MissKim
Active member
So Friday morning I was sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn right at an intersection and a semi turned from a gas station on my left, also intending to turn right at the intersection, didn't see me and ran into me.
I am physically fine. My left shoulder and lower back are a little sore, but it's nothing that an Advil won't erase.
I have never been in a car accident and I'm 43. I had my vehicle towed because although it was still running, my driver rear tire was shredded and I didn't have anyone to change it, and I wasn't completely trusting that the wheel itself didn't have issues. The entire driver's side rear of my Equinox is going to have to be replaced, possibly including the hatch door. The Equinox is sitting at a body shop in a nearby town.
I called into work and got a sub teacher for the day because I had no way to get to work. I called my insurance and the accident happened on the day my old policy expired and the new one renewed, so they can't even look up my policy in the computer. I am sure we pay for a rental car allowance of $30/day through our insurance because the girl taking my claim was able to look at our old policy and tell me that. The adjustor wouldn't even touch it until tomorrow.
My adjustor did call and tell me to file a claim with the driver's insurance (or rather his company's insurance... it was a delivery company). So I did that and mentioned my shoulder was hurting (as the lower back didn't start until the next day).
A couple hours later, the delivery company calls and says they're going to tell me where to take the Equinox and they'll just pay for it to get fixed because their deductible is very high and it will be cheaper to do it that way. I say I already have the Equniox somewhere and I'm not doing anything until I talk to my insurance company on Monday.
Later that afternoon, a guy from the driver's insurance company calls to ask only about my injuries. He said that because I'm now reporting an injury he is handling the claim, but he's only handling the part about the injury and someone else will contact me about the Equinox.
And that's where I'm at. My car is just sitting there, no estimates, nothing. I need to go to work this week. My daughter is in college and did bring her car home this weekend because she lives in the dorms and works on campus so she doesn't have a huge need for a car. However, my husband tells me the ABS light is on in her car. I have to drive a major highway to get to work (or add 10 minutes onto my drive by taking surface streets). DH won't let me rent a car because he doesn't want to put it on our credit card, he wants insurance to rent it for us.... even though I've explained that if nothing else, our insurance company will reimburse us. Dan is scared to death that if we use that benefit, our insurance will go up even if the accident wasn't our fault. When the delivery company called to tell me I should get the car fixed where they wanted it to be fixed, they didn't make any offers about rental cars and I was so dumbfounded by the call that I didn't ask.
I honestly don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'm not supposed to have my cell phone while I'm teaching, but I don't want to take yet another day off to deal with all these phone calls tomorrow. I've emailed my principal to see if it's OK to have my cell phone with me and step outside to take calls (there are always at least 2 other people in my classroom).
I know this is long and overly detailed but if anyone has advice, I would love it. I have no idea what I'm doing. Should I go see a chiropractor about my shoulder/lower back, even if it's not bad? I have no intention of calling a lawyer, etc. but I do want to make sure I get covered what should be covered in an accident that was not at all my fault.
I am physically fine. My left shoulder and lower back are a little sore, but it's nothing that an Advil won't erase.
I have never been in a car accident and I'm 43. I had my vehicle towed because although it was still running, my driver rear tire was shredded and I didn't have anyone to change it, and I wasn't completely trusting that the wheel itself didn't have issues. The entire driver's side rear of my Equinox is going to have to be replaced, possibly including the hatch door. The Equinox is sitting at a body shop in a nearby town.
I called into work and got a sub teacher for the day because I had no way to get to work. I called my insurance and the accident happened on the day my old policy expired and the new one renewed, so they can't even look up my policy in the computer. I am sure we pay for a rental car allowance of $30/day through our insurance because the girl taking my claim was able to look at our old policy and tell me that. The adjustor wouldn't even touch it until tomorrow.
My adjustor did call and tell me to file a claim with the driver's insurance (or rather his company's insurance... it was a delivery company). So I did that and mentioned my shoulder was hurting (as the lower back didn't start until the next day).
A couple hours later, the delivery company calls and says they're going to tell me where to take the Equinox and they'll just pay for it to get fixed because their deductible is very high and it will be cheaper to do it that way. I say I already have the Equniox somewhere and I'm not doing anything until I talk to my insurance company on Monday.
Later that afternoon, a guy from the driver's insurance company calls to ask only about my injuries. He said that because I'm now reporting an injury he is handling the claim, but he's only handling the part about the injury and someone else will contact me about the Equinox.
And that's where I'm at. My car is just sitting there, no estimates, nothing. I need to go to work this week. My daughter is in college and did bring her car home this weekend because she lives in the dorms and works on campus so she doesn't have a huge need for a car. However, my husband tells me the ABS light is on in her car. I have to drive a major highway to get to work (or add 10 minutes onto my drive by taking surface streets). DH won't let me rent a car because he doesn't want to put it on our credit card, he wants insurance to rent it for us.... even though I've explained that if nothing else, our insurance company will reimburse us. Dan is scared to death that if we use that benefit, our insurance will go up even if the accident wasn't our fault. When the delivery company called to tell me I should get the car fixed where they wanted it to be fixed, they didn't make any offers about rental cars and I was so dumbfounded by the call that I didn't ask.
I honestly don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'm not supposed to have my cell phone while I'm teaching, but I don't want to take yet another day off to deal with all these phone calls tomorrow. I've emailed my principal to see if it's OK to have my cell phone with me and step outside to take calls (there are always at least 2 other people in my classroom).
I know this is long and overly detailed but if anyone has advice, I would love it. I have no idea what I'm doing. Should I go see a chiropractor about my shoulder/lower back, even if it's not bad? I have no intention of calling a lawyer, etc. but I do want to make sure I get covered what should be covered in an accident that was not at all my fault.
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Unfortunately I'm jaded by a few bad ones who set up excessive treatment plans and billed for services they didn't perform when they were treating for injuries sustained from an auto accident. 
