May 8, 2008
Here are the two steps back, where’s my one step forward??
Yar! Not only has the rebate not hit my bank account a day early, my car’s arbitration date was moved, without rhyme or reason, to June 20th! It was originally scheduled for May 6th, so I was anxious to hear the outcome today, only to find out that the case was transferred to another adjuster and the date was moved back more than a month.
Ok, I’m just whining about the rebate thing, it’s not like it’s late, after all.
April 1, 2008
He may not have had the pronounced “overbite” that she has now, but boy howdy, does she look like a Gomer with the spoiler removed from the front bumper.
I took her back to the shop for another estimate, and the guys were nice enough to put her on a lift and give me a synopsis of the damage. They rattled off a laundry list of dinged parts: framerail, muffler, shields, bumper, spoiler, etc. They didn’t even produce an estimate after all that because they said that it was going to cost too much to pay out of pocket as I’d planned; they strongly suggest I make an insurance claim.
Now, I’m not sure if I can just take their word for it since they ARE in the business to make money, and my not repairing possibly minor damage means less revenue for them. I’m asking my friend’s brother to take a look at it and let me know what his personal assessment is. He’s not a mechanic by trade, but he’s very mechanically inclined and his dad is on hand for advice as well.
At the very least, I’ll feel more comfortable getting an unbiased second opinion before throwing down another insurance claim and a thousand dollars.
March 18, 2008
It turns out that my case has already been sent on to arbitration and is scheduled to be heard on May 6th. I know that worrying won’t do a whit of good, but I’m still a little nervous about it because I’ve never gone through this before and am unsure what to expect.
Reminds me that I need to print those photos of the car as well, and send those out just in case, I would hate to lose this case for lack of prep.
Edit: I just realized that this kicks the deductible back up to $1000. Holy mackeral.
January 25, 2008
My insurance ship has come in! The removal of BroDucky from the insurance has resulted in a massive savings of $680 for this policy term.
That means that not only I’m finally only paying approximately $100/month, per person, I’ve already paid half the premium in a single payment. If I keep this up, I can work my way towards only making two auto insurance payments per year.
Yippee!
December 27, 2007
Life has been hectic… so much not the relaxed, sleeping-in, reading on the floor all day sort of holiday break that I’d been looking forward to. Well, actually, I’ve been sleeping in far later than usual, but only because I’m staying up hours later than my bedtime. *tsk*
But I actually got a couple items checked off the list today:
1. Called the auto insurance company and had BroDucky taken off the policy. This item was originally “Get insurance quotes and get new policy” but that takes a whole lot more effort than I’ve had time for. This’ll do for now. The underwriters require up to 30 days to rewrite the policy so I’ve got my fingers crossed that the total will come down A LOT.
2. Called T-mobile to check on the minutes that Pa and MaDucky use of a month. If their usage is consistently low, I’m changing their family plan to the lowest priced one available. That plan runs $59.99 for 700 minutes, free nights and weekends, and Mobile to Mobile. Unfortunately, since the plan remains under Ma’s name, despite my paying the bill, she now needs to call them and add me as an “authorized user” so I can access the plan and actually change it. Still, it’s a step. That ten dollars saved will go towards the iPhone.
This just leaves:
1. Culling credit cards I signed up for last year and no longer need or want. This has to be done during business hours because I want to transfer the credit limits to the remaining cards.
2. Developing financial & personal goals for 2008.
3. Planning the last bridal shower for next week.
4. Creating R’s wedding gift of a photobook chronicling the “behind the scenes” leading up to her actual wedding. I can at least get the first 2/3s of the book started.
5. At least 4-6 hours of OT work to get caught up before the 2nd.
August 28, 2007
My car insurance agent, Mr. Pokey Agent Man, finally faxed me a copy of the police report from my car accident back in April and tells me that the companies are willing to settle 50/50 because the report is inconclusive and it’s come down to my word against that of the Idiot Driver who tried to run me out of my lan and then hit me anyway.
My options are to accept a 50/50 decision, which means that it’s no-fault on either side, and pay half the deductible and the insurance companies pay for half of the damages, or go to arbitration to pursue an actual decision.
The play it safe side of me says to take the 50/50. “No fault” is good, and I have the $500 in the bank, sort of. Well, I can, anyway. The truth and justice side of says that’s a crock. HE hit me when he was driving recklessly, I got out of his way and he still hit me (on the rear left side, basically at my wheel well). Therefore that side wants to go to arbitration and pursue a 0/100 decision against him.
It’s clear to ME what happened, but what’s the arbitrator going to decide? I’ve got photos of the damages done to my car but I can’t tell if it’s obvious there that he hit me either. And I can’t really expect a Holmesian arbitrator, I’d just have to hope for the best arbitrator to be interested in deciphering how it all went down and then deciding for me.
That’s sort of a lot to take on faith. What to do?
