On 05/23/2010 I was coming home on a lovely sunny day here in Ann Arbor, MI enjoying the day and some tunes coming through on my car stereo. I saw a red Miata behind me in traffic, a good friend of mine had recently gotten one and I glanced to see if it was him in the driver seat. It wasn't. At the moment I realized this I also realized that the car in front of me had suddenly stopped at the intersection as the light turned yellow. Cars in the lane to our right were still going through.
I stomped hard on my brakes, which had never failed me before, however there just wasn't enough time or distance and my car slammed into the back of the one in front of me at about 40 miles per hour.
My immediate first thought was "Oh god I hope the other driver is OK!" then realizing that I must be OK myself because it didn't feel like anything was wrong. The Accord I hit had its rear bumper pretty deformed but looked pretty OK besides that. It had been knocked forward into the intersection by the impact, and prudently pulled forward and off the side of the road. I followed suit, however my poor 1998 BMW struggled to make it even the 30 feet or so.
Once there I turned off the car, got out and ran over to make sure the other driver was OK. She said she was, and I immediately felt a great sense of relief wash over me. She was already on the phone to the police reporting the accident, so I took the moment to survey the damage of my car.
I'm no professional but it looked totaled to me. The front was smashed in, the fenders were pushed back, the hood smashed upward and it was bleeding coolant. I could see why it struggled to move at all, the fenders were smashed back against the wheels. The windshield had even cracked from the impact. Surprisingly the airbags did not deploy.
I knew immediately that legally this accident was my fault, and if I hadn't glanced at that Miata, I probably would have seen the driver in front of me stop at the yellow and been able to stop safely myself. But we all make mistakes, that's why they're called accidents, and I honestly don't think I did anything unsafe, nor that any other driver in my position would have been any more likely to avoid that accident.
I had been with Progressive since my job had moved me back up to Ann Arbor from Mooresville, NC two years ago. They automatically withdrew an ever-increasing monthly fee from my checking account every month. So I knew I had up to date insurance. My only previous experience with making an insurance claim was when my Blazer Tahoe was stolen from out front of my parents' house when I was 19. In that case AAA came through for me and it was not a bad experience all things considered.
I called Progressive and told them about the accident. The operator immediately said something that made me a bit worried. "We'll have to see if you qualify for a payout." But not wanting to get myself worked up, I wrote it off as required language to avoid any misunderstanding of a commitment on their part.
The police officer came, and I had to hang up with Progressive before we finished talking. The officer took our stories and gave me a citation. My car was towed away by a wrecker, and I walked a mile home carrying the few belongings I kept in the car. A pool cue for playing with friends at the student union downtown and some clothes I had just bought.
When I got home I called Progressive again to give them the report number and finish filing the claim. An email came with a link to view the status of the claim. When I clicked through I saw a table where one of the entries was "Coverage" and next to it was a link that said "Complete". When I clicked through it showed a $1,000 Deductible on my Collision, I thought "I can handle $1,000. It'll suck but I can manage." I felt relief and tried to relax and not mourn the loss of my car too much.
A few days later, however, Progressive called me and said that I had "Limited Collision" which meant that in an accident that was technically considered my fault, I got nothing. Not a reduced payout, nothing. I said I don't remember choosing that, and I don't know how I could have because I have a lien on my car and I'm sure that my credit union would not allow me to choose that kind of coverage, and if somehow I had they would have raised a red flag and told me it's not sufficient. I knew this because years ago when I had an Audi TT that I really couldn't afford at the time (stupidity of youth), my insurance had lapsed and I had to go through this whole ordeal of them putting CPI coverage on my loan and then having to have it removed once my insurance was re-instated.
Progressive didn't really have much of an answer for this except to insist I had chosen this coverage, and that all the information about it was there on the website, and it was my responsibility as the buyer to inform myself about what I was buying. They said they could request the information from their logs to prove that I had selected this coverage but it could take some time, I told them go ahead and do that.
I immediately called my credit union to ask them if they A) would have indeed thrown up a red flag and not accepted Limited Collision as sufficient and B) had any record of what kind of coverage I had. They told me that Limited Collision was not good enough and that they showed I had Standard Collision. I said really? Well Progressive says I had Limited and they're not going to pay. They told me to file a claim with their CPI insurer, so I called them and did that.
Many phone calls between myself, the CPI insurer and the credit union followed, and eventually I got another call from Progressive.
They called to tell me again that I had Limited Collision and would receive nothing. I told them I still don't remember choosing that, and I know that I would NOT have chosen that had I been informed that it meant I would get nothing for an accident that was "my fault", because I know that any time you hit the back of another car it's considered your fault, and you can't always avoid them no matter how safe of a driver you are. (I should mention here I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in years, I'm a very defensive and safe driver.)
I told them that I felt as their customer that they had not done good by me. I had literally paid them thousands of dollars, never aware of the situation that I was apparently in, believing that I was totally covered, only to find out at the end of it that I'm being hung out to dry. I said that were our roles reversed, I would not offer Limited Collision as an option. They said that they were legally required to offer it, I said in that case then I would send out an email to my customers who had it regularly stating "YOUR POLICY WILL NOT COVER YOU IF AN ACCIDENT IS DEEMED TO BE YOUR FAULT. YOU ARE NOT FULLY COVERED." or something to that effect. I said that I program websites for a living, and when I'm creating websites my primary concern is to avoid leaving pitfalls for my customers. To help guide my customers, who have less technical knowledge than me, who hire me because of that specific fact, safely and easily on their way. My goal is to provide them with what they want, not to get whatever money I can and then escape with giving them the littlest service possible. I told Progressive that I have been their customer for two years, and given them literally thousands of dollars over that time, and not only did I not get the service I thought I was paying for, I didn't get anything for it. They get to keep all that money and I at the end am left out to dry.
I said if I had known I would have gladly paid whatever the increased amount was to have full coverage, since that's what I thought I was getting all along and what I wanted/needed.
They said sorry to hear that, and they will pass it up to their manager. This was over a week and a half ago at this point, and I have not heard back from them since then.
Things have not been smooth sailing with the CPI insurer either. It's especially hard to get all the needed paperwork together when you no longer have a car. On the plus side I've been doing a lot of biking the last three weeks.
However at this point it looks like I'm going to be left with a sizable debt on a car that is now only a twisted pile of wreckage. I realize there are many people in the world far worse off than me. Given unemployment rates, especially here in Michigan, I'm lucky to have a job where I can eventually pay this all off. But that's cold comfort.
The main purpose of writing this diary is for me to vent, but the secondary purpose is this:
Check your coverage. I'm still not sure I actually selected Limited Collision, I certainly didn't do it knowing what it was. But there's not really anything I can do about that. But maybe you or someone you know has it, and are not aware of the dire situation you could be in. I implore you to upgrade, it's not worth the risk if you're doing it on purpose. And if you didn't do it on purpose, hopefully you're now aware and upgrade to avoid finding yourself in the position I'm now in.
Also, I don't understand how insurance companies can legally get away with taking our money for years and then giving us absolutely nothing at the end of it. That sounds like a casino to me.