Chas: thanks for the kind words......I know I'm prejudice on this subject because it is my livelihood, but you would not believe the mis-information out there concerning insurance policies and the big bad insurance companies, not to mention dishonest policy holders!!!!!!!!
here is another real good story,happened 3 weeks ago:
I'm at a body repair shop looking at a damaged vehicle,while in the parking lot a guy gets in a burnt orange,ugly ass vehicle and as he's backing out,he cuts too sharp bangs up the passenger fender and both passenger doors on one of those short yellow parking post, I'm 30 feet away and witnessed the whole thing........well,$hit happens and he gets out looks it over,jumps back in and leaves......
2 days later I get a claim on a burnt orange ugly assed vehicle,location,the same body shop,so I go to see it,thinking it can not be the same vehicle...first things first, I check the VIN and sho nuff, it's the same vehicle I saw hit the yellow parking post 2 days before,BTW,it's 3:00 pm,remember the time .....
Paper work says and I quote: "parked,unoccupided car hit by unkown person that left the scene".........so the shop owner comes out and we're both going over the car,he tells me he is going to need 2 OEM new doors to do the job right it, I told him those doors could easily be repaired, they were not that bad, but because the car is 3 years old, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and spring for 2 new OEM doors...Then I ask who the owner of the vehicle is, he tells me it is one of his employees and I ask to speak to him,so he goes and gets the guy...I introduce myself and we begin going over the upcoming repairs and his deductible ($500.00), I politely ask him "what happened"?? he said his wife had the car and was at the grocery store and came out and found it like that, okee dokee, I'm just a dumb Cajun from Louisiana, but damn, I'm not quite THAT stupid... Politely I tell him I WITNESSED the accident personally in this very same parking lot with YOU driving the car 2 days ago, he was dumb founded and I asked why did he lie when he filed the claim/police report, he said he didn't want his rates to go up!!(that's another story for another day)!!! I told him by lying on the claim as well as the police report,that was grounds for denying the claim (read most any policy,giving false info on a claim is grounds for denial)as well as giving false info on a police report IS INSURANCE FRAUD........
He didn't know what to say.......
But wait,it only gets better!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The very next morning I'm on my way to the office,about 8:30 am,I pass in front of the shop as I do most mornings and guess what I see, the very same burnt orange ugly ass car parked outside with the front fender as well as BOTH doors already repaired and under primer,they were wet sanding it getting it ready for the paint booth!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn't take it, so I pulled in and summoned the shop owner,questioned him on how he could have ordered 2 new doors and got them in and installed them and had them under primer since 3:00 pm the day before???? he didn't know what to say,except the doors were not as bad as he thought and so they went ahead and repaired them, but he assured me he was planning to call me and let me know so I could "adjust" the estimate to reflect that....YEA RIGHT and I have this bridge over the Mississippi River for sale also........So I told him I was going to re-write my estimate and they would be paid for the work they did and that was all they would get,he began complaining about not being able to make a living with those damn insurance companies breathing down his neck.... I told him the alternative was for me to inform the local police of the false info on the report and the state police of the insurance fraud he was committing with the repairs, all of a sudden he got real co-operative!!!!!!!!!!!!! gee, I wonder why...........
And I'M the bad guy here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! according the shop and the vehicle owner!!!!!!
And people wonder why I smoke and drink!!!!!!!!!!
Just a few more years to retirement and I'm really looking forward to it!!!!!!
David