Her son crashed her late dad’s car, but the insurance company wouldn’t pay for repairs. Reason? She never had Dad’s permission to drive
The insurance company thought they could get away with not paying for repairs until she turned the tables
Grieving the loss of a parent is hard enough, and dealing with paperwork, however, makes it unbearable. After her father passed away in Florida, a grieving daughter (u/CycleNaive) drove for roughly two hours with her husband, son, and sister to clean out his apartment. On their way to the hotel, her son and sister got into an accident in the father's car. She decided to take it to a local body shop to get it fixed. However, the adjuster asked if she had her father's permission to drive; she didn't. What the insurer told them next was unbelievable, prompting her to share the incident on Reddit on September 20, 2026, racking up more than 7,600 upvotes.
A sudden highway setback
The ordeal began right after the woman, along with her family, reached their late father's house to clear it out. With the apartment finally packed, they needed to move his sedan out of the complex and temporarily park it near the hotel before bringing it home. So, the woman's son took the wheel alongside her sister, guiding the vehicle toward the lodging while the estate remained unsettled. But before they could reach their destination, they got in an accident. Though rattled, both parties walked away unharmed, and the vehicle managed to stay operable despite damage.
Facing roadblocks in getting it fixed
The next day, the grieving daughter decided to get the car fixed and took it to a local repair shop. She paid the front deductible from her own pocket, hoping to get a reimbursement from the estate since her father had State Farm insurance. But after a short while, she received devastating news. "We got a call from the repair shop that State Farm would not pay for the repair," the woman revealed. Immediately, she reached out to them. "They kept asking me if my father had given me permission to drive the car. I said, 'Of course not; he had died,'" she recalled.
Naturally, she told them that wasn't the case. That's when they said they would not be covering any charges until a Florida probate judge officially named an estate executor. Facing a three-month backlog in state courts, the woman was left in a precarious position. Even more so with her neighborhood association strictly forbidding any damaged vehicles in the driveway. Trapped in such a situation, she called back repeatedly to find out if they'd accept third-party premiums. "Didn't care who paid, as long as they were paid," they said.
Turning the tables on them
Armed with their own policy logic, the woman decided to tell the adjuster that if they didn't fix the car now, she would park it back on the open curb in front of her father's old apartment. Meanwhile, she'd keep paying the monthly fee, but if the car got stripped down to the frame or towed away before her 90 probate cleared, they would have to write the estate a check for its full market value. As it turned out, her tactic worked. "I got a call the next day from a car transporter arranging storage until the case cleared probate," she said.
Dissatisfaction with car policies
This entire incident highlights exactly why people are dissatisfied with their car insurance companies. According to a YouGov survey, 8% of customers report being dissatisfied with their insurer, with another 24% neither being satisfied nor dissatisfied. Although there are several reasons for them feeling this way, a striking 28% report high premiums and deductibles as the reason for their dissatisfaction. This is followed by poor discounts and incentives (15%) and lack of transparency (8%). Lastly, 5% of customers also don't like their insurer because of poor customer service.
Rather give up than deal with State Farm
As for the people, they had strong feelings about the setup. u/FlatterInnerTube noted, "I'd rather fall down three flights of concrete stairs than deal with State Farm ever again." Meanwhile, u/AutoCockerPB commented, "My dad died, and when we got the house, State Farm did not want to honor the customer loyalty discount because we are technically a new customer. I said, 'You are correct; too bad you don’t offer anything special.' Dropped their a** on the spot. Got cheaper house insurance."
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