Greased Melon

This morning I started the process of filing a claim to cover a few things that were broken in the little crash yesterday.

I hate dealing with insurance.

I called State Farm, who insures us both. Here’s how it went.

• At first they didn’t know how to classify me. Vehicle? Well, you weren’t a car…Pedestrian! [5 minutes on hold] Ohhh…no…boss says vehicle!
• Agent asks if driver was cited by the police. I don’t know but give her a case number. I ask if that’s an issue since she was still at fault and she mumbles an unintelligent reply.
• Now I’m a vehicle again! Transfers me to claim taker.
  [Call disconnects after 10 minutes on hold. I call back.]
• I file claim against her policy. Whew. The guy even knew a few cycling words! He was smart and put down “get wheels aligned” instead of “trued” so other people would know what it meant.
• Fun begins: Now I’m told to file a claim against MY OWN CAR insurance policy. Yes! Really! I hadn’t been in my car in three days–it was in the parking lot at home when I was hit. The guy says my own insurance has to pay the first $2000 in damages (I doubt there’s that much) even though I’m not at fault. This is KS law. This begs the question of what happens if I don’t have a car at all, but hey–EVERYONE has a car in KS, right?
• The KS claims guy transfers me to the MO claim center (because I live in Missouri). MO claim center refuses to let me make the claim because that’s not how MO law reads. Bounces me back to KS claim center.
• KC claim center bounces me back to MO claim center and explains to claim taker what the deal is. I make the claim, but really don’t know what for. Apparently this only handles medical expenses.

Quote of the day goes to MO claim taker: “2006 Toyota Matrix…Oh, with temp tags. It was a new car?! Ooh, that’s too bad!” I wish I were new so I’d get that kind of sympathy.

So here’s the thing: MY car insurance policy is what covers my measly medical bills even though I’m not at fault. The driver’s insurance will buy me a new headlight and pay for bike repairs which will probably be less then my measly medical bills.