Am I getting [censored] here? (car insurance claim tl;dr)

[TxRedMan]

Cliffs notes: I broke the window out of my Tahoe. I put it in the shop. I have full coverage. My Uncle is the registered owner. Geico is hounding me for information about him. My Tahoe isn't ready, and was supposed to be ready four days ago. I wonder if this is BS or coincidence.


I was running late to the airport a few weeks ago, and for some reason decided I'd try and park in a different parking garage at DFW than the one I normally park in when I fly. I fly to LV once a month or thereabouts and always fly the same airline, and park in the same place, but since I was running late, meh. It says the garage is not full, but it was. I end up parking in a spot that's strangely not taken on the top of the garage. As I'm backing in very slowly my rear window on my Tahoe hits a cement wall that is at a very strange and awkward downward angle. My Tahoe has rear parking assist, which I reccomend you do not rely on, and it didn't go off b/c the wall is slightly above my bumper. I barely touched the cement, but it sent a crack through my glass. I got out and realized the glass was cracking slowly, but was intact. I had to leave it there and haul ass to the terminal, only to find my flight was delayed. The glass ends up being fine, not falling out until I shut my door on the way to drop it off at the shop. It caused a small dent on the side of the fender, and the rear glass needed to be replaced, and when the glass fell it scratched the lift gate, so I filed it as an at-fault accident with my insurance company (Geico). I have as much insurance as they could sell me. All the little premium things like rental car paid for, special policy on my wheels, full coverage on everything.

Here's the deal: When I went to buy the Tahoe I was declined because my credit wasn't good enough, despite a $30,000 down payment on a $45,000 Tahoe (I know what you're going to say OOT, but I disagree, I love it). So my Uncle gets a capital one loan for me, and I'm making the payments on it, etc.

I took my Tahoe to the Dealership last Tuesday for repairs. It was about $2000 in damage (estimate). My policy only cost $1100 for six months. They told me it would be ready Friday. On Thursday I was supposed to get a call from the Geico rep, but didn't. I called on Friday, left a message, and never heard from him. On Monday I called again, left another message, and never heard from him, called the 'urgent' contact/associate on his voicemail, and that guy's voicemail said he would be out of town until today. So I end up calling the dealership and getting in touch with the guy sort of in a round about way, and he sounds really strange, saying they're waiting on the glass, it should be ready tomorrow (today). I then ask him if he'd please call me and keep me up to date, because I'll need to make plans to pick it up, and again he tells me he'll call me back, but I dont here from him today, again.

I get a phone call from a local area code number tonight at 7:00 p.m. from Geico asking me to call them back and tell them who my Uncle is, and why he's the registered owner of the vehicle they're insuring, what relation he is to me, etc. I already provided this information to the claims rep when I was at the airport, however. Then later tonight they sent me an email asking for the same information.

I find it very hard to believe they've been waiting over a week for a window for a Tahoe in DFW, home of one of the largest Chevy parts warehouses in the country. I also wonder wtf is going on with the rep not returning my calls, not giving me my Tahoe when it was supposed to be ready, and Geico wanting to know who my Uncle is ASAP. Fwiw, i'm the only driver, i'm the one who's making the payments, my policy was paid for in full the day I bought it (paid for 6 months up front), my record is very clean, so is this just a coincidence, or is this the beginning of an insurance BS situation?


Advice greatly appreciated.


-Tex

[Scary_Tiger]

I can't help you as I don't know anything about what to do, but Tahoes cost 45k? Geez.

[TxRedMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I can't help you as I don't know anything about what to do, but Tahoes cost 45k? Geez.

[/ QUOTE ]


I think they start at around $30K.

[remi983]

That sux, I can't give any input regarding this situation regarding your question, but DS has a thread in SMP about Bayes' theorum wh deals with correlation/causation being very related.

Also, I just quit a job w/ a company owned by AIG. They sold disability insurance in conjuction with their loans. When customers would come file a claim, we would give them forms to have filled out by their doctor. These were the pickiest forms ever. If a t wasn't crossed or an i not dotted, the customers claims would be denied by our insurance department. I mean, it would be blatant, apparent and obvious that these people were entitled to their benefits, but their claims were repeatedly denied due to minor technicalities. I surmise that the company would defer as long as possible so they could make interest off of their $$$ before paying and they would deny egitimate claims based on trivial issues. I hate insurance companies. They're blatantly exploitive. I'm a licensed life insurance agent so I know the insurance companies' side of it and its wrong. Geico is just making you jump through hoops bc they control the funds and the power. They simply aren't incentiviced(sp) to pay.

[cbloom]

Insurance in theory :

A large pool of people pay into a fund which is used to cover rare but large expenses. The fund manager (insurance company) takes a small administrative % and thus makes a profit. Basically by combining many people's high variance events the total variance is eliminated.

Insurance in practice :

People pay their fees into the general pool.
If anything bad happens, the fees are raised so that over time each person covers his own costs.
The insurance company does its damndest to not pay out legitimate claims from the customer's own pool of money.
If anything really bad ever happens the companies profit is gauranteed by a government bailout.
Warren Buffet gets richer.

[mrkilla]

your mistake is going to the dealer for anything except warranty repairs. Its possible that they don't or can't get the windshield through the distro channels It's not all that uncommon. Does the Ins company know where your car is? Even if they do they can not hold your car hostage the worst they would do is not replace the glass or tell you to pay out of pocket and will reimburse you later on.

[Triumph36]

you'd have to be one of these to believe you're not getting screwed here - but i hear this is how geico saves people money.

also thank you cbloom for so succinctly pointing out why insurance is the biggest scam ever

[Sam Spade]

Is the vehicle titled in both your names? Who's name is on the insurance card that you have? The problem could stem from the way the policy was written. Is your uncle the named insured on the policy and are you listed as a driver?

The insurance will not likely issue a check for damages reported by a non listed driver without confirmation from the named insured.

[claimsguy]

It's called insurable interest. If your name is not on the title and you do not own the property you can not insure it.

If you did not disclose on your application for insurance that your uncle and not you own the vehicle, GEICO may decide you obtained the policy due to material misrepresentation and cancel your policy back to the inception date.

[mmbt0ne]

LOL @ people with sucky insurance complaining about not getting money for claims.