Washington State
When I was 15 I got my permit and my parents set my up with a car, no insurance was on the vehicle yet because I was not allowed to drive it, it was a 1990 Ford Explorer.
I was a pretty naive young driver, I thought I was the best I guess at driving and I had a friend who had a lot of problems and ended up being homeless so I wanted to help him out by driving him to his dads in Oregon.
As I am leaving Oregon I'm at a red light and it turns green. I begin to accelerate into traffic and see an oncoming vehicle turning left coming straight at me. I slammed on my brakes and she just kept going forward. She eventually hit my headlight and smashed it and the rear panel by the rear tire of her car was dented in. I see her turn into a gas station and followed her. She had a 05 Mercury Mountainer. I went up to her and asked her if she had just gotten into a car accident, she said," Yes I just got hit by a 'phantom'. I am an insurance agent for State Farm."
Well I thought what a weird way to introduce yourself to someone, but said said OK.
She then said, " You can leave and I can file the report with the police by myself."
A red light went off in my head. This agent was telling me to leave a accident scene?!?!? Can we say hit and run?! I stayed I wasnt that stupid I wasnt going to let the lady who just hit me get away with it and pin it on me.
So I didnt trust the lady by then insurance agents know whats legal and not and she wanted me to do something illegal, she sounded fishy to me. Her husband arrived to shout at me and tell me how i hit his wife. He was an aggressive man. Part of my headlight was on the ground and he went up to it and starting kicking it next to me, I was scared.
The police arrive and they ask the usual; license, insurance, registration. I gave her a permit and registration and she cringed. She asked for my statement and I told her that the light was green so I began to accelerate into traffic. The man kept interrupting me and shouting at the officer that I had hit his wife, etc. He was in my face most the time and I asked the officer if she could keep him away because he scared me. She asked him to but he just shouted some more. After contemplating for a while the officer comes back and tells me that I am guilty that I ran a red light. I was confused I asked her how? She said a witness left her number with the agent and that the officer called the witness to confirm.
How can you as an officer believe that?! That is so easy to fake off, shes an insurance agent! She knows what she is doing.
By then my parents come giving me an ear full they didnt want to listen to a word I said and kept going on and on talking to the officer. The couple kept close listening to everything my parents said to me, I asked them politely to please go away that this was none of their business but they still kept close. Very nosy people.
I went to court in Oregon a few months later. I was cited for no insurance and failure to obey a traffic light. I was not cited for no license and the judge thought I had one from California! I think the officer was trying to let me off easy by doing that but I told the judge that I was from Washington. I paid all fines off and began to believe it was all my fault. I was just a young wreckless driver right?
A few months later I recieve a threatening letter from a firm associated with the agent's insurance claim saying I owed $5,331 and that an immediate payment of $1,000 was needed or else they would repo the sum of the bill in things we owned and suspend both my parent's licenses. So I worked my ass off, 12 hour day job and partime college/high school student. I worked hard trying to pay it off by at the $3,000 mark, I stopped because I was burned out. I never recieved another letter from them to this date and it has been at least a year since I payed them.
Thing is, when I would tell people my story they would say that the insurance company are suppose to send you quotes with a list of what was repaired, like a mechanic repair list. I did not recieve anything but threatening calls and letters of repos and taking away income tax checks. That firm had no mercy at all.
What is the insurance company intitled to send prior to any payments being made? Was I screwed by an insurance company and their agent?
Thanks I know this was long!
Cierra
When I was 15 I got my permit and my parents set my up with a car, no insurance was on the vehicle yet because I was not allowed to drive it, it was a 1990 Ford Explorer.
I was a pretty naive young driver, I thought I was the best I guess at driving and I had a friend who had a lot of problems and ended up being homeless so I wanted to help him out by driving him to his dads in Oregon.
As I am leaving Oregon I'm at a red light and it turns green. I begin to accelerate into traffic and see an oncoming vehicle turning left coming straight at me. I slammed on my brakes and she just kept going forward. She eventually hit my headlight and smashed it and the rear panel by the rear tire of her car was dented in. I see her turn into a gas station and followed her. She had a 05 Mercury Mountainer. I went up to her and asked her if she had just gotten into a car accident, she said," Yes I just got hit by a 'phantom'. I am an insurance agent for State Farm."
Well I thought what a weird way to introduce yourself to someone, but said said OK.
She then said, " You can leave and I can file the report with the police by myself."
A red light went off in my head. This agent was telling me to leave a accident scene?!?!? Can we say hit and run?! I stayed I wasnt that stupid I wasnt going to let the lady who just hit me get away with it and pin it on me.
So I didnt trust the lady by then insurance agents know whats legal and not and she wanted me to do something illegal, she sounded fishy to me. Her husband arrived to shout at me and tell me how i hit his wife. He was an aggressive man. Part of my headlight was on the ground and he went up to it and starting kicking it next to me, I was scared.
The police arrive and they ask the usual; license, insurance, registration. I gave her a permit and registration and she cringed. She asked for my statement and I told her that the light was green so I began to accelerate into traffic. The man kept interrupting me and shouting at the officer that I had hit his wife, etc. He was in my face most the time and I asked the officer if she could keep him away because he scared me. She asked him to but he just shouted some more. After contemplating for a while the officer comes back and tells me that I am guilty that I ran a red light. I was confused I asked her how? She said a witness left her number with the agent and that the officer called the witness to confirm.
How can you as an officer believe that?! That is so easy to fake off, shes an insurance agent! She knows what she is doing.
By then my parents come giving me an ear full they didnt want to listen to a word I said and kept going on and on talking to the officer. The couple kept close listening to everything my parents said to me, I asked them politely to please go away that this was none of their business but they still kept close. Very nosy people.
I went to court in Oregon a few months later. I was cited for no insurance and failure to obey a traffic light. I was not cited for no license and the judge thought I had one from California! I think the officer was trying to let me off easy by doing that but I told the judge that I was from Washington. I paid all fines off and began to believe it was all my fault. I was just a young wreckless driver right?
A few months later I recieve a threatening letter from a firm associated with the agent's insurance claim saying I owed $5,331 and that an immediate payment of $1,000 was needed or else they would repo the sum of the bill in things we owned and suspend both my parent's licenses. So I worked my ass off, 12 hour day job and partime college/high school student. I worked hard trying to pay it off by at the $3,000 mark, I stopped because I was burned out. I never recieved another letter from them to this date and it has been at least a year since I payed them.
Thing is, when I would tell people my story they would say that the insurance company are suppose to send you quotes with a list of what was repaired, like a mechanic repair list. I did not recieve anything but threatening calls and letters of repos and taking away income tax checks. That firm had no mercy at all.
What is the insurance company intitled to send prior to any payments being made? Was I screwed by an insurance company and their agent?
Thanks I know this was long!
Cierra
