Give me my money back, you bitch.
And by “you bitch”, I’m referring to Liberty Mutual, who have yet to pay me back for the accident.
So the story at this point goes something like this:
After the accident, I did my due diligence and gave interviews to both insurance companies. Both companies said that it looked like the other guy was at fault (although Geico [my company] was a bit more confident about it than Liberty Mutual). The Liberty Mutual lady said she would get back to me later that day (it was noon PST when I talked to her) or the next day to tell me what happened.
A month passed.
After both myself and my insurance company were unable to reach the other lady for about a month, everybody finally got a copy of the accident report from the state troopers. Looks like the trooper didn’t cite the other guy (like he said he would), but he did mark down that the other party was 100% at fault for the accident.
A few days later, Liberty Mutual called up my Geico representative and agreed to accept 70% liability (meaning that the accident was 30% my fault, just slightly under half my fault).
Unfortunately for them, Geico plays hardball.
The Geico people have filed arbitration, in the hopes that a judge will be a little less pigheaded. The case is to be heard sometime towards the end of this month (and I haven’t heard anything to the contrary of that). The good news is that we will likely win (the lady in charge of my arbitration from Geico is very confident), but the bad news is that I probably won’t get reimbursed for my rental car.
You see, the lady from Liberty Mutual originally told me that, first off, they would probably accept 100% liability. Secondly, she said, they would also pay for my rental (even though I don’t have rental insurance).
Even if we win in court, Geico can’t legally include my rental car costs in the arbitration because they didn’t pay for it (arbitration is really code for “Geico getting their money back, and then you get yours”). If we win, they can include it in the file as a courtesy, basically saying “hey, now that we smacked the crap out of you, why don’t you be a nice loser and pay for this too”, but I’m guessing that if Liberty Mutual wasn’t courteous enough to, you know, return my or Geico’s phone calls or be honest with me about their process, then they likely won’t be courteous enough to pay my rental.
The take away from all of this is really two things:
First: Geico kicks ass. Seriously. Every time I call, they get back to me in less than 24 hours. Even if the person I’m trying to reach is out of town (or otherwise unavailable), someone on their team gets back to me within 24 hours. They generally call me back within 4 hours. They call me when any new news comes up, and they have always be kind and answered all my questions. Liberty Mutual is a stark contrast (I don’t think it is just the fact that they are the “other” insurance company) – the lady is perpetually unavailable, was dishonest about the process on their end, and, according to a few different Geico reps, generally lacking in knowledge about auto insurance.
I have nothing but praise for the many people at Geico. They handled my claim immediately, answered all my rookie questions (like “what is a car accident?” and “how are babies made?”), were kind and reassuring, got my car into a shop in 2 days and fixed in 3, got me a rental (even though they didn’t pay for it, they still arranged it), and have stayed in contact with me constantly. If you are in the market for car insurance, I bet you can guess who I would recommend.
Second: File with your own insurance company. Had I filed with Liberty Mutual, I would probably have a $3500 car repair bill, after haggling for a few weeks about getting it repaired. Then, they would end up with the 70% fault (at best), and I would still be out at least $1050 (30% of the total), again after a month and a half of waiting. And, when they decided that they weren’t at fault, I would be up shit creek without a paddle (unless, of course, I file with Geico after Liberty Mutual fucks me, which all seems complicated to me). I imagine that, in the end, I would end up filing something with Geico and be right back in the same place, minus, of course, the interim shit-fest (slow repairs, large bills, dealing with the dumb lady).
So, the moral of this story is to a) find a great insurance company (like Geico), and b) file with them when you get in an accident and worry about recovering your deductible later.