Description

I operate a one car Taxi service. I have had my full coverage commercial insurance policy with Ethio American Insurance Co for several years. I got into a routine fender bender on 10/11/2025 at approximately 8:45 pm. There were no physical injuries to me or the other driver. I was driving to Gas South Arena in Duluth GA when the traffic accident occurred. I was driving in the middle lane. I put my right turn signal on and proceeded to go into the right lane. A sports car came around my right side, and my front passenger side bumper touched his driver’s side rear wheel well. I was given a warning ticket for improper lane change and failure to maintain my lane. There were no other factors involved in the accident. No DWI, no distracted etc. It was just a routine fender bender. After the accident I drove home and parked the taxi in my garage. Although it was Saturday night, I called Ethio American Insurance Co to report the accident. I left a voicemail. I followed up with a call to Ethio American Insurance Co on Monday morning 10/13/2025 to report the accident. The employee I talked to sounded like a black male. The employee was cold and disrespectful. He asked me if I felt I should pay for the accident myself or should they pay for the accident. I replied, “I have a full coverage policy that I had been paying on for years that should cover this claim.” I emailed the police report and photos of the two cars to Ethio American Insurance Co. On 10/21/2025 I received a call from Victoria Carrol who said she worked for Ikon, 3500 Lenox Rd NE, Atlanta GA 30326. On October 23, 2025, Victoria Carrol came over to my house and took pictures of the damage to my taxi. Several days later Ms. Carrol called me with a low-ball estimate. Ms. Carrol tried to talk me into going to what I think was a chop shop to get my taxi repaired. During our phone conversation Ms. Carrol tried to intimidate me. She spoke to me with a growl. She told me I needed to listen to her carefully or pay for my own car repairs. I told Ms. Carrol that I was going to take my car to a Toyota body repair shop because; they have a right parts and paint color matching Ms. Carroll told me she needed to talk to her supervisor, and that she would get back to me. I waited to hear from her, but no call or email came to me. While I was waiting to hear from her, I called and emailed her, but I got no response. I took my car to Nalley Toyota Collision Center on October 30, 2025. Nalley Toyota checked my car for an accident inspection. I called Ms. Carroll while at Nalley’s check-in desk and finally got through to her. I handed the Nalley check-in assistant my cellphone so she could notify Ms. Carroll that my taxi was going to be inspected. The lady at the front desk gave me Ms. Martinez’s business card as my point of contact. I emailed Ms. Martinez, and she told me that she had reached out to Ethio American Insurance Co several times and they did not respond. I gave Ms. Martinez the contact number I got from Victoria Carrol. Ms. Martinez told me that the people from Ethio American Insurance Co were arguing with the employees that work for Nalley’s body shop. Due to the way Ethio American Insurance CO was treating me, I started talking with other taxi and limousine drivers. Every driver I talked with told me a horror story about Ethio American Insurance Co. They told me stories like Ethio American Insurance Co sent them to a body shop that put bad parts on the car to their claims were not paid at all. Ethio American Insurance Co has collected a lot of money from me and the other drivers I talked to, but they pay so few claims. Unsuspecting customers are signing up for car insurance policies with Ethio American Insurance CO and paying premiums for years and not getting what they paid for. When they have an unfortunate accident Ethio American Insurance Co will not pay the claim but will continue to collect premiums from the customer. The customer cannot go to another insurance company because Ethio American Insurance Co will not pay the claim, so the claim remains open. You cannot get a policy from a new insurance company with an open claim. You cannot get your car from that shop until you pay them for the inspection or to do the work in full. Either way you are out of pocket because Ethio American Insurance Co won’t pay. I once owned an insurance agency in the state of Texas. When I owned my insurance agency, I never got one complaint because I always put my customers first. I kept calling Ethio and finally got through what sounded like a black male. He was verbally abusive and told me I could pay for my own car to get repaired. During that phone call I told him that I once owned an insurance agency. When he hung up on me, I did not hear from Ethio American Insurance Co since. As a former insurance company owner, I have never witnessed an insurance company behave like Ethio American Insurance Co. In my opinion Ethio American Insurance Co is running a pyramid scheme on unsuspecting insurance customers. On 11/21/2025 I filed a complaint with the Georgia Department of Insurance. My case was assigned to Ms. Whitney Hyde. On 11/26/2025 I had to go to the State of Georgia Business License located at 2 Martin Luther King Dr. SE Atlanta GA 30334 to make sure my business license was paid up for year 2026. It just so happens that the Georgia Department of Insurance office is located on the seventh floor of the same building. I went up to the seventh floor to talk with the director of the Insurance Department, but they were not there due to the Thanksgiving holiday. I spoke with five ladies including Ms. Hyde. I had some paperwork from Nalley that they made a copy of along with Ms. Martinez’s business card. I told Ms. Hyde that I had owned an insurance agency in Texas, and an agent only has so many days to process a claim. I told her that Ethio American Insurance Co may have already gone over that time limit with my claim. I told her that Ethio American Insurance Co had not paid the claims of perhaps hundreds of people that filed claims with them. I asked her why her office hasn’t revoked Ethio American Insurance Co’s license to sell insurance in the state of Georgia with all the complaints they are getting against them. I told Ms. Hyde that I would be contacting several law enforcement agencies about Ethio American Insurance Co. I told her I would be contacting every consumer news reporter in Atlanta about Ethio American Insurance Co. I have been trying to make sense of this situation and think that Ethio American Insurance Co is running a pyramid scheme. I have paid two premiums to Ethio American Insurance Co. I have a premium due on December 20, 2025. After the December 20, 2025, premium payment it will be time to renew Ethio American Insurance Co is going to attempt to drop me before settling my claim. My taxicab is still at Nalley Toyota body shop due to Ethio American Insurance Co reluctance to pay a legal valid claim. I will give the consumer reporter and law enforcement agencies all emails and paperwork they need to assist me with this case. Sincerely, Edward McDowell Manager Compass Taxi LLC (404) 821-8590 or (469) 792-6398 [email protected]