Bio The Car Insurance Saga

It started with our car accident January 5th. When we got hit, I thought a bomb had gone off. Instead, a car hit us so hard it spun us around and then disappeared down the road. Thankfully, there were others nearby who assisted us as our minds were rather muddled. They called the police and an Allo truck pulled us out of the intersection.

Next, I knew an ambulance parked near and we were asked about going to ER. We did and were there for several hours. Thankfully, no broken bones, but lots of bruising. My left leg from knee to ankle looked like I’d been dragged ten miles on a bad road. Eventually, we were allowed to return home. Friends picked us up.

Of course, we contacted our car insurance company, and the saga began. They declared our car a total loss. It took some time, but we received a check and went to check out cars, ending up with a similar car, but a year earlier than our other one. (It also had very low mileage.)

All this happened in January and February first, the date of our car insurance renewal was coming up. Though the car had been totaled and Keith signed the title over to the insurance company, they kept sending us renewal notices listing both cars. No! No! NO!

Finally, after several phone calls, Keith thought he had that problem handled, and we looked for a corrected renewal notice. Not long thereafter, we received five envelopes from the Insurance company. I began to open them. The first listed both cars and insurance at twice what we’d been paying. Not again! I opened another that said if we were getting rid of a car to see it was taken off the insurance. Really? Like we hadn’t been trying.

The next letter I opened listed just one car and it was the correct one. The cards, too, were correct. Oh good. I could pay the insurance and move on. But wait, I still had two letters to open. The next one was set up, not as a total payment which we’ve always done, but as monthly payments. The total was off, and we wouldn’t be making monthly payments. The last letter held no cards but did have a cost for six months of insurance. The cost was much less than the letter that appeared to have the correct information. Ridiculous!

I called the local office and asked if the left hand knew what the right hand was doing. I laid out the information in the letters. Confused her, too. She said she’d get back to me. Late afternoon another agent did call me back. I gave her a synopsis of the problem. This time she was able to unscramble the problems and came back with a totally different cost, which she said was the correct cost for six months. I didn’t give her a chance to change her mind. I got a card and paid right then. An email confirmed the purchase.

I am thankful we are recovering from our injuries (but not until after dealing with an infection from my leg injury). I am thankful we were able to replace our car, and I am thankful for a local agent who could make sense of the mess made higher up by insurance agents in the company. We didn’t need this hassle and wished that ended the car insurance saga. But… the medical side of it meant lots more paperwork. The saga isn’t quite over, but it is slowing down at least. I’ll be thankful to move on.

© 2023 Carolyn R Scheidies

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