After yesterday's post, my dearest blog friend reminded me that she's an insurance agent, so I just had to type out all the gory details of my nightmarish experience to see if she had any advice. Now that I've typed it all out, I'll share it here so that you may learn from the mistakes.
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My insurance is nearly $200/month for the following reason(s):
I got in a car accident in January 2008, I went to the chiropractor twice. I paid a total of $120 out of pocket for those 2 visits. My claim adjuster (with Unitrin Direct) asked if I had any medical expenses, so I told her that I had gone to the chiropractor. She said, "Send us a copy of the bill and we'll reimburse you." I said, "Are you sure? Will my premium go up because of this?" She said, "No." When I moved to San Jose I let them know of my new address, and they said that my rates were going up a little because the neighborhood was a worse one than where I lived in LA, which is a LOAD of crap.
Because of that little rate increase my dad suggested that I shop around to see if I could get a cheaper premium. (Here's where my dad gets some of the blame.) I didn't really want to because I liked Unitrin Direct. They handled my accident claim and a prior vandalism claim very well (except for not disclosing the truth about paying the chiropractic bills, which I go into below). I don't know WHY I went against my gut, but I did and I shopped for new insurance. I got a way lower rate (through my new insurance agent, which I'd never had before), so I moved over to Mercury insurance. I paid the down payment and then a couple weeks later, I get a notice that they didn't know I had a bodily injury accident, so they have to raise the premium. I told my insurance agent, so he went and found me a better deal at Allied Insurance, which I accepted and paid the down payment for, but sure enough I got a letter from them a few weeks later with the same story... I had a bodily injury accident. So I argued with EVERYONE that it was not a bodily injury, it was a chiropractor visit because I was sore. No one cared. Still an injury, they said.
My agent suggested I call Unitrin Direct and request subrogation - I pay them back the $120 they reimbursed me for the chiropractic visits, and they remove the "bodily injury" classification. Nope, the medical claims lady says, subrogation is not allowed in California. I said, "Why would my California-based insurance agent tell me to ask you about it if it's not allowed??" and she just replied, "The bodily injury is in the California state records. Even if I take the money back, you can never remove the fact that there was bodily injury reported in your claim."At this point I was BEYOND PISSED and I wrote to my agent:
James:
I'm sure you can understand that I am not happy right now. I left Unitrin Direct with a 6 month premium of $855 because you said you could get me a premium lower than that. I understand the problem with Mercury, but I was under the impression that you would have confirmed that issue would not arise again with Allied Insurance, but here I have gotten a letter from them saying that "effective inception the 1/12/08 accident has been added to the policy" and the premium increased from the quote of $782 to $1,106.
I called Unitrin Direct and they cannot reinstate my previous policy because it has been longer than 30 days. The premium they quoted me just now is $1,107.90 for six months, which is just $1 more than Allied. I spoke with two people and they both said there is absolutely nothing they can do; the quote cannot be adjusted. So now I'm screwed and either way, my insurance premium has increased and I'm paying an additional $500 a year. Not exactly what I was looking for when I went shopping for a new policy. What can you do to resolve this?
Julie
Apparently he couldn't do anything, and now I'm stuck with a six month premium of $1,106. Shit. And that is why I had an absolute fit on Tuesday when I had a fender bender. All I could see was dollar signs.
Moral of the story: if you like your insurance company and you've been with them for a couple years and your gut says "don't shop around", DON'T!!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Rant & Rave Wednesday
I found this post idea over at A Little Blog About Nothing.
Rant: Last night in the parking lot of the grocery store, I experienced a little fender bender. I looked behind me, but the guy was in my blind spot - right behind my head/headrest. Neither of us were at fault. The witnesses said that we backed up in unison. My poor little Civic has a plastic bumper, so that needs to be replaced. The other guy drove a 1989 Ford pickup, so he had no damage, and could have cared less. He said, "I'm cool if you're cool." I said, "HAHA! NO! Do you have insurance?" (as I thought perhaps he'd said it because he was uninsured.) He did indeed have insurance, so we swapped info. After re-assessing the situation, I've decided to bypass reporting it to my insurance (because it's ridiculously effing expensive as it is, which is a long sob story that I'll save for another post if I can detail it all without breaking into a fit of rage or depression). A friend of a friend manages a body shop and is totally going to hook a sister up with a great "green" deal. I'll actually save money because I'm paying less than my insurance deductible. woo! But of course, I wish it had never happened!! Damn Honda for plastic bumpers and blind spots that you apparently can fit a truck in!
Rave: I started back Weight Watchers a few weeks ago, and after 2 weeks I'd lost 4.8 pounds! I weigh in again tonight. You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but according to the ridiculous Body Mass Index, I need to lose at least 70 pounds to be just below the maximum healthy weight for my height. A friend so eloquently stated that if I lose 70 pounds, I'll look like a Brazilian super model.
Rant: I found these super cute trouser jeans at Lane Bryant, and when I went to purchase them, the cashier said that they're being discontinued. She also said that they are the best jeans the store carries, and she, along with other customers, are upset about their decision to discontinue them. I sent an email to Lane Bryant via their website expressing my disappointment, but of course I haven't heard a response from them. How in the world am I supposed to take Stacy & Clinton's advice if I can't find trouser jeans that fit me?! But Julie, you say, I thought you were losing weight? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Since I wear the smallest size at Lane Bryant as it is, as soon as I lose my 70 pounds, I won't be able to shop there anymore anyway. But I got a big ol' booty, so I anticipate I'll still need to search high and low for pants that fit me properly. Damn society and their low rise trend.
Rave: This weekend while blog surfing, I found a little gem called 20 Something Bloggers. I joined the network, and have found a ton of new, totally awesome, hilarious, thought-provoking, creative blogs to read. I have also gained a bunch of new followers! (Hi new friends! and thanks for reading. I hope I don't bore you!) I'm excited about all the new blogs I've found, but at the same time overwhelmed with the volume of reading I'll have if I choose to keep up with everyone!
Peace and love.
J
Rant: Last night in the parking lot of the grocery store, I experienced a little fender bender. I looked behind me, but the guy was in my blind spot - right behind my head/headrest. Neither of us were at fault. The witnesses said that we backed up in unison. My poor little Civic has a plastic bumper, so that needs to be replaced. The other guy drove a 1989 Ford pickup, so he had no damage, and could have cared less. He said, "I'm cool if you're cool." I said, "HAHA! NO! Do you have insurance?" (as I thought perhaps he'd said it because he was uninsured.) He did indeed have insurance, so we swapped info. After re-assessing the situation, I've decided to bypass reporting it to my insurance (because it's ridiculously effing expensive as it is, which is a long sob story that I'll save for another post if I can detail it all without breaking into a fit of rage or depression). A friend of a friend manages a body shop and is totally going to hook a sister up with a great "green" deal. I'll actually save money because I'm paying less than my insurance deductible. woo! But of course, I wish it had never happened!! Damn Honda for plastic bumpers and blind spots that you apparently can fit a truck in!
Rave: I started back Weight Watchers a few weeks ago, and after 2 weeks I'd lost 4.8 pounds! I weigh in again tonight. You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but according to the ridiculous Body Mass Index, I need to lose at least 70 pounds to be just below the maximum healthy weight for my height. A friend so eloquently stated that if I lose 70 pounds, I'll look like a Brazilian super model.
Rant: I found these super cute trouser jeans at Lane Bryant, and when I went to purchase them, the cashier said that they're being discontinued. She also said that they are the best jeans the store carries, and she, along with other customers, are upset about their decision to discontinue them. I sent an email to Lane Bryant via their website expressing my disappointment, but of course I haven't heard a response from them. How in the world am I supposed to take Stacy & Clinton's advice if I can't find trouser jeans that fit me?! But Julie, you say, I thought you were losing weight? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Since I wear the smallest size at Lane Bryant as it is, as soon as I lose my 70 pounds, I won't be able to shop there anymore anyway. But I got a big ol' booty, so I anticipate I'll still need to search high and low for pants that fit me properly. Damn society and their low rise trend.
Rave: This weekend while blog surfing, I found a little gem called 20 Something Bloggers. I joined the network, and have found a ton of new, totally awesome, hilarious, thought-provoking, creative blogs to read. I have also gained a bunch of new followers! (Hi new friends! and thanks for reading. I hope I don't bore you!) I'm excited about all the new blogs I've found, but at the same time overwhelmed with the volume of reading I'll have if I choose to keep up with everyone!
Peace and love.
J
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Apparently dumber than I thought
Ok, wow. After receiving a comment from Al, and then staring at the "Compose" box for a few minutes, I found the "Add image" icon.
Here's my "test" image. :)
Here's my "test" image. :)
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Question on posting photos
Do any of you have advice for posting photos with Blogger?
The only thing I've found so far is uploading my photos to Photobucket.com and then using the generated HTML code to post photos here. I tried Flickr, but the photos were too large and I could only include one photo per blog post.
Please share how you post photos on your blog.
Thanks!
Peace and love.
J
The only thing I've found so far is uploading my photos to Photobucket.com and then using the generated HTML code to post photos here. I tried Flickr, but the photos were too large and I could only include one photo per blog post.
Please share how you post photos on your blog.
Thanks!
Peace and love.
J
Stumble Upon
I love the internet and all of its vast amazing-ness. My life would be so boring without it.
Have you ever heard of StumbleUpon? It's a plug-in for your browser that adds a toolbar with a Stumble! button. Just click the Stumble! button and you'll be taken to a random website. Rate the websites you stumble to (thumbs up or thumbs down) in order for the application to learn what your interests are so that you StumbleUpon sites that are of interest to you (and you don't end up on some dumb WWE site). There are also "Channels" so you can Stumble for only images or videos or within networks like Flickr, Wikipedia, Blogspot, CNN, Youtube, universities, US government sites, The Onion, etc.
I think my Dad is the one who told me about this a few years ago or perhaps it came with Firefox when I downloaded it. Either way, I've had it on my browser for a few years, but haven't used it much. Out of the blue of couple weeks ago I started getting emails from StumbleUpon with "Recommended Environment Sites" for me. I'm a little perplexed as to why they just started emailing me weekly, and why the email says "environment sites"... very few of the sites in the weekly emails are actually related to the environment. Regardless, I've found some pretty cool sites via StumbleUpon (and some extremely strange and random sites), so if you're bored and want to explore all the treasures that the internet has to offer, start Stumbling! And if you want to add me as your friend, I'm Jlkmustang.
Peace and love.
J
Have you ever heard of StumbleUpon? It's a plug-in for your browser that adds a toolbar with a Stumble! button. Just click the Stumble! button and you'll be taken to a random website. Rate the websites you stumble to (thumbs up or thumbs down) in order for the application to learn what your interests are so that you StumbleUpon sites that are of interest to you (and you don't end up on some dumb WWE site). There are also "Channels" so you can Stumble for only images or videos or within networks like Flickr, Wikipedia, Blogspot, CNN, Youtube, universities, US government sites, The Onion, etc.
I think my Dad is the one who told me about this a few years ago or perhaps it came with Firefox when I downloaded it. Either way, I've had it on my browser for a few years, but haven't used it much. Out of the blue of couple weeks ago I started getting emails from StumbleUpon with "Recommended Environment Sites" for me. I'm a little perplexed as to why they just started emailing me weekly, and why the email says "environment sites"... very few of the sites in the weekly emails are actually related to the environment. Regardless, I've found some pretty cool sites via StumbleUpon (and some extremely strange and random sites), so if you're bored and want to explore all the treasures that the internet has to offer, start Stumbling! And if you want to add me as your friend, I'm Jlkmustang.
Peace and love.
J
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