[geeks] Insurance, and Why I Hate It (long)

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

Hello, World,

   I hope not to offend anyone working in the insurance industry, but I
hate auto and health insurance companies more than I could ever hate
Microsoft, Packard Bell, and every other sh!tty computer-related company
put together.

<rant length="long" type="horror story">

   I really have to shake my head at auto insurance.  It's required to
drive (at least, here in TX).  Yet, they don't -do- anything.  They don't
have to take you, if they don't want to, and they can drop you for any
reason they see fit.  This pisses me off even more than the
government-subsidizing of the airline industry.  Case in point:

   I'm 22 years old with a perfect driving record.  I drive a 2001 Pontiac
Firebird with a V6, air bags, ABS, and alarm.  What do I pay?  About $2500
per annum.  That alone is enough for me to rant about, but, you know, I'd
assumed that, if I ever got in an accident, the insurance company would
actually -do- something, so I didn't bitch too hard.

   Heh.  So sue me, I was naive.

   I was rear-ended in San Diego[1] during the first week of July, -ten-
-bloody- -weeks- after I drove my car off the lot.  Some fsckwit in his
band-new SUV was jacking around with the radio instead of watching the
road during rush-hour traffic on I-8.  Idiot.

   So, I reported the accident to my insurance, since he didn't have all
his data at the scene.  $Insurance[2] tells me that I may get my car fixed
wherever I want, but that I -may- -not- get it shipped back to TX first,
due to some silly CA law.  So, I call GM and get their recommendation for
a body shop in the area.  I ask $Insurance if there'll be any problem in
getting my car fixed there, and they tell me it'll be fine.  So, I tell
them to tow it on over.

   About two weeks go by, and $fsckwit gets his insurance info to me.  I
pass it off to $Insurance, and I figure that they'll turn the claim over
to them.

   Wrong.

   $Insurance decides to ride the whole thing out -their- way, which means
that I don't get to make any demands.  They're going it -their- way, and
they've already told $OtherInsurance that, so there's no help from that
angle.  Basically, I get treated like the accident is my fault, except
that it doesn't go on my record that way.

   I'm told about what the body shop is going to do to my car, and
immediately try to get it totaled.  $Insurance tells me that on a car that
new, the damage has to hit about 80% of what the car is worth.  The damage
is at 60% and rising.  It stops at about 70%.

   So, I'm back in Texas, driving my previous auto (an '81 Olds with no
a/c, no lights, no dash-lights, broken windshield--pretty-much as trashy
as can get without fuzzy dice, dropped suspension, and after-market rims),
and my fiancee points out that driving around in Texas in August without
a/c sucks.  I rent a Mustang[3].  $OtherInsurance bitches at me for not
renting a Cavalier.  I point out my dimensions, and the fact that I can't
safely -drive- a Cavalier.  They shut up, amazingly enough.

   Three months pass, and my car is fixed.  Everything structural starting
just behind the front seat is new, ordered from GM and welded onto the
front of the car.  It looks great, except for those atrocious weld-marks
on the frame.

   So, I drive it home and it behaves.  During all this time, I've talked
with $OtherInsurance[4] about the fact that my laptop was very unhappy
about riding in the trunk of my car during the accident.  They want an
estimate.  Never mind that it's a 4 year-old laptop and -nothing- works on
it except the battery charger, so it should be totaled-out.  So, I table
that issue in case I can negotiate with them later.

   December.  The paint starts to peel of my back bumper.  It's just a
little spot, so I figured that someone probably just bumped me in the
parking lot.

   January.  The paint is -gone- from the driver's corner of the back
bumper, and the paint is starting to ripple across.  So, I drop into my
agent's office, and ask them what they intend to do about it.  $Insurance
says "but the work was done at a non-approved facility..."

   My jaw hits the floor.

   Luckily, $BodyShop has enough decency to let me take it to a dealer
here in TX to find out what went wrong (whether it was their fault or
DuPont's), and $BodyShop will pay for me to get it fixed in TX.

   February.  I get an interesting call from a collection agency.  My
first such call ever, as I've got perfect credit.  Apparently, there's an
unpaid rental bill.  I let them say their stuff, and call $RentalShop to
ask what the big idea is.  I mean, if $OtherInsurance agrees to pay N
dollars, my part should be total-N, which I paid.  What's up?

   $RentalShop has a latter from $OtherInsurance, stating that they
changed their mind after they agreed to pay their part. They also said
that it only took 43 days to get my car fixed (Oct 11 - July
8--interesting math there), so they were only to pay for 43 days rental.

   I call $OtherInsurance.  My agent is in a meeting.  I call again.  
She's sick.  I call again.  She's in training. ... ... ...

   -Today- I get ahold of her.  $OtherInsurance, as a matter of policy,
doesn't -care- how long it -actually- takes to fix the car, they go by the
original estimate.  I mean, who -cares- if over $5k more work was done to
the car than was specified in the original estimate, right?

   So, some boy genius over at $OtherInsurance actually has a paying job
to look at an original, first-glance estimate, pour out a handful of tea
leaves, and determine how long it'll take to fix an arbitrary car.  
There's a cush job.  How the hell can you take a job seriously that, in
all actuality, only needs a D100 from the local D&D store?

   I gave $OtherInsurance the number for the body shop so that they can
talk.

   About a week ago, some idiot backs into the front of my car and leaves,
while I'm having lunch.  No -real- damage is done, except for the gigantic
patch of now-unpainted fiberglass on the nose of my car.  So, I take it to
a decent in-town body shop, get an estimate, and take it by my agent.

   $Agent assures me that I will be dropped if I file that claim.

   So, here I am, with two not-at-fault claims, and I'll get dropped if I
-use- my fscking insurance.  Never mind that they don't do a damned thing
if I call on them in the first place.  I mean, hell, this is worse than a
WorstBuy "Extended Warranty"!

</rant>

*sigh*

   Am I doing anything wrong here, or am I just stuck between the two
worst insurance companies on the planet[5]?  Or, worse, yet, is this Just
The Way Things Are(TM)?

--Jonathan
[1] Well, El Cajon, actually.
[2] If there were ever a time that shell-variable syntax were acutely
    appropriate...
[3] *cringe* But it was either that or a Cavalier. 
[4] As soon as the body shop got about halfway done, $Insurance
    transferred the claim over to $OtherInsurance.
[5] From what I've read on the 'net, I'm leaning towards the latter.