On Saturday March 16th I was in an accident in Chicago. I tried to get ahold of my insurance company all weekend to report the claim and ask them what I should do about transportation in the meantime (my car was undriveable).
I couldn't get ahold of them until Monday morning because they had no 24/7 claims number. I reported the accident in detail and then released the car from the pound where it was towed to the insurance company. I tried calling the adjuster assigned to me a number of times and could never get ahold of him and I couldn't leave a voice mail because his mail-box was full (not a good sign!). I attempted to talk with his supervisor and was able to leave a voice-mail with him, but still I was never contacted.
I found out that my car had already been appraised and work was starting by calling the auto-body shop that the insurance company had brought my car to. Still no word from my adjustor, or the appraiser of the automobile. It only took them 5 days to get to this point. So, I asked the mechanic if he would be so kind as to forward me an estimate for the damage (since obviously the insurance company was not going to).
For a premium payment of $650 every 6 months, American Service Insurance offers to pay for 20 days of car rental at $20/day. What they don't tell you in the policy is that the auto body shop which they deem the car will go to will take in excess of 39 days (and counting) to actually have the car fixed. Therefore at $23/day 6% tax for the rental if I were to get the car back in another 10 days (that's a big IF) I will have spent $794.62 out of my own pocket. That's not even including the $500.00 deductible that I owe!
Tobias
Winthrop Harbor, Illinois
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