Tag Archives: accident

I hate dealing with insurance agents who don’t care about people

As you may know, Robin and I were rear-ended by someone about three weeks ago. The car’s fine, we’re fine but needed some medical treatment, the other driver’s fine. Pretty minor, but there’s permanent emotional trauma caused by, first, having to deal with the guy who hit us who became confrontational when we asked for his insurance information and, second, his insurance (Pemco, btw) who keeps trying to downplay what happened.

Essentially, we were turning left, the light turned yellow while some cars ahead of us continued to turn, we stopped since it was red *before* we got to the intersection, the dude rear-ended us and told us that he thought we’d run the red. When we pulled over to trade info, he kept saying that it wasn’t necessary because there was no damage, while we kept explaining that we have no idea if we suffered bodily damage because back and neck injuries can take a while to manifest. He then became confrontational when we insisted on getting his insurance info and kept saying that he could see that we weren’t injured. We got that sorted out after a little bit of yelling back and forth. The next day it was clear that our backs and necks were tweaked. Over the next couple of weeks, I have gotten better on my own while Robin has gone to the chiropractor and massage therapist a few times. The dude’s insurance agent called me up and tried to make a deal with us stating that it wasn’t an accident since there was no damage to the vehicles and that we didn’t suffer real injuries since they weren’t permanent. She kept saying “let’s nip this in the bud before it gets serious” and then said that she would have to escalate the issue and contest our claims to injuries if we did not agree to her deal.

Let me just say, for the record, that I think it’s preposterous for vehicle injuries to matter more than people injuries. If, by definition, we did not suffer an accident, does that mean Pemco is saying that the dude deliberately hit us? Did he accidentally hit us or deliberately hit us? If the former, then it’s an accident! If the latter then I need to press some criminal charges against the guy. It’s even more preposterous to consider injuries as only counting if they are permanent. So, if I had broken my arm, according to Pemco, I wouldn’t have suffered an injury because it’d eventually heal. WTF?

Anyway, we called our insurance agent and explained this situation at which point our insurance (Progressive, who we love, btw) pointed out that we shouldn’t be talking with the Pemco person at all since Progressive is paying for our medical bills and is going to attempt to recoup the costs from Pemco directly in an act called subrogation.

I tweeted the ridiculousness of the situation this morning and had a brief talk with Moses about it:

7:12 AM Moses: so some jackass drove his car into yours and now the insurance is being shifty because there was no vehicular damage?
7:14 AM me: yes
Moses: dude, so sorry, that’s a biter on all counts
me: but luckily our insurance company is covering our costs since we have personal injury protection
Moses: right on, that’s good at least
7:15 AM me: i just hate dealing with insurance people who are shits
Moses: absolutely
it’s bad enough that they’re insurance people
me: our insurance (progressive) is subrogating our claim (and I learned a new word so that’s good)
Moses: wow subrogating
sounds . . . I don’t know, medical
me: hehe… I had to look it up on wikipedia
7:16 AM Moses: possibly a form torture
“Subrogate him until he talks!”
me: the dude’s insurance was like “it’s not an accident since there was no vehicle damage. instead it was a ‘bonk'”
BONK! really? wtf?
Moses: WTF
a “bonk”
me: yeah
Moses: that’s incredibly poor
7:17 AM me: it’s sad how out of touch people can get in their professions
Moses: no kidding
I mean, I at least understand when it’s customer service for an airline and they’re over seas
7:18 AM they have no sense of the geographic constraints I’m working with
but “bonk”?
really?
7:19 AM me: when I said, “well people were injured” she just said “well they aren’t injuries since they aren’t permanent”
Moses: /double face palm
7:20 AM that woman needs a fucking dictionary
me: we’d had to be wheelchaired or something for her to count us as injured
7:21 AM Moses: incidentally Injury n.:any harm done to a person by the acts or omissions of another. Injury may include physical hurt as well as damage to reputation or dignity, loss of a legal right, or breach of contract. If the party causing the injury was either willful (intentionally causing harm) or negligent then he/she is responsible (liable) for payment of damages for the harm caused.
7:22 AM me: well, she did say that she wasn’t disputing liability
which tells me that she understands that we were injured
Moses: mm hmm
7:23 AM if she didn’t she wouldn’t just be sleazy, she’d be utterly incompetent