You are not kidding!
I got a motorcycle and paid for insurance. When someone stole my bike and police caught the guy and put it in the impound, my scummy ass insurance called me to go see if itâs okay? Like bro, thatâs your job.
Then they said if I was willing to sign a contract that the bike was fine without allowing me to see it. I said no.
Finally they gave up and wrote me a check for the cost of the bike.
Not a motorcycle, but my car was hit (along with several others) by a guy evading the police. I wasnât even in it, we were in a city and cars were parked along the street, and he came over a hill, ran a red light, t-boned someone, and then bounced against a bunch of cars down the street.
When I got the police report, I filed a claim with my insurance, which was the same insurance company as the criminal. They originally told me that, âThere were 7 vehicles involved in this accident, and other vehicles were damaged much worse than yours, so weâre not sure if his policy will cover all of the damage⌠So weâll have to file the claim under your policy, youâd just have to pay your deductible.â
Absolutely not, I told her. âWell Sir, you have to unders-â
âNo, maâam, YOU need to understand that your customerâs inability to be a responsible citizen is NOT my problem, and I am NOT having my premiums go up, or paying my deductible, when I did absolutely nothing wrong.â After escalating to a manager and giving her an earful while threatening to drop my policy with them effective immediately, they miraculously realized his policy would cover the damage to my car. Easy day, right?
Now, Iâll be honest: The damage to my car was completely cosmetic, but I was poor and could have really used some extra cash, hence why I was pursuing it. Well, brought the car in to be looked over by the insurance folks, and the assessed damage was like $800. Cool, I asked her for my check so I could go home.
âOh, well, Sir, you still have a lien on the vehicle, and normally we would send it to your bank, and they would tell you where to go and then pay the repair shop.â
Oh, cool, well, thatâs not what weâre doing, I already have a shop lined up, I said, but needed the money for the parts.
Big tall dude comes over, also an insurance employee, as the woman and I are going back and forth, and he chimes in and goes, âWell, Sir, yâknow, typically the bank holding the lien wants to handle these things, and, yâknow, if the repairs arenât made and they repossess the vehicle, you could owe the repair costs.â
My response: âHuh, fascinating. Sounds like a conversation between my bank and I, and with all due respect, I donât understand who you are to have that discussion on their behalf.â
âJust cut him the check,â as he walks away.
I fucking hate insurance companies.
I had a shitty white Kia Rio that I wrote off in a snowstorm. I borrowed my dadâs car to drive while I looked for a replacement I could afford, and after a few weeks my insurance said âwe paid you the coverage. If you donât put a new car on your policy, weâll cancel it.â ok, fine. I put my old junker (car before the Rio) on it - wasnât even road worthy, but I had accident forgiveness on this policy and if I had to start over Iâd get higher premiums.
I found a car a week later. Called the broker to switch the policy.
'we canât remove this car from the policy unless we contact your bank first â
What.
They claimed because I had bought my Rio with a bank loan that they couldnât remove my junker without permission from the bank.
I argued with this person politely for 10 minutes, pointing out that Iâd paid the car off 2 years prior. They said âwell Iâll need to check with the underwriter then.â fine. I get a call back 30m later, same person. âno, we need permission from the bank according to the underwriter.â
This pissed me off because I knew I was being lied to. âNow I know youâre lying to me. I have the cheque from the underwriter cashed in my account. They would not have issued it to me if there was any issue with the bank. I am not a customer of that bank, have not been for 2 years.â
âwell sir, I need to confirm that with the bankâ
âIf you contact the bank in reference to me in any way, shape, or form, I will sue you for breach of privacy and file complaints with every government office that I can. DO NOT CALL THE BANK. SWITCH IN THE NEW CAR.â
They refused. I called back 2 hours later, got someone else. Told them I needed the new car switched in.
They did it, and a week later I filed a written complaint to the broker about the other rep, firmly underscoring the lying.
No idea if it was related or not, but the branch got downsized away less than a year later.
Anyway, fuck insurance companies.
