The Car

About 6 weeks ago we had the unfortunate of getting rear-ended on the highway that leads from Wake Forest to Raleigh.  The whole time we’ve lived here I’ve said it’s a miracle we haven’t gotten on a wreck on that road.  When I traveled it twice a day for my previous job I would see at least a dozen wrecks a week.  It’s too congested, and the state really needs to do something about it.  

Robert was taking me to the doctor, and the city bus in front of us stopped for a pick up.  We had to stop, and the guy behind us wasn’t paying attention (texting and drinking) and didn’t stop in time.  We all pulled over, and what do you know - this was his third wreck in a matter of days.  What do you say, maybe it’s time for him to re-evaluate his driving habits.

So we made the claim against his insurance and they contacted him, except him didn’t respond, so they contacted him again and he didn’t response.  This went on 9 times (phone call and voicemail, email, text, letter).  They finally approved the claim two weeks later.  Then we had to go to the estimator and make an appointment for the repair.  Once we got an appointment we made the rental car reservation.

Monday morning we dropped off the car at Ford at 7:30 - not the Ford near us of course because they don’t do repairs.  We went to the Ford 30 minutes away.  

I had arranged for Enterprise to pick me up from work on my lunch break and take me to the rental location to get a car.  I waited for 45 minutes and nobody ever came.  Robert finally just came and got me.  They didn’t have an cars, only SUVs.  It was fun to drive a Jeep Compass for the week, but I definitely missed the good gas mileage of my Ford Fiesta.  Allstate was supposed to pay for the car insurance on the rental, but when we got there the rep said she hasn’t received paperwork.  I told her to contact Allstate if needed because I had already talked to them and it was approved.

All was well for a few days.  My car was ready on Wednesday, so I decided to pick it up over my lunch break.  I dropped off my car at Enterprise and asked for a ride to Ford.  The driver got lost and admitted to that being her fourth time to get lost going to Ford that day.  I got to Ford and was told that it would be $397.99.  I immediately started sweating and was at a loss for words.  She told me Allstate hadn’t approved the work.  Then she told me Allstate had mailed me a check and that I needed to pay Ford directly.  I told her Allstate hadn’t sent me a check and had never told me they would send a check.  They had said they’d pay the bill to Ford for me.  The worker pretty much just stood there looking at me like “Well…”  She told me I could just pay and try to get Allstate to pay me back.  Sorry, not happening.  So I called Allstate and was on hold for 13 minutes.  I reached a rep and she told me our claim had been denied.  How could this be?  I had spoken to at 3 people who had told me it was approved.  Then she said nevermind, it is approved and we mailed you a check.  No.  So she asked where I was getting the car fixed.  I told her and she said that wasn’t an approved site.  I asked her why a rep and told us to go to this location then.  Then she said to just go somewhere else.  Can’t.  Already got the work done. Ooo...so she talked to the front desk lady at Ford and said they’d mail a check and would send proof of payment immediately via fax.  The front desk lady had to leave for lunch so a guy came to watch the fax machine.  It took 15 minutes for the fax to come in.  It finally came in and I left.  Got to work 20 minutes late.

I thought it was finally over until the Enterprise lady called me back 2 days later and said Allstate didn’t pay for the insurance on the rental so she needed to call my insurance to make me pay for the insurance. NOOOOOOO!!!!  I told her to just call Allstate and figure it out.  She said in her 3 years of working at Enterprise Allstate had NEVER approved payment of rental insurance.  Well, she never called me back.  

Fingers crossed for this whole ordeal finally being over.  And if you’ve ever been in an accident, you have my complete empathy.  This wasn’t even a serious accident with injuries, and it still took 6 weeks to remedy.  However, I do finally have a new bumper.  Here’s hoping nothing like this happens again for a very long time.