My 2018 Rogue had a bit of cosmetic damage on the left front corner that would cost about $1500 or so to fix, so we have been letting it slide. Last night while driving home from work around 11:30 I was in a collision that pretty much tore that left front corner to shreds. The other person involved took pictures and my insurance info…then fled the scene before I could get any info from him. The police arrived shortly and were very helpful, but unfortunately their tow truck arrived johnny on the spot, whereas my AAA sponsored towing company said they would be another hour and a half, so the car went to their yard instead of to my driveway.
I get home and call my insurance and 15 minutes later I get told that it is a good thing that I let the police tow the car because that is covered under the insurance plan, they will have one of the top-rated repair places in town pick it up Monday, the cost of a rental is covered and my total out-of-pocket will be a whopping…$250.
Yeah, glad to hear you’re not only ok but lucking out a bit.
Years ago I came home from work to find my house had been broken into and robbed. It was a pretty horrible and violated feeling right afterward.
But when I filed an insurance claim, the company that handled my home insurance were very cool and accommodating (which was a surprise because I had heard horror stories about people filing home insurance claims). They even did replacement, not actual value, and the way they did it was to give me about 2/3 replacement value of the estimated loss, then they’d reimburse me the rest when I provided receipts proving I replaced each item.
Which gave me carte blanche to go on a guilt-free shopping spree of newer, better replacement items. And I wasn’t trying to scam the insurance at all, I made every effort to buy replacements of equal value. But my stolen computer had been getting old and was due for replacement soon anyway; my stolen Strat was so beat up it would have been hard to find another in as bad shape. I got another used Strat, but in better condition, for a good price. My stolen leather jacket was decent, but used. I got a brand new one. Et cetera. All in all, when the shopping was done I ended up with a lot of better stuff than I had before. And beefed up my security with steel doors, better deadbolts and an alarm.
All the car insurance companies bragging about how much you can save by switching to their insurance make us laugh. Every time we are approached by someone who says “Let’s compare insurance companies. I bet I can save you some money,” we respond with a big cheezy smile and say “We have USAA,” and walk away.
They don’t even bother with any more sales talk.
My dad joined USAA shortly after the company was created. By the time I got married, membership was opened to grown children of members.
My kids are married with houses, cars, and kids of their own. My kids both have USAA, my son even banks with them.
USAA is a fine company with excellent customer service.
Funny what happens sometimes in accidents. I was involved in a multicar accident. No biggie, really, some guy wasn’t paying attention and ran into the car in front of him, but we were all in a left turn pocket, so we all (3) were pushed into the car in front of us.
While exchanging info, we found out the guy in the car in front of us had been born in the same small town in Maine, that my sister and family lived in for about 6-7 years. We were in almost the farthest point in the lower 48 from that town.
Heh. My wife and I have USAA - we’ve had nothing but amazing service from them. I even used to sell car/home insurance, and couldn’t beat the price. Thank you for your service, father-in-law!
Back when I was an NHS fleet manager, many of our cars were owned by The Crown and exempt from insurance. This meant that I had to resolve all the non-injury claims.
To help with this I was given a book that started with the history of resolving claims without litigation (A Navy ship demolished a private wharf and the lawyers cost more than the repairs). Later in the book was a series of diagrams involving multiple vehicles and who would pick up the repair costs. In a straight-line collision, it is always the vehicle at the back.
Yeah…I learned a while back, the hard way, that the cheap “save you money” insurance companies can do this because they don’t pay claims. A guy who backed up at a stoplight and crunched my front bumper claimed I rear ended him. His insurance company would not pay, preferring to believe his lie over my truth. It was one of those companies. I even had a passenger witness (not related to me in any way) who repeated the true story, but no.
I had an old car that was going to need well over its worth in repairs, but still drove fine. Lucked upon a cheap/low mileage used car, so now I had to get rid of the old one.
I kept driving it, going the speed limit… hoping I’d have one of those arseholes in a pickup or a “mid-life crisis car” tailgating me. Then, I could slam on the brakes and get some money for my beater (any dent would’ve meant “totalling” the car.)
But, after decades of that happening all the time, I never had a jerk behind me during my car’s last two months.
Mr VOW was in a private parking lot at the recycle yard. A guy in a beater truck, also there for recycling, parked next to him. Well, okay, he TRIED to park next to him. He got too close, and scraped the side of Mr VOW’s truck. The guy jumped out, “No police! No police! We can settle this ourselves!”
Mr VOW said no way. He did call the cops, but they told him it was a private lot, so it was a civil matter.
So the guy thought he was off the hook. Mr VOW informed him he was turning it over to our insurance. He got the guy’s information, but everything seemed sketchy. The driver’s license didn’t have his correct address, oh, and the truck
wasn’t his. But he promised to pay for the damage!
Mr VOW said, “That’s nice,” and called USAA.
He talked to the adjuster and warned him the guy was a flake, and apparently all his information was false. The adjuster laughed. “We will find him. We have our ways. And he WILL pay.”
He got the truck repaired, and USAA sent a check refunding the deductible Mr VOW paid to the body shop.
High five!