Random Life Update: Never Get Hit by a Geico Customer
To refresh everyone's memory, I was rear-ended back in February. My insurance company was an absolute breeze to deal with. The other lady is insured with Geico and holy friggin' crap, what a nightmare. You know why their insurance is so cheap? Because it absolutely SUCKS.
The accident was deemed her fault (since she hit me from behind and flat-out told the cops she'd taken her eyes off the road and did not at all see me stopped to take my left). The first time I heard from Geico at all was two and a half weeks after the accident, and it was to tell me that she had low property damage coverage on her policy and I should probably submit a claim through my own insurance since they weren't sure she was going to have enough coverage to pay for my repairs.
Keep in mind that at this point in time, the estimate for my repairs was $6500. What the hell kind of shitty policy doesn't cover $6500 in damage to another person's property? My own policy covers $100K, for crying out loud.
(Massachusetts compulsory limit is $5000, so I bet you anything that's what she has.)
Also: it was now TWO AND A HALF WEEKS after the accident. That's a really shitty amount of time to potentially allow someone your insured driver inconvenienced to wait. I'd put in a claim with my own insurance company like half an hour after the accident, for Christ's sake.
The repairs ended up taking six weeks because they kept finding hidden damage. My insurance company was out to the collision shop a grand total of five times, including the initial appraisal. The repairs ended up totaling just under $12K.
Because it took so long, the rental coverage on my insurance policy was exceeded. I got a message from the rental company on Thursday letting me know they had to charge my credit card for the overage but I could certainly go after either my insurance or hers for reimbursement. I called them back to find out how much the overage was because if it was only like $50 or something, it wouldn't be worth the aggravation of trying to chase down that money.
It was $243. So yeah, definitely worth the aggravation.
I called my insurance company and they of course insisted they couldn't cover more because I'd hit my maximum. Now it was time to chase Geico.
I left a message for the Geico adjuster when I got home from work on Thursday telling him that I needed them to reimburse me for the rental overages. (All my paperwork was at home so I couldn't call him from work.) I got a call back from someone else Friday morning telling me that they'd already cut the check to my insurance company and they couldn't authorize any more charges because they'd exceeded the property damage coverage. I explained that it was not fair or right to expect me to pay any part of the charge for the rental car that I was only driving because their insured driver hit me. And the only reason I drove the rental car so long was because they kept finding hidden damage that was caused when their insured driver hit me. She was insistent that she couldn't do anything.
Me: I would like to speak to a supervisor.
Her: She's just going to tell you the same thing I'm telling you.
Me: I don't care. I would like to speak to a supervisor.
About an hour later, the supervisor called me back and lo and behold, they're going to cut me a check for reimbursement. She said my carrier wasn't aware that I would have any out of pocket expenses (which is crap, either from Geico or Commerce, because when I called Hertz to ask why they still had a hold on my credit card after I returned the car, they told me they were waiting for authorization for the extra days from Commerce) but they talked it over with them and Commerce is willing to take the hit out of Geico's payment to them to reimburse me for the rental. No idea how long this is going to take, of course, but I have the supervisor's name, so if there are any problems or delays, she's getting a call back.
I called Discover this morning to explain the situation and inquire about putting some kind of hold on the charge so I don't end up having to pay interest on it. (Because it's not like I just have a spare $240 lying around.) She told me that because of the timing of the charge hitting my account, it won't be due until the middle of June, so here's hoping I have the check before then. She also said to call back as it gets closer if I haven't seen the check and they'd see what they could do to help me out. I could always pay it out of my savings and just deposit Geico's check back into savings when it comes in but I don't exactly want to do that.
So, long story short: Geico severely underinsures their customers. I even said to the woman yesterday that I understood my car is brand-new but I drive a freakin' Chevy. What if she'd hit a BMW or a Mercedes or a Lexus? What if she'd totaled my car?
Also, the fact that they underinsure their customers is not my problem. I shouldn't have had to fight to get money they should have been paying anyway. But I did fight for it and not gonna lie, I'm kinda proud of myself. :)
The accident was deemed her fault (since she hit me from behind and flat-out told the cops she'd taken her eyes off the road and did not at all see me stopped to take my left). The first time I heard from Geico at all was two and a half weeks after the accident, and it was to tell me that she had low property damage coverage on her policy and I should probably submit a claim through my own insurance since they weren't sure she was going to have enough coverage to pay for my repairs.
Keep in mind that at this point in time, the estimate for my repairs was $6500. What the hell kind of shitty policy doesn't cover $6500 in damage to another person's property? My own policy covers $100K, for crying out loud.
(Massachusetts compulsory limit is $5000, so I bet you anything that's what she has.)
Also: it was now TWO AND A HALF WEEKS after the accident. That's a really shitty amount of time to potentially allow someone your insured driver inconvenienced to wait. I'd put in a claim with my own insurance company like half an hour after the accident, for Christ's sake.
The repairs ended up taking six weeks because they kept finding hidden damage. My insurance company was out to the collision shop a grand total of five times, including the initial appraisal. The repairs ended up totaling just under $12K.
Because it took so long, the rental coverage on my insurance policy was exceeded. I got a message from the rental company on Thursday letting me know they had to charge my credit card for the overage but I could certainly go after either my insurance or hers for reimbursement. I called them back to find out how much the overage was because if it was only like $50 or something, it wouldn't be worth the aggravation of trying to chase down that money.
It was $243. So yeah, definitely worth the aggravation.
I called my insurance company and they of course insisted they couldn't cover more because I'd hit my maximum. Now it was time to chase Geico.
I left a message for the Geico adjuster when I got home from work on Thursday telling him that I needed them to reimburse me for the rental overages. (All my paperwork was at home so I couldn't call him from work.) I got a call back from someone else Friday morning telling me that they'd already cut the check to my insurance company and they couldn't authorize any more charges because they'd exceeded the property damage coverage. I explained that it was not fair or right to expect me to pay any part of the charge for the rental car that I was only driving because their insured driver hit me. And the only reason I drove the rental car so long was because they kept finding hidden damage that was caused when their insured driver hit me. She was insistent that she couldn't do anything.
Me: I would like to speak to a supervisor.
Her: She's just going to tell you the same thing I'm telling you.
Me: I don't care. I would like to speak to a supervisor.
About an hour later, the supervisor called me back and lo and behold, they're going to cut me a check for reimbursement. She said my carrier wasn't aware that I would have any out of pocket expenses (which is crap, either from Geico or Commerce, because when I called Hertz to ask why they still had a hold on my credit card after I returned the car, they told me they were waiting for authorization for the extra days from Commerce) but they talked it over with them and Commerce is willing to take the hit out of Geico's payment to them to reimburse me for the rental. No idea how long this is going to take, of course, but I have the supervisor's name, so if there are any problems or delays, she's getting a call back.
I called Discover this morning to explain the situation and inquire about putting some kind of hold on the charge so I don't end up having to pay interest on it. (Because it's not like I just have a spare $240 lying around.) She told me that because of the timing of the charge hitting my account, it won't be due until the middle of June, so here's hoping I have the check before then. She also said to call back as it gets closer if I haven't seen the check and they'd see what they could do to help me out. I could always pay it out of my savings and just deposit Geico's check back into savings when it comes in but I don't exactly want to do that.
So, long story short: Geico severely underinsures their customers. I even said to the woman yesterday that I understood my car is brand-new but I drive a freakin' Chevy. What if she'd hit a BMW or a Mercedes or a Lexus? What if she'd totaled my car?
Also, the fact that they underinsure their customers is not my problem. I shouldn't have had to fight to get money they should have been paying anyway. But I did fight for it and not gonna lie, I'm kinda proud of myself. :)