Somehow
the word insurance
is beginning to have
a different meaning
to me after the
events of a few
weeks ago. You know
what insurance is,
the premiums you pay
are just a long term
pay out for the
money you may
receive. You pay out
a couple of thousand
a year for your home
owners policy and as
long as you don’t
have a claim then
everything stays
about the same. Put
in a claim and watch
those old premiums
rise to take in to
account what the
company paid out for
your claim. I’m not
aware that anyone
out there gives you
any credit for the
years of premium you
paid without having
any claims.
Anyway, here is my
sad story. A few
weeks ago, I dropped
one of my sons off
at a local store to
buy some diapers for
my granddaughter. I
am pulling through
the parking lot
about to drive back
to the front of the
store to get my son,
when a car starts
backing out into the
moving lane of
traffic. I can’t
back up since there
is a car directly
behind me. I didn’t
honk since I thought
the driver was
looking before he
continued to back
up.
That was my mistake;
he just keeps on
going and plows into
the front of my car.
I jump out and look
over the damage,
thinking he has
stopped and is
coming back to see
what he hit. Not so,
he has driven off
and is about two
miles away when I
catch up with him at
a red light. I honk
several times to get
his attention and he
finally rolls down
his window. I tell
him I need for him
to pull over so I
can get his
insurance
information since he
just backed into the
front of my car.
He tells me… “No,
I’m not going to
give you anything, I
drive a big car and
you should have been
able to see me.” I
told him that you
can’t back up in a
moving lane of
traffic and that he
needed to pull over.
He looked over and
said… “I’m not going
to give you
anything, that’s
your fault…” and
roars off down the
road.
Now, I got his
license plate number
and call it into the
local police as a
hit and run. I have
yet to hear anything
from them. I don’t
look for them to do
anything about this.
I call my local
insurance agent and
tell them what
happened. They give
me a toll free
number to call in
the claim. I do this
and then wait.
And I wait. And then
I wait some more. In
the meantime, I look
up the owner of the
car through some
public databases and
find that the driver
is 93 years old. I
am very glad I
didn’t get into a
physical
confrontation with
him as I think it
would bad to be
physical with some
93 year old guy
regardless of what
he had done to my
car. I was able to
get his name, date
of birth, license
number, description
of his car, address
and phone number.
Then I call all of
this in to my
insurance company
for them to use.
Then I wait. Then I
wait some more. In
the mean time my car
looks bad, so I bite
the bullet and take
it in and get it
repaired. The total
came to something
like $565.00. I call
my insurance company
again. They tell me
that it if I make a
claim for this, my
deductible is going
to be $500, so that
means I’d get a
check for a whopping
$65 for my trouble.
If they are able to
find the driver and
get his insurance to
pay, then I might
(note the word,
might) get the
entire $565.00 back
if they placed a
claim against the
other drivers
policy. However they
didn’t know if they
were going to do
that or not. I asked
them what was the
next step and they
said they had to
assign it to an
investigator of
claims agent to see
if they could find
the driver of the
other vehicle. I
explained that I had
in fact, given them
all they needed
including the guys
name, address and
phone number. They
claimed they didn’t
have that in my file
and so I had to
repeat it once
again.
I asked what they
were going to do
with the information
I gave them and they
said… “We’ll send
him a letter and ask
him to pay for the
damage.”
Hello? I hardly
think a 93 year that
drives off and
refuses to give out
any information is
going to just roll
over and write me a
check. The bottom
line here is I don’t
think anything will
happen, much less me
ever seeing any part
of the $565.00 I
spent to get my car
fixed.
So, that means I
paid for coverage
that doesn’t help,
called the police
who haven’t done
anything, gathered
all the information
necessary to
identify the driver
who hit me, placed a
claim and paid for
all of my repairs.
There seems to be a
breakdown in this
situation and I’ll
just bet it happens
to many of us each
and every day and
unfortunately there
doesn’t seem to be
much we can do about
it.
Must be a lesson in
here, but I’m having
a hard time figuring
out just what it is.
