Bend Over Baby

you know how you hear that every insurance company wants to screw you & they'll make you an offer, get you paid off as quickly as possible, & be done with you? i'm beginning to think thats all a line of bs. how could that be true when its taken this insurance company 3 1/2 weeks to do something? when this accident first happened i was a good little insuree & called my insurance company immediately. i told them i wasn't at fault & the guy admitted that immediately. of course there was no way he could squirm out of it. all the people in the parking lot at the time saw exactly what happened. even when the cop pulled up he said to the guy 'how did you do this?'. the guy told him he just didn't look before he started turning. after explaining all this to my insurance company they advised me to contact his company first thing in the morning & if they didn't do something to take car of my car then to call them back & thats when they would step in. otherwise, was there anything else they could do for me & thanked me for my time. the next morning after i got my morning work finished thats exactly what i did. his insurance company replied 'ahhh, yes, we've been expecting your call. he did report this & someone will be in touch with you soon'. 2 days later someone did finally contact me & asked if everyone was alright & if i would be needing a rental. i told them no, we were alright & i didn't know anything about needing a rental until i talked to the shops about how long they would have my car to fix it. i knew i'd need estimates on getting my car fixed so thats what i did the very next day & had 3 lined up so when they asked for my estimates i could send them immediately. well, they did ask for an estimate but only one. the friday after the accident i faxed them the hightest estimate cos thats what they asked for when i told them i had 3. the lady on the phone told me that if the estimate was more than my car blue booked at they would probably total it out giving me the blue book value & be done with me. she also asked if i wanted to keep the car. i said i did, i wanted to fix it.
now, my understanding was if they totaled out my car & i kept it i wouldn't be intitled to a rental. which really sucked cos that meant i'd have to miss work to put it in a shop or be out the money to rent a car while it was being fixed. thats why hubby & i did the major clean up & tried to make it look as good as it could. everyone kept telling me they were gonna total it out cos that was how they were gonna screw me. even the lady on the phone from his insurance company kept stressing how the appraisor would probably total the car. i think she was preparing me for exactly that.
finally, the appraiser showed up at work last monday & took pics of my cherry baby from every angle. originally the lady on the phone had told me that he wouldn't need me but i called the gate first thing monday to let them know someone was coming in to look at my car. the person working the gate, being friends of mine, called to let me know when he did show up & of course, me being me, had to go out & meet him. it was him with his wife & i figured they planned on visiting after all was said & done. well, to make a longer story short i chatted them both up while he did his job & one thing lead to another they finally asked how much a membership actually cost. (this is when his wife finally got out of the car)
me 'we have several levels of membership' (...rattling off prices as i went)
him 'thats not bad at all, we love the place don't we honey?'
her 'i adore wandering around'.
him 'wanna just join'.
her 'i'll just write a check & we can bring the grandkids to the light show'.
me 'i can actually give you a price break. its an inside secret'.
him 'what kind of break can you give me'?
me 'well, we have a friends & family deal for 25% off. you are my friend, right?'
him 'of course, what does that make our price?'
me 'just over a hundred bucks'.
him 'sold'.
me 'lets walk in & i can print your cards up for you right now'.
i got the call from the insurance company on friday. the lady asked if i flirted up her appraisor. i said, no way, his wife was with him. she told me she didn't know what i did but he couldn't stop talking about me since he got back into the office. oh btw, she also said they were cutting a check for my repairs & just give them a call when i needed that rental.
you can really catch more flies with honey.
and i'm full of honey.
later