--Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4. Scene 2. by William Shakespeare.
Those immortal words were uttered by Dick, a minor character who played a butcher in the play. But before the lawyers, let's kill the bureaucrats. Lawyers are harmless kittens compared to them.
Right now, I seem to be a minor character in a role that should be the protagonist of my current drama.
I am once again caught by the inescapable snares of bureaucracy. I have the incredible challenge of dealing with an auto insurance claim.
First, this has nothing to do with my driving or my truck. A tree fell through my trailer. More than a month ago it was declared a total loss. About three weeks ago, after some haggling, I reached a settlement amount.
The haggling was the first time bureaucracy struck in the present claim. The insurance companies, at least the one with the Gekko in its advertising, uses a company called CCC to create a "valuescope" of comparative prices in settling its claim amounts.
I am once again caught by the inescapable snares of bureaucracy. I have the incredible challenge of dealing with an auto insurance claim.
This time it was worse. There was only one model the same as mine in the comps. And the sales location was in Wyoming. Another comp was a different year and a different size model and the third comp was of a model that didn't exist. They offered me $12.5K and after nearly ten days of haggling, I finally got them to go for about $1.5K more...still at the low end of the most reliable quote, NADA (North American Dealers Group).
One would think that once that hurdle was overcome, the credit union that has the lien on the trailer would be paid. But that is not the case. GEICO wants the title before paying off the note and giving me the balance. But the credit union does not have the title South Dakota does not issue a title until the loan is paid off. So let's get this straight. GEICO wants something that does not, by statute, exist. The credit union wants its loan paid and the state of South Dakota will issue a title only when the loan is paid.
In the meantime, GEICO's salvage company has picked up the trailer I don't even have a trailer, which -- in fact -- could have been repaired enough to live in by myself for a couple of hundred dollars. In fact, GEICO never even told me what the salvage value is (as it is obligated to do), despite numerous requests.
I'm not sure if the bureaucrats or ISIS should be killed first, but on general principles, it's got to be the bureaucrats. After all, ISIS does claim some sort of moral ground.
I'm not sure if the bureaucrats or ISIS should be killed first, but on general principles, it's got to be the bureaucrats. After all, ISIS does claim some sort of moral ground.
But the insurance company was most helpful in adjusting my billing, eliminating the part that covers my insurance on the trailer and backdating it to the day of my claim. This means I will only need to pay $66 of my usual $270 monthly payment at the end of the month. By the way, the policy renews on February 1 so my new payment will go up to $411 -- $141 more. It could have been a lot worse. I just got a notice that, including the trailer, I would be paying $586.09 -- far more than double my previous payments.
All because a tree dropped on my trailer. What they dropped on me is worse. I probably can't afford to drive anymore.
Perhaps trees will fall on their cars and their rates can go up 200%. One can only pray so. But who do I pray to for that, with more than a thousand religions vying for the true belief. Just look at any of these religions, murdering one another. Can we get this to work on bureaucrats? Can we have a blood war between GEICO and State Farm?
