I was involved in an automobile accident in which the other driver ran a stop sign and I hit her car. She was charged with the accident. The right side of my bumper and quarter panel were completely crushed as a result. The accident happened approximately 1 mile from my home, and I was able to drive my car home.
Since I had no right front headlight, I believed the car was not legal to drive. I have been pulled over before for a non-working headlight and given a warning. (I assume I could just as easily have been given a ticket.) Due to my previous experience, I believed that my car could not legally be on the road, and I parked it in my driveway.
I called Allstate, reported my accident and requested a rental car until the repairs could be made. The associate asked me if the car was driveable. I assumed a car I could be pulled over in was not driveable (silly me for trying to obey the law), and I told her it was not.
Anyway, she arranged for me to pick up a rental car, and I did. Unfortunately, I still had to give my credit card number to the rental agent, even though they said it was just a formality, since insurance was going to cover it.
When I got the call from the agent to set up a time for the adjustment, I asked her if she could get me a location close to my home, since I was afraid of getting pulled over while driving the car to the adjuster.
At that time she literally freaked out on me. She said I had told her the car was not driveable. I said that I believed a car I could get pulled over in, for having only one working headlight, WAS undriveable. She said that was insurance fraud and that I had lied to her, and they would not pay for my rental car.
I then asked her how exactly I was supposed to tell the cop who pulled me over that he was wrong and there was nothing wrong with my car.
Anyway, I ended up having to pay for a rental out of my own pocket and quickly dropped them. The funny thing is my rental car expense was only $115.00, but for the sake of that small amount, they lost me as a customer, as well as the money they could have kept making for insuring my two cars.
So the next time a cop pulls you over for something not working on your car, you might just want to tell him or her that they are wrong because you're in good hands with Allstate.
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