Claim: PAID

It only took 2 years and I did learn quite a bit from this whole incident and I am so happy that it is finally OVER!

Remember the CRAZY HIT & RUN LADY incident from October of 2008? Here's what's happened since that day:

(you can't see the damage very well in this picture, but it was a pretty big dent)

- I got a letter from the police giving me several options as to how to proceed with the incident, such as 1) PROSECUTION which could involve arrest, 2) pursuing her insurance information on my own, or 3) making a claim with my own insurance (and maybe 2 other ones).

- The word "prosecution" intimidated me and I thought it was a little overboard since all I really wanted was for her to fix my car, not get arrested. Big mistake.

- I got an estimate on my vehicle's damage in January 2009, which was just over $1,500.

- Because I got her license plate number as well as a description of her car and her and the whole incident and a police report, I was able to retrieve the crazy lady's (Esther Stifanos) insurance information (Progressive). I got this information about 11 months after the actual incident. I had a lot going on. Also, I'm an idiot.

- Progressive also did an estimate on my vehicle's damage, which was just over $900.

- I made a claim with Progressive and made lots of calls over the next few months until they denied my claim in January of 2010 because they couldn't contact their insured to get her side of the story. Um . . . is it just me, or did they not read the police report in which it states that their insured RAN AWAY! Of course she doesn't want to be contacted, she's guilty! Angry. Apparently their door hangers and letters weren't convincing enough for her to call with her side of the story.

- Apparently the denial of the claim was my fault and I take full responsibility for it now that I'm a little more informed. Because I didn't PROSECUTE in the beginning, the police didn't send anyone to follow up with The Crazy Lady, and therefore there was no evidence that The Crazy Lady was involved in the accident because there were no other witnesses.

- I called my insurance company to see what I should do and they said that if I made a claim with them and tried to pursue The Crazy Lady through them, that my insurance rates would go up until it was resolved. Dumb insurance company.

- So I didn't make a claim with them and decided that I was going to be persistent and somehow reopen the claim with Progressive.

- I called the officer that wrote the original police report to see what I should do. He gave me Sergeant Fougner's number. I called the Sergeant. He gave me a Detective Meyer's number. I called the detective who told me that the statute of limitations on car accidents is 1-year. Crap.

- I used my nicest voice, even though I sound like a man on the phone . . . and in person . . . and told him my situation and how in the beginning I didn't want her to be arrested, I just wanted her to fix my car. I was super nice. He felt sorry for me and said that he would "look into it" but made no promises. I love Detective Meyer. This was at the end of April 2010.

- Officer Meyer called back 2 days later after he contacted The Crazy Lady. She said she had no recollection of the incident and when asked about the damage on her rear bumper of her car, she said she couldn't remember how it happened. Officer Meyer wrote a supplemental police report, which I requested, stating that the "damage was consistent with a slow speed backing collision."

- Before I had requested the supplemental police report, I called to tell Progressive that the detective would be writing one. They said they would request it. After a very busy summer, I called for an update in July 2010. They said they had requested the police report in May, but had not received it yet. Please.

- I rode my bike over to ASU campus police headquarters and requested the police report which was mailed to me 6 days later. I do not trust anyone at Progressive. Liars.

- I faxed the police report to Progressive the next day and was determined to call every day until my claim was paid. It was about every 3 days.

- The claim representative (Erin) mostly avoided my calls all through August, but that didn't stop me from calling.

- I finally escalated it to the manager (Mike) since the other reps kept telling me that Erin's notes said she was discussing the case with him.

- Mike finally called me back at the beginning of September and said that The Crazy Lady continued to deny the incident. He said he was sending a letter to see if he could set up an appointment with her to examine her car's damage to determine if it was in an accident or if it was just wear and tear. This made me so angry. DIDN'T THEY HAVE A POLICE REPORT???!!!

- Mike said that if she did not cooperate and let them examine her car, they they would 1) make a decision to pay my claim to protect her and keep her insured, 2) deny my claim based on lack of evidence, 3) or refuse coverage for The Crazy Lady based on the evidence which would also mean that they wouldn't pay my claim. ANGRY!

- I was so upset that my efforts over the last 2 years, though sporadic, could possibly still put me down the crapper and my car wouldn't get fixed. I couldn't believe that the police report wasn't sufficient evidence. I kind of had other things on my mind though, so I forgot about it for a week.

- A week later, Erin called to tell me that she had GOOD NEWS! She said that The Crazy Lady let her examine her car, though she still denied the incident with me. The Crazy Lady told Erin that someone had hit her and that her claim was paid years ago (huh, funny that she couldn't remember that information when Detective Meyer asked her a couple of months ago).

- Luckily Erin isn't a complete idiot like I have assumed she was since I started working with her over a year ago, and she looked up Car Fax on The Crazy Lady's car which would confirm whether or not there had ever been a claim paid on her car. There was NOT, for The Crazy Lady is a LIAR like I've been saying from the beginning.

- Erin said that the measurements of the damage on The Crazy Lady's car match the damage on my vehicle. She told The Crazy Lady that they were going to pay my claim and that they didn't believe her because they didn't think that anyone would be so persistent in getting their claim paid if it wasn't true. Plus, I had too much information and detail. Nice.

- Erin told me that she could either write me a check for $900 (their estimate) or I could take my car to their Progressive Service Center to get fixed. I chose to have them fix it because they guarantee their repairs and also give me a rental car. Plus, I knew it would be more than $900. I was right, it was over $1,500.

- As of the beginning of this month (almost 2 years to the day of the accident), my car is fixed. Stella wants the rental car back because of it's awesome automatic doors. I don't know, I kind of liked it too.

Here's what I learned . . . don't be nice, ALWAYS PROSECUTE!

(You can't really see the new door, but I loved this picture because Stella is skipping)