I got into a car accident this spring. Allot hasn’t happened, and it’s been kindof stressful. But now it’s finally being worked on, so I think it’s time to recount.
March 31st, a Friday — driving home from Boston during mid-day. I was in a great mood, and the weather was warm and bright. I had driven all the way from Medford, on I-93 and I-90 through Boston into Worcester, navigated through the construction of Rt. 146, and made it into my “old” stomping grounds around WPI. I was a mile away from my apartment, on a route I travel nearly everyday.
And then I was sideswiped… I was traveling along with traffic that had been waiting to pass through an intersection, maybe 15 or 20mph. Fairly thick traffic, as it was about 1PM. On the right was the parking lot for the local Price Chopper. And there was a car pulling up to eventually merge into traffic, but they were slowing down and would have to stop since there was no gaps in traffic. So I continue to survey the other cars & people in the area. And as I’m passing this car and parking lot of my right, my peripheral vision detects that the car has not stopped, it’s just coasting into traffic, into me. Time dilation kicks in, but no last minute maneuver seems like a good idea, so I accept this situation as the nose of the car plows into my right-side doors and pushed me a foot or so to the left as my momentum keeps the car going forward.
I pull over, and after some apprehension, so does the other driver, Susan. We get out and start the information exchange. A by-standard has called the police. Traffic… copes somehow, I didn’t pay attention. (The traffic there can be very erratic.) I inspect the damage to my car: a gouge that runs from the back of the right-front door, deepens into the back-right door, and terminated on the back-right wheel-well & tire area. I inspect the damage to Susan’s car… two patches of plastic are ripped up from the surface of the front bumper. How ironic.
The police show up promptly. Amazing. He talks to each of us, takes down information, inspects damage, etc. Things seem to be going really smoothly. I’ve got her license-plate number, VIN, drivers license number, insurance agency name and policy number. I should be all set. I’m fairly calm and sedate… which I think is odd but don’t second guess. But Susan, an older woman, seems to be very nerve-racked by the whole experience, and afraid what her husband will think. Eventually the police pass out copies of his initial report, tell us the steps that we should go through next, and leaves.
I get to drive home… more cautiously this time. The car seems to handle just fine… so the back-right tire isn’t that bad. After relaxing for a bit, I call my insurance agency Progressive. I want this dealt with quickly, while it’s still fresh on my mind. By 4PM, I’ve been assigned a claims handler, Mary-Kay, given her all the info available I have, and do the formal phone-interview about the details of the accident.
April 3rd, the following Monday — Mary-Kay calls. The insurance info for Susan incorrect… no, incompatible; it has a different format than what I saw and wrote down. *sigh* Okay… maybe in the heat of the moment I missed something; I’m not familiar with Massachusetts registration forms. But here starts the first delay, not even able to contact Susan’s insurance company to start a claim there until we can find out her actual policy info. I’m anxious to get this going, and am powerless.
April 5th, 6 days after the accident — we have finally got the right info, and a claim has been started with Susan’s insurance company, MetLife. I give my phone interview to the MetLife claims handler Nicole. She hasn’t heard from Susan yet…. they’ve sent out some mail to try to contact her. In the meantime, a claims adjuster will come out to assess the car. He’ll be there on Friday.
Now… around Wednesday of this week, I was sick… and got worse through the weekend and well into the next week. It was miserable, and I was stressed and slightly depressed. The assessment Friday went well; the adjuster was more than fair to my car’s value, and assessed damaged at over 1,300$ I’m very pleasantly surprised. I also finally filled out my additional crash report info for the Worcester Police that Monday, and got it into them. During this time, I call fairly regularly, waiting to hear when Susan will report her side of the accident. But this was never to happen.
Apparently, insurance agencies in Mass have some formal process to go through to order copies of accident reports. And apparently there are many delays. Mine wasn’t available until April 24th. Yes, three weeks past the time of the accident.
Now MetLife can assess probable liability, and go from there. This took a week of time. To read once piece of paper, where the officer states:
Vehicle #1 going West on Highland St. when vehicle #2 pulled out of the driveway at 255 Highland St. and struck vehicle #1 on the passenger side with its front end.
Five whole business days for Nicole to read that one line, and comprehend it. I’m still annoyed at this, and regret not calling every single day to pressure her to act quicker. But eventually, her and her supervisor review the claim, and find their insuree at probable liability.
May 1st — a month after the accident, MetLife has assessed liability against Susan. Finally. But, they need to send another letter in the mail to Susan to inform them of the pending assessment and charges against their policy. Oh yea, they need to give them 10 days to respond. The next day after being told this, I call Nicole’s supervisor, just to verify this.. this.. these extenuating circumstances and policy. All for naught.
May 8th — Susan finally contacts her insurance company, and doesn’t contest the assessment. Finally, a check has been sent out in the mail. 38 days later.
May 12th — I have the check, and I go to deposit it. My band informs me that any “insurance claims” check they hold 5 days until it clears. I can get 100$ now, though. I’m speechless.
May 17th — I make plans for the rental car. (At least the rental car will be reimbursed through MetLife.) I expect Friday will be when the check will be cleared, and I will bring my car in for work. At first, I was looking to see if maybe I could rent a Toyota Prius, but it seems that all rental companies have had their reclaimed, or sold them, due to high demand for the car. Oh well, any commuter car will do.
May 18th — The check has finally cleared, and I’m making arrangements for the body work to be done. Friday shall be the day.
May 19th — I bring my car into Chicken’s Customs around mid-day, and get a ride over to Enterprise. Once the guy there finds out I’m a WPI CS major, he tells me he used to do EE, and starts chatting it up about working with companies like EMC and DEC. I end up with a Hyundai Elantra.
So now, I wait a week. Hopefully my car will fair well, and not go over on price for the body-work. In the meantime, I commute for a week to my new job in a rental car. That’s not so bad. Overall, things are okay. I’m just annoyed that it’ll nearly be two months since the accident to when my car will be fixed up. Allot of little life lessons learned here, I suppose. But it’s hard to see that until the problem is fixed and behind me.
(In writing this, I can see it would have been advantageous to actually post as events happened, instead of this recap. But I was very stressed, and rather talk about things that have happened, or are nearly guaranteed to happen, as opposed to ranting & raving and speculating until my fingerprints wear off on my keyboard.)