Thank you to all of you who have expressed concern. I wanted to do a fairly quick update since things seem to change daily in this car ordeal. First and foremost I want to stress that I am trying to see the blessings in this and make good of it. I am mostly in one piece. :-) LaRae told me tonight that my description of the accident when I called her right after it happened made her laugh: "I was sitting there and all of a sudden my hair was messed up!" My bro-in-law said something of the same ilk when he was rear-ended: "I was driving and suddenly my rear-view mirror was gone, and my head really hurt!" Rear-endings are such a shocker...
Today the insurance adjuster came out to talk medical to me. I'm doing medical through my auto's PIP, so they (the guy who hit me's insurance) cut me a nice little check in addition to that. The adjuster took pictures of my car and stated "Wow! A Grand Am hit you? It looks like a truck hit you! He must have been going really fast!" Yep. He was thanks... did I forget to tell you he broke my car, sir? :-) Anyways, he then asked if I had a place I wanted to go to get the repairs done! I said, "seriously? They're going to fix that?!" (Not to mention that it will NEVER drive the same after this, and it will have this glaring accident on its record when I go to resale it in a year or so.) He said he could fill out a worksheet to see if it's totalled. When he figured in the damage to the driver's seat, it totaled my car on paper. Now his deal is to work on the medical, set me up with a rental car, and help me get my car to the shop. He scratched the info he had given me on what shop to take the car to and had me leave it in my garage. He's referring my claim to the total loss department to have them officially total it. He said he's "85% sure" they'll total it. However, he also told me that the total loss department "sucks," so it could take a week to a month. He told me not to expect to hear from them until next week though.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, he very kindly set me up with a rental car. I am now driving a 2006 PT Cruiser. It's such a cool car! Want to know the best feature (keep in mind mine was a 1999 Cavalier with no power locks or windows)? The key has buttons on it to lock and unlock the doors! How fun is that?! I will admit thought - this car is like a guy you'll date for fun on the weekends but who just isn't marriage material. I like the car. It's fun to drive, but it's not what I want in a permanent car for me. :-) It's nice to have a good car for the month I'll be without one though. I was afraid I'd get a really crappy tiny car (not much different than my own)!
I also went to the chiropractor today. She took x-rays and did an adjustment. I've never been to a chiropractor before, so I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It didn't magically fix me, but I do feel a little bit better. I can see how it's going to help in the long run. By the way official diagnosis is whip-lash... soft tissue damage. Yep.
I'm going to end this post with a quick kudos to the companies who have really helped me and done their jobs well. I know that these people were just doing they job and treating me like any other customer, but the fact that they all did it kindly and efficiently shows what great training their employees have. Nationwide (the guy's insurance) has really helped me a ton thus far. They have been kind, sympathetic, and most importantly - FAST. I'm still waiting to deal with the total loss department, but so far, I'm impressed. They've really seemed to act in my best interests. Enterprise car rentals has also been great. They called to confirm the car rental request as soon as the adjuster put it in, and they helped me quickly when I got there. They were ready to pick me up if need be to get me to the rental car, and when we got to the car, the agent actually got in and pointed out some things on the car that were tricky -- like where in the world the window controls were (middle of the front dash...weird, eh?). GEICO is my car insurance and again they were great and helpful when I called about my PIP, so I could go to the doctor. They had the claim ready for me to go to the doctor by my appointment today. The speed these insurance companies have moved with thus far has been great. Finally Dr. Suzan Smith's office has been great. She's the chiropractor. They know LaRae, but they were really kind to me, and they got me in quick to see them. I'm pumped to have a new doctor that I actually like. :-)
I'll keep you posted with the car-being-totalled news, but for now I'm just healing as I enjoy my fancy rental car and surf the net for a new car. Not for sure I'll get to get a new car, but it's always fun to look. :-) G'night ya'll!
You sound very positive and upbeat considering the situaion. Impressive!
ReplyDeleteGlad things are going smoothly for you. Also glad to hear about Nationwide - that's who we have our auto/home insurance through. It's hard to know how they would be seeing how our only experiences with them have been to give them our $$$ - so of course they'd be happy to accommodate!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great attitude - I've got my fingers crossed for a sweet deal on a Murano for you!
Thanks Kelly and Wade! I am having so much fun driving my PT Cruiser. :-) Wade, you might need to cross your toes too for that deal. :-)
ReplyDeleteI used to be an adjuster, this blog post brings back horrible memories!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you used to be an adjuster, zach. Never would have expected that. :-)
ReplyDelete2.5 Years at State Harm, I mean State Farm.
ReplyDelete