“I Won’t Be Able to Meet You, Honey - A Tree Fell on My Car.”

This is not my car, but you get the idea.———–>

It happened in my driveway, a week ago last Friday. It was a perfect, sunny New England day, 75 degrees, and a clear blue sky.

My house windows were open as I prepared to leave to meet my spouse in Boston for an after-work barbeque. The peaceful quiet was suddenly filled with a loud crack from outside, and down the tree came with a crash. Not the whole tree, but enough of it to flatten my paid for Honda Civic with only 87,000 miles on it. Little did my car know it was about to come to an untimely death.

If I had left the house twenty minutes earlier, I wouldn’t be writing this.

The good news: No one was hurt, and the house and new edition have only minor damages.

The bad news: my car is totaled.

This all happened about a week ago, and I’ve been caught in an insurance nightmare ever since.

Things I’ve learned about dealing with insurance companies:

1 ) You’re guilty until proven innocent.

They immediately took an adversarial position. In the course of 24 hours, I was asked by three different people what happened. I was asked the exact same questions each time. Since it was my neighbor’s tree, there is huge concern over the health of the tree. If the tree is healthy, my insurance pays. If the tree is unhealthy, and my neighbors were negligent in its care, their insurance pays.

When I told them the tree looked perfectly healthy (which it did, though there is internal rot that could not have been known of prior to the accident) repeatedly, they kept trying to cajole me into saying it was my neighbor’s fault.

2) They don’t want to give you as much as the car is really worth.

Their estimate is at least $2000 less than what it would cost me to replace it with the exact same car.

3) They try to wait you out.

After giving me the low appraisal, they encouraged me to settle immediately. I have rental car coverage on my insurance. It states “$15 dollars/ day up to a total of $450 dollars” on my policy. But I have been told I only 5 days of coverage left before I have to start paying for the rental in full. I don’t quite get this, since when I turn in the rental I’ll have had it for only eight days. $15×8 is $120 on my calculator.

5 days is not a lot of time to research and buy a car.

I challenged their settlement offer last Thursday. They were supposed to get back to me within 24 hours. That was Thursday, and this is Sunday. Though I have called repeatedly, the agent handling my case has not returned my calls. They are closed over the weekend, but the car rental time clock keeps ticking, and on Monday it will be 5 days. Think they’ll call me Monday?

What I’ve done to fight back - Being Proactive.

I’ll be picking up my new car on Monday evening (buying the car is a story for another post!) They had 0% financing, so I financed almost the entire purchase. What a deal!

And now, when I speak with the insurance agent:

1) I won’t need the settlement quickly for purchasing the new car.

2) The rental goes back Monday.

3) I have no storage fees for my totaled car, as it’s in my driveway.

With these financial constraints removed, I have no pressure to settle quickly, and can at least negotiate the car value on a more level playing field.

Monday will be an interesting day. And this is only the car insurance. I still have to deal with the house insurance. Wish me luck.

My new car- a red Toyota Corolla LE, 2009-

Here’s a picture.

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