Friday, March 19, 2010

Grace Under Pressure

Have you ever had to deal with an insurance company? This past Monday a very nice lady rammed into my car. Apparently she changed her mind at the last minute and decided to take a different road. Unfortunately I was already on that road. So her very large Toyota Sequoia ran into my very small (and very new) Nissan Sentra. Now don't get me wrong I HATE my Nissan. I got it about 6 months ago and have had nothing but problems with IT and the dealership. (That's a whole separate story). But still, I liked it better when it wasn't dinged up with a Sequoia's footprint all along the side of it. And I was kind of partial to my driver's side mirror. All one color was working for me as well. But hey, change is good, right?

Needless to say, I was a good sport, I was pleasant and I didn't cuss, yell or scream at her. We had the police come, she was issued a ticket, I got a police report number and we exchanged information. I even spoke to her insurance agent. Being the responsible person that I am (ahem) I took it to the body shop the very next day and got an estimate AND made an appointment for repair. Apparently my planning ahead is the wrong thing to do because American Family won't authorize my repair until they speak to the woman who hit me. They want to get her side of the story and establish fault. They also need a copy of the police report. Gee, I don't know, you could CALL the police department to obtain one! But, no, AM FAM advised ME to obtain one and they would reimburse me. They also said I could go ahead and proceed with my repair and, you guessed it, they would reimburse me for my deductible. Is there a reason that I am doing all the work here when their insured HIT me? AARGH!

Good thing my boss took us out to lunch today and it included margaritas...I think I'll just pretend it's five o'clock somewhere and deal with this next week. Adios!

2 comments:

  1. Your comments on insurance companies strike a chord. You would think since you're paying them, that they would be on your side and actually try to help by making things easier....

    I am an optimistic grump and like to kick back and challenge them to do their job better but usually it only serves to make ME feel a bit better - which of course is still a result. I particularly love the multi layer automated call screening 'service' which is sure to get me ready for an argument by the time I talk to a human being.

    But your right........ a drink does help sometimes. {lol}

    Hope it's resolved to your satisfaction soon.

    kind regards.....Al.

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  2. Al - thanks for my first comment! I did finally hear from them (today) and although they are sending someone out asap it isn't soon enough for my repair to remain scheduled for next Monday.
    However, I was reminded by friends to keep track of my time lost at work (without pay) due to all this running around. Hopefully I can get reimbursed for that as well.

    I used to work for the phone company - believe me, I know all about the automated services!!

    Have a great week!

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