In five more days, it'll be a month since the car wreck I was in. Apparently I downplayed the severity, and people are still shocked to find I'm still tooling around in a rental car. Which means in five more days, that's right, my car will have also been gone for a month...and then some more. So in light of distracting myself from the pain and agony of driving a PT Cruiser, I'll share with you some new words I've learned through the accident/insurance/car repair process.
Subjugate: I don't know what this means other than something having to do with who pays for what. Anytime they say it to me I black out.
Diminution: As in "Diminution of Value" claim. More easily called "depreciation" because I cannot, for the life of me, pronounce "diminution." Say you have two Jettas. Same graphite blue, same lovely interior, same price, same everything. You find out one has been in an accident and had serious body repairs. Which one do you buy? The difference between the offer you pay for the unwrecked Jetta and what someone appraises my Jetta to be worth, that's the diminished value. Yes, I shall be filing a claim.
Tort: This is a refresher, guys, you remember this one from high school. Since future "father-at-law" had been giving me legal advice following the accident, it really inspired me to do some research on my own. Diminished Value claims fall under Tort Law. Or something.
Third Party: This is the ticket. When filing a DV claim, it's most assuredly tossed out when it's your own insurance company (AKA first party). But in my case, since I was hit by another person who was obviously breaking the law, her insurance company has accepted liability. Which means that when I file with her insurance company, it falls under a third party claim -- which they usually always pay. Because they just spent nearly $4,000 fixing your car. How can they tell you that didn't affect the value of your poor car that you officially bought a year ago last week?
I also fear I won't be able to drive a manual when Ludwig comes back.
1 comments:
Yes it's all fun and games, like when you get a call from the insurance company months after the wreck letting you know they couldn't settle the claim and now you are being personally sued by the other party involved in the accident. It's a good way to wake up on your day off work (yes this happened to me). I personally would like to teleport from place to place.
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