Monday, August 07, 2006

Not on my side

I got in an accident on 07/06/06 with some young kid that thought he had a protected left green arrow and plowed into my car as I was entering the intersection. He called his mom who showed up with her neighbor. She was very nice and told me, "I appreciate you being such a gentleman with these kids." Ironically, I had not said a word to either one of them. What is even more ironic is that it is not the first time this moron had pulled the same stunt. On two other occasions, he had done the same thing. The cop that showed up at tha accident tried to be smart and say, "Oh, your car just needs a little buffing to get that out." I replied, "Sir, my car's bumper is on the ground. It needs a little more than buffing." The mom of the kid that hit me tried to offer to pay for my damages directly without getting insurance involved. I told her I would consider it. (Knowing that it would cost more money than they wanted to pay.)

I called the kid's insurance company that morning. (I will not mention names but I will say this, they are NOT on my side.) I immediately spoke to an adjuster who took my information and told me she would call me back once she spoke to the insured. I got a call back in 30 minutes and she told me I could take it to any body shop I wished. I had called my insurance company too when I got home after 1 AM that night. I decided to take my car to a place where my insurance and his insurance considers it a "5 star" body shop. I brought it in that day and got a rental. At first his insurance told me that they were not going to pay for a rental car over the weekend because my car was drivable. I was told by the Server Manager at the body shop that my car was NOT drivable. Since I drove a 2004 Honda Accord, the rental place gives me a Buick La Crosse. Nice car. Gas millage is awful in it. I can assure you, I did not get 30 miles per gallion highway. In fact, every other day I put $20 more in gas. I was going to fill it up by the fear was if I got my car back, then I would have a full tank in the rental. I made a few more calls to the insurance adjuster, who was great in getting back with me that day I dropped my car off, but then she dropped the ball.

I pick up my car about 3 weeks later because there was damage to the airbag sensor. Airbags did not deploy but had to get airbag service on it. The car looks great. You can not even tell anything had happend. The body shop did awesome work. I was thankful to get my car back finally. I was then told by the car rental that the insurance company had not approved the rental for the Buick. They gave me a compact rate. The car rental place had all along said that I am entitled to an equal car for whatever I orginally drove. I made the offer to bring the Buick back and they could have given me a compact but the car rental manager told me not to. I have called the adjuster 4 more times, left messanges and even went as far as calling her manager and left him a message. On top of that, the car rental place sent this company 4 messages through their system.

I am amazed at this insurance company's handling of my claim. They started off great but after the 2nd day, customer service went out the window. This insurance company is NOT on my side and if they are on your side, then I would seriously considering dumping them because they are worthless.

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