TEXAS LIVING!

AUTO INSURANCE COMPANIES! Oh man! Where do I start? . . . Well! I have had State Farm Insurance for home, life and auto for over 40 years, and therefore they are loyal to me and I am loyal to them. Now here’s my latest story, and I’m sticking to it! All of it is true! Three weeks ago on October 2nd we were in a four car accident in The Colony on our way to a family funeral in Bedford. We were stopped at a traffic signal on a major Texas Highway when we heard squealing ties and were hit from behind, then pushing us into the vehicle ahead of us. Notice I said we were stopped! It was first thought that the car behind the car behind us started the chain-reaction. After a one week delay, the Police Department concluded that after talking with witnesses, and completing their measurements, the car behind us hit us first, and then it were hit by the last car in line. Now here is where the ‘rub’ comes. The original insurance company we were dealing with belonged to the last car in line. That company was Nationwide, and they were absolutely awesome! We had our claim number, had our estimate of damage to our ’07 Tahoe, and had the repairs scheduled. Then along comes the Police report, changing the ‘causing’ driver of the accident. There went our repair schedule; there went our positive working relationship! Now we were dealing with Travelers instead of Nationwide, and it was like day ‘n night! We were screwed around so much; we finally called State Farm and asked for their assistance. And of course they were all over it! We had our State Farm claim number and once again had the Tahoe scheduled for repair. I sent an e-mail to our “personal” Travelers claim adjuster (what a joke) with a status report of State Farm’s support. Lo and behold, holy crap! Travelers said they would assume all liability and requested I revise my repair appointment again to this past Monday instead of the previous Thursday, so they wouldn’t have to pay for a rental car over the weekend. We complied, trying to be decent about the whole thing!! Can it get any worse? Oh yea! Now Travelers insured, the causing driver – decided to contest the Police investigative report. What did I do? I raised holy hell with Travelers, informing them I would not change my repair schedule again. Then Travelers tried to stick us in the cheapest rental car available. NOT ON YOUR *&%^$# LIFE! We compromised on a mid-sized SUV. I deliver our car to the repair shop in McKinney on Monday morning, who had indicated that the repairs would take 3 – 5 days. Travelers received a copy of that estimate. Today, at 2 p.m. Travelers calls with this news: “Mr. Cross, Travelers has been very helpful in getting your vehicle repaired, and we must inform you that your rental car allowance ends today, and actually it ended at the end of the 2nd work day, yesterday, but we are feeling somewhat generous. Beginning tomorrow please submit any further rental charges to your own insurance company”. Lucky for that representative they were on the phone – I was so pissed off, I was seeing red! They said their estimator felt the Tahoe could be repaired in two days, and that was why our rental car contract had expired. Now anyone in their right mind wouldn’t figure $2500 in damages, all requiring paint work, could be completed in two days, would you? There goes another e-mail to Travelers. I called the repair shop, and they were going to expedite the repairs, re-scheduling others in the shop to accommodate our early completion. We are hoping for the end of day tomorrow, but it will probably be Friday sometime. You have to ask yourself, who in the hell was the victim here? Travelers has made us feel like we were at fault for sitting in our vehicle at a traffic light and they are the victim! At last count, we have been in three accidents since moving to North Texas two years ago. All required major repairs to our vehicles, and not once were we the causing driver! Thankfully we have State Farm! What’s next? We still need to resolve the rental car issue and we still need to be reimbursed for the other out-of-pocket expenses we have incurred. I’m thinking about invoicing Travelers for all my excess time screwing around with them and their inept employees. If you read this whole narrative, thanks! And this is the short story folks!