American Justice at its BEST
Okay, time for another cynical look at today's issues. This one hits close to home cuz it happened to me! I guess that means it HIT home!
Uninsured motorists...need I say more? I was in a car accident a couple weeks ago. NOT my fault. A speeding motorist passed me on the freeway and while trying to merge into my lane in front of me, swerved to miss another merging, speeding vehicle and lost control of her own. She swerved right and left, completed a full 570 on the freeway when her car finally came to rest in the front left fender of my poor little Honda Civic. Thank God no one was hurt and the damage initially looked minimal. At first I was going to get a police report, but when our esteemed CHP put me on hold for 5 minutes, I got sick of waiting and just went ahead with exchanging information. Thankfully she had insurance. Eventually, CHP DID show up and made sure that everything was "okay," and after about half an hour, I was on my way home with my steering completely out of alignment.
Fast forward to today, a couple weeks late, and I call about my car. It was supposed to be ready on the 7th, but I find out it won't be ready until the 11th. No problem. I've got the rental car and she's insured so her insurance company is going to reimburse me for all my out-of-pocket expenses for the rental (I owe 20%). Then I call my claims adjuster just to touch base and make sure that all fault was determined to be hers. He confirmed that it was and when I asked how much I had to pay for my deductible (to be reimbursed later by her company), I was politely informed that it was going to be covered by none other than my own Uninsured Motorist insurance! WHAT?!?!?! I couldn't believe it. Apparently, I had just THOUGHT that she was insured. But it turns out that she hadn't been paying her insurance company and they had cancelled her policy. Go figure! so here's the kicker. The cowgirl here gets to pay for my 20% of the rental car. My only other option??? Take her to our highly esteemed small claims court. Boy what a waste of time. Even if I did win, I would have to go through all the stacks of paperwork and crap that goes with it. All for a couple hundred bucks??? and then you have to demand your fees, and half the time, the person doesn't pay it anyway, and the courts don't enforce it!
So I called my insurance agent, whom I've known since I was a kid, and ask her what this lady is going to get as a penalty for not having insurance? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She gets off scott-free for not having insurance, which is THE LAW!!!! And who's going to enforce that? No one, it seems. But the Cowgirl gets to pay for it. Don't you just love our justice system? The GOOD people pay hundreds of dollars a year for car insurance and get screwed when they get hit by someone who is not insured. I had no choice in the matter in regards to a rental vehicle. The cowgirl makes a living by driving, so I had to have one! And besides, I kind of liked my big, luxury 2005 Nissan Maxima with a V6, 260 HP engine, dual climate controls, cd player, automatic windows, automatic driver seat, moonroof, and a bunch of other stuff that I never did figure out.
So now the question remains...do I bother taking her to small claims court? Is it worth it just to prove a point? What would you do?
Uninsured motorists...need I say more? I was in a car accident a couple weeks ago. NOT my fault. A speeding motorist passed me on the freeway and while trying to merge into my lane in front of me, swerved to miss another merging, speeding vehicle and lost control of her own. She swerved right and left, completed a full 570 on the freeway when her car finally came to rest in the front left fender of my poor little Honda Civic. Thank God no one was hurt and the damage initially looked minimal. At first I was going to get a police report, but when our esteemed CHP put me on hold for 5 minutes, I got sick of waiting and just went ahead with exchanging information. Thankfully she had insurance. Eventually, CHP DID show up and made sure that everything was "okay," and after about half an hour, I was on my way home with my steering completely out of alignment.
Fast forward to today, a couple weeks late, and I call about my car. It was supposed to be ready on the 7th, but I find out it won't be ready until the 11th. No problem. I've got the rental car and she's insured so her insurance company is going to reimburse me for all my out-of-pocket expenses for the rental (I owe 20%). Then I call my claims adjuster just to touch base and make sure that all fault was determined to be hers. He confirmed that it was and when I asked how much I had to pay for my deductible (to be reimbursed later by her company), I was politely informed that it was going to be covered by none other than my own Uninsured Motorist insurance! WHAT?!?!?! I couldn't believe it. Apparently, I had just THOUGHT that she was insured. But it turns out that she hadn't been paying her insurance company and they had cancelled her policy. Go figure! so here's the kicker. The cowgirl here gets to pay for my 20% of the rental car. My only other option??? Take her to our highly esteemed small claims court. Boy what a waste of time. Even if I did win, I would have to go through all the stacks of paperwork and crap that goes with it. All for a couple hundred bucks??? and then you have to demand your fees, and half the time, the person doesn't pay it anyway, and the courts don't enforce it!
So I called my insurance agent, whom I've known since I was a kid, and ask her what this lady is going to get as a penalty for not having insurance? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She gets off scott-free for not having insurance, which is THE LAW!!!! And who's going to enforce that? No one, it seems. But the Cowgirl gets to pay for it. Don't you just love our justice system? The GOOD people pay hundreds of dollars a year for car insurance and get screwed when they get hit by someone who is not insured. I had no choice in the matter in regards to a rental vehicle. The cowgirl makes a living by driving, so I had to have one! And besides, I kind of liked my big, luxury 2005 Nissan Maxima with a V6, 260 HP engine, dual climate controls, cd player, automatic windows, automatic driver seat, moonroof, and a bunch of other stuff that I never did figure out.
So now the question remains...do I bother taking her to small claims court? Is it worth it just to prove a point? What would you do?
posted by SingingCowgirl at
4:57 PM
1 Comments:
I think you're right, Fitting. Now that I have had time to calm down, I wuold be out of my mind to drag her to court. I thought about calling her up and demanding my out of pocket expenses! Thank God I didn't have to pay any deductible cuz my uninsured motorist portion paid for all the repairs. Then, I might actually take her to court. What's the point of insurance if you still have to pay a deductible? I've never understood it. Who's the brilliant one who came up with that system?
By
SingingCowgirl, at 6:51 AM
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