Joyce Bertschy has lived in Picture Rocks for 25 years and has developed an uncanny ability to find unburied treasure, packrat middens under the hood of her car and cholla balls. She is a news assistant at the Arizona Daily Star.
Almost three weeks ago, my husband was in the middle of a four-car pile-up. Ever since then, we’ve been trying to dig ourselves out of the mountain of debris left in the wake of that accident.
Ed says he’s OK. We’re both grateful for that. But the trauma of the accident and the ensuing combination of too many drivers, too many insurance companies, a decidedly unhelpful claim handler, and the scramble to get Ed into another car has been stressful.
The stress, annoyance and anger began with our very own insurance claim handler. She called him back the first day and told him to take the car to Watson Chevrolet for repairs. She arranged for a rental car. Day one: so far, so good.
But, one week later, she still did not have a copy of the police report. It’s the police report! It tells her what went down and who is at fault. It proves my husband is not responsible for any part of that accident. What was up with that?
About 10 days after the accident, we asked her if she had contacted any of the other insurance companies for the other drivers involved in the accident. She had not. Ed gave her the name of the claim handler for the truck driver.
I was annoyed because she did not seem interested in getting all of the facts of the case, contacting the appropriate people or passing any information along to us. This is our insurance company!
Last Thursday, at about 6 p.m. she called Ed and told him the Dodge would be totaled. The settlement offered was half of what we still owed at the credit union for the car loan. Yikes! Ed’s workweek started the next day.
Because our claim handler works in Phoenix, all the information about how the settlement amount was reached was faulty. We were e-mailed examples of selling prices for 2004 Dodge Intrepids in Mesa, Phoenix and other points north. No examples of similar cars for sale in Tucson were provided. Everyone knows you can buy a car cheaper in the Phoenix area.
Ed searched the Internet for cars in the Tucson area, found examples and e-mailed them back to the claim handler. At this point, she said the settlement amount is being reviewed.
On Tuesday, we went to the credit union and discovered our insurance company had not informed them of the accident. We explained the situation and applied for a loan that would cover the remaining amount owed on the Dodge and enough to purchase another car.
On Wednesday, Ed had a feeling we would not be approved for the loan and he started looking at cars in hopes of making a deal at a car dealership. He did a ton of research and went to look for a newer Chevrolet Malibu.
He found one and drove it home that night. But, the deal was not done yet. The payment was still too high and I hadn’t signed anything. Yesterday, we talked to the finance guy at the dealership. He said he was talking to several banks in hopes of getting us a better interest rate.
Oddly enough, he did and we did. We bought the car, but we had to fork over $50 to join the credit union that was financing the loan. We had to buy another key for the car because the previous owners only turned in one. It cost $81 because it has a security chip inside.
We went home to relax but I realized I needed to call our insurance company to have the Dodge taken off and the Malibu put on our policy. You guessed it; our insurance premiums will be going up.
I really wanted to change our insurance company but that’s not a smart thing to do in the middle of a mess.
When we got home, the rental car company called and an employee told Ed we owed them $47. 85.
I called our claim handler and she said it was an out-of-pocket cost. We would have to pay it. We could submit a receipt for reimbursement to the liable insurance company.
My anger and frustration got the better of me. I railed and railed about the whole sorry mess to my husband.
The accident was not Ed’s fault. The insurance of the man driving the truck accepted responsibility for the whole mess on May 13. Our claim handler didn’t know this until I told her.
In the meantime, we have yet to resolve how we are going to pay off any amount (probably a couple of grand) remaining on the loan for the ruined Dodge. We have a car payment for the next six years. Collectively, Ed and I have missed several days of work. We’re both very nervous about driving.
My sense of fair play has taken a beating and I’m still trying to deal with my anger.
