Hi Gordon,
It's good to hear that you didn't rack up big medical bills.
I was involved in a pretty serious accident when the car I was a rear seat
passenger in was rear-ended by a DUI driver early New Years Eve several
years ago (and witnessed by a cop looking for drunk drivers). I went to the
lawyer I interned for and he asked if I had broken bones, which I didn't,
and he said it would be a waste to sue.
I did go to a chiroprator because of my neck and his insurance company sent
me a check for $1500 and paid for all medical expenses. Not a great "payday"
but I didn't ask for it. I used it to pay off school loans.
Good luck on your car too!!!!
Mike
PS - I guess you have to be one of this miscreants you read about involved
in insurance scams to hit a big "payday" when involved in an accident.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gordon Glasgow" <gsglasgow@attbi.com>
To: "Roadster List" <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 11:36 PM
Subject: <OT> Insurance Process
> Okay, time for an update. Geico came up with an estimate of $5223, which
was
> based on $44/hr labor rate (which everyone tells me is too low by about
> $10-20/hr for this area) and parts from several vendors. The estimate is
pretty
> detailed, even listing who they talked to at which vendor for each part.
Maybe
> this is common - I don't know. When the adjuster brought me the check, he
said,
> "Yeah, everywhere we called about parts, they said 'Oh, this must be for
> Gordon's car.'" Ah, the power of the Internet.
>
> They assured me that accepting the check did not close the claim, it was
just to
> make sure I had some money to get the repair process started. However, the
fine
> print requires that any further damage that is found by the body shop
needs to
> be documented with photographs, etc. Probably not unreasonable to prevent
> blatant ripoffs. So, not too bad so far. Inspected on Tuesday, check in
hand by
> Friday with no whining. I could have had the check on Thursday if we could
have
> made connections.
>
> On Wednesday "my" bodyman, Jay Newberry, came by to look at the car and
> confirmed most of what the adjusters had said. Jay did find a bit more
damage
> that they hadn't spotted, but not necessarily a lot.
>
> Now comes the difficult part. Jay isn't actually in the auto body business
at
> the moment, so he doesn't have a business license, thus he can't do formal
> estimates that Geico will recognize (probably). We're trying to see if he
can
> subcontract through a body shop in his area so that he can do the work and
still
> get Geico to listen to him. I really want Jay to do the work if possible
because
> he already knows the car and the custom mods we did on it, he's local so I
can
> help work on it, and he's a great craftsman. I know both Ross and Les
would do
> an equally great job on my car, but I want to keep the car close enough
that I
> can actively participate in the process. If all goes well, I'm going to
make a
> few more mods that I've been thinking about.
>
> Today another adjuster from Geico called me to see about the medical claim
(I'm
> still sore). He wants to get a statement for the record. I may just direct
him
> to my doctor.
>
> I also encountered somewhat of a "crisis of conscience" if you will. On
the
> advice of my doctor, I consulted a lawyer, just to see if I needed one.
She was
> pleased with the way things were going on the damage claim, and said she
didn't
> need to get in the middle of that. And they know my doctor, so they know
he
> knows how to handle the insurance claims. Then she said, "So that leaves
pain
> and suffering." (Of course, this is how they make their 30%).
>
> That gave me a problem. I'm tired of hearing about people making bonehead
moves
> that hurt themselves and then sueing everyone in sight. It's like they
think
> they just won the lottery or something. A few years ago, Joanne totalled
our
> Sentra SE-R in an accident with a Volvo (her fault). She got some bruising
from
> the seatbelt and the woman driving the Volvo broke a couple of
fingernails.
> Joanne went to the hospital to get checked out; the Volvo driver didn't.
The
> insurance process got started, and then we were notified that the other
party
> was sueing us for over $100,000!
>
> Our insurance company investigated and found out this woman was taking 5
> different mood-enhancing prescription drugs from 4 different doctors, none
of
> whom knew about the others. In addition, she and her husband had had
several
> failed business ventures and filed for bankruptcy twice. After our
insurance
> company presented this information to their lawyer, they settled out of
court
> for some amount (we never found out how much) that I'm sure was less than
$100
> large.
>
> So when my lawyer mentioned "pain and suffering," I had kind of a negative
> reaction. My reply was "I haven't had any." She said, "Yes, you have." and
> proceeded to point out all the things I was having to go through as a
result of
> this accident which wasn't my fault. I thought about it over the weekend
and
> decided that she had a point. Here's the stuff I'm dealing with:
>
> Every time I have to go to the chiropractor, I have to drive to work
instead of
> taking the bus (subsidised by my company). That's 30 miles plus $8 for
parking.
> Same situation if I have to go meet the adjusters, etc.
>
> I am having to leave work early frequently to deal with all this, because
> businesses, doctors, lawyers and body shops keep daytime hours. This
doesn't
> look real great at work, because I'm still new at this company, we have a
very
> aggressive software release schedule and most of the other people are
working
> overtime. So when I come home, I have to get on the computer and do some
more
> work from here (instead of enjoying the evening with my wife).
>
> Driving the roadster is done for this year. Summer is short enough up here
as it
> is and we were just getting into the good part of it. And that's still my
hobby.
> I love just taking the car out for a drive in the evening or going out
with the
> club for a tour. No more this year.
>
> I'm still stiff and sore, which is keeping me from doing any work on the
car
> (not to mention any number of other things). I had projects I wanted to
do, but
> now they're going to have to wait until I get all this damage fixed, both
to me
> and the car.
>
> The bottom line is, yes, my life has been negatively impacted in a fairly
> significant way. I didn't see it that way until I really started to list
all
> these things, and I still can't put a dollar value on it, but I guess
that's the
> only way we have in this society to "even the balance." So I told her to
go
> ahead, although I didn't give her a number. Besides, like she said, "If
you
> really feel that strongly about it, take the money and give it to your
favorite
> charity."
>
> It's been an interesting week.
>
> Gordon Glasgow
> Renton, WA
>
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>
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