Smashed

So I thought things were pretty bad. I have no work and no prospect of work; I live in a town with very few jobs in my field and I can't relocate; I have no money and no way to get money; my car was wrecked so I don't have a car.

But it's worse. The guy who wrecked my car hasn't claimed on his insurance. So I have to pursue him. But meanwhile, the RACQ arranged for my car to be towed. No one asked me where I wanted it towed. I was led to understand it was being taken where they wanted it taken: "the insurance will take care of everything". But the insurance won't take care of anything. If the guy won't claim, they are not interested. They deny arranging a tow and say that I should have been given the choice where to have it towed to.

The towing company towed it to a yard, where I am on the hook for 55 dollars a day until I get it moved somewhere else. But I can't move it until I get it valued and then have somewhere to have it wrecked. These are things it's easy for an insurance company to sort out: they just ring whoever's on their list. But I don't have a list. I don't know who values cars. I will have to pay all the costs.

And then sue some guy who told me he would claim on his insurance but didn't. I mean, this is some guy who didn't do the right thing. If he didn't intend to make a claim, he needed to contact me to explain how he would set right his liability for my car.

So not only did I wreck my car. The fault for wrecking it lies with some guy who it seems has no intention of taking the course that makes it easy for me but is going to need me to take legal action to get him to do anything.

Everyone involved seems to have done the wrong thing in one way or another, except, for once, me. The RACQ arranged the tow but shouldn't have done (I mean, I suppose the guy who caused the accident should have done; he was responsible for clearing away the cars from the road); the police should not have prevented me from getting the guy's contact details (don't know what the copper was thinking; right now I could really do with the guy's mobile number so I could sort this out with him, but all I have is his home phone and have to try to catch him at home) or allowed me to speak to the RACQ (because it was not up to me to sort out towing or anything like that--but how could I know that?); the towing company should not a/ have towed my car without explaining that I had a choice where to have it towed and b/ have told me the "insurance would sort it out" if in fact the insurance had not arranged to have it towed to a particular place; the insurance company should not have told me that everything was okay because the guy would make a claim and I'd be fine; and RACQ roadside should have said when I explained what had happened that it was not for me to sort out. You would not believe how many times I asked people "what should I do?" "do I have to do anything?" and each one, including my insurance company, said no, there's nothing you have to do, when the correct answer was, "yes, make sure the guy who wrecked your car does something about it".

If I had known, I would simply have got the guy's mobile number, walked away from the scene and suggested that since he accepted liability, the undriveable Camry in the middle of Wecker Road was his problem. Which it turns out is exactly the facts of it.

It seems like I did nothing wrong on my own volition; I listened to professionals around me; I did everything I could, and now I will be faced with a huge bill for towing and storing my car; I have to arrange to have it valued and wrecked; and worst of all, I am out one car, with no idea whether I will ever see a cent for my Camry.

I'd also like to know, given that the insurance company weren't supposed to tell me whether the guy had claimed, how am I supposed to know what's going on? I am literally supposed to sit around, while some shyster holds my car at 55 bucks a day, waiting to hear from an insurance company (the supervisor at RACQ tells me they can't even tell me if the guy has insurance with them) until I decide I can't wait any longer and start legal action! Is this actually how car accidents are meant to happen?

posted by Dr Zen @ 5:00 pm