Customer Review - Progressive

If they only fixed the car correctly....

For 5 years I was a promoter of Progressive, I thought they were great. All that changed when my wife skidded on the ice and went under the back of a school bus. I trusted the shop to do the repairs correctly, as I've used this shop a couple times in the past, and they had an excellent reputation. My parents got their 1963 Buick repaired at this shop.

The car came back with aftermarket headlights with stickers that proclaim in huge letters, "Made in Taiwan." They don't look right, but even though I called to complain to Progressive and told them this is not acceptable, they still insist I meet them with the car and show them HOW the made in Taiwan parts are different in appearance from the OEM. That's going to be tough to do without OEM parts to compare. But my biggest issue is safety, which Progressive doesn't want to talk about.

Our car was repaired with an aftermarket hood that costs about 40% of the real thing. They used cheap made in Taiwan hood hinges. They did use an OEM hood latch, but most likely because they don't have a Taiwanese supplier. Maybe it's because the hood latch is considered safety critical. After all, we don't want the hood to fly open and shatter the windshield when the latch should have held it shut. But the hood and hinges are also important to safety in a crash. The hood is designed with crumple zones that cause the hood to deform in a certain way in a crash. It's spot welded in the correct places to make this happen. The hood hinges are made strong enough to secure the hood while it folds up. The aftermarket hood might not have the welds placed correctly and might not have crumple zones manufactured in, so instead of bending up in the middle as designed, it breaks the hood hinge and crashes through the windshield, killing the driver. and Progressive says this is just fine as long as everything looks OK.

Progressive might be OK if all you need is liability coverage, but never buy collision coverage. You are much better off saving up for that rainy day, then pay to have your vehicle repaired correctly rather then getting a rude shock when you go to pick up your "Frankenhonda."