When I got another promotion and a hefty raise working at Great American Cookie Company, I knew two of the first things I wanted to do were buy a brand new car and take my kids for a long weekend to Savannah (we had a ball!).
It felt good going from $15,000 to $22,000 a year, and I had a good driving record for best insurance rates. My other expenses were low, so it was a no-brainer.
To this day, I haven’t had a car that I loved more than that white 1987 Camaro LT costing a little less than $11,000. It had a V8 and a beautiful gray interior.
One night, after working all day and going to practice for my side hustle as backup singer and keyboard player for a CW show band, I considered leaving my heavy electric piano and amplifier in the car. But I never did that, and I didn’t that night even though I was exhausted and had to carry the heavy piano and the amplifier by myself up two flights of stairs.
Thank God I didn’t leave them in the car!
When I woke up the next morning, my car was gone. It had been stolen. I was shocked and totally devastated! I immediately called the police and the number on the back of my insurance card.
When Allstate called me to let me know that my car insurance had been canceled at midnight the night of the theft, I couldn’t believe it!
When I’d paid my premium, I changed the mailing address from my home to an apartment I rented on a month to month lease to see if I wanted to make a permanent move. My kids hated the idea so I knew I would be moving back to my house as soon as I could. Still, I had personally visited my agent giving him my new address for the next premium billing. At the time, I was very excited about it, and I remember our discussion.
The change of address was never updated by my agent, and the following bill and cancellation went to my home and were never forwarded.
When I got the call from Allstate’s claims department, I was shocked and went into full meltdown. They told me I’d have to pay $30,000 to reinstate it since I now had a claim and my current month’s premium had gone unpaid
I told them I had a receipt from just having paid it in person. I’d sat down and talked to Richard excitedly telling him about my moving closer to work. He took down the address to make the change, but he didn’t process it.
Allstate suggested I call my agent. So I did.
He answered, and I said, “Richard, you KNOW I just saw you in person the last time I paid my premium and gave you my address change, don’t you?”
I’m sure he had already been informed about the claim because his unbelievable reply to me was, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
It was a nightmare!
I had to rent a car, and I called Allstate every single day. Every single day! Richard denied that I had giving him my new address. But I had a handwritten receipt from him proving that I had sat in his office during my move.
Finally, I called the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office and filed a complaint against Allstate.
After several weeks, a State investigator called to tell me that, during the official, recorded deposition, Richard finally confessed, “It’s possible she told me of the address change when she paid her premium in my office.”
Those words were specifically said that way to admit it happened without admitting fault. But it was enough of a confession to reverse denial of the claims, paying everything except the rental I’d had to pay while it was being investigated.
At some point during all of this, the police did recover the car, but it was not returned to me and was sitting in a police lot for evidence.
It was a horrible time, but when it was finally over and the car had been released and repaired, I couldn’t even look at it without crying. The interior had been shredded by the police who found drugs on the thieves when they were arrested so they tore it apart to find more evidence. It had exterior damage and never drove the same. .
It cost me a lot to get through it, but getting past it is what I did. We all do what we have to do.
After everything was said and done, Allstate verbally told me I owed a final $6000 to close out the claim. I told them, after the nightmare and the expense of what they had put me through, when pigs fly, I’d pay it.
They never once sent me a bill or tried to collect it. And I don’t feel one iota of guilt about it.
