a computer algorithm or program was used to evaluate your claim.
2. Demand to see the range of results the computer generated.
3. Do not accept any offer less than the “high” end of the range and consider making a counter offer that is about the high offer.
4. If the insurance company does not agree to settle at the high end of the range, file a complaint with your insurance commissioner and seek legal help with your claim.

Allstate was named the worst company to low ball settlements. McKinsey Consulting in 1996 introduced Colossus which is at the very center of Allstate’s Claims Core Process Review (CCPR) which Allstate and Colossus’s manufacturer touted as “able to reduce bodily injury claims up to 20 percent“.

Allstate operates under many subsidiaries which you should be aware of. The following is a partial list of these companies which you may be a customer of or opposing in a claim.