Dear George,
We arrived home from our recent seashore vacation in the best of moods. Unfortunately, that was short-lived. The first thing Katja did was to go through our accumulated mail. Midway in that task, she opened a letter from our insurance company which announced that our automobile insurance would be terminated in four weeks. My reaction was a mix of shock and outrage. We’ve been clients of this company and its predecessor for fifty years, and both of us have near-perfect driving histories. I haven’t had a ticket since 1969; Katja, one or two. “This is nothing but age-discrimination!” I blurted out.
After I calmed down and read their letter more carefully, their facts were more or less accurate. We each had filed claims for two accidents in the past four years. Two of these were “real” accidents, i.e., moving collisions where we were at fault and which resulted in moderate damage. The other two were minor fender-benders while parking or backing out of parking spaces. If we’d had our wits about us, we would have paid for the minor damage out of pocket in these two cases and avoided jeopardy to our insurance.
For the subsequent week I’ve been in a state of nervous collapse. Being pretty old, I decided that we would never get insurance again. That was workable, I decided. We live right on the edge of the Clifton business district, and between the grocery, the drugstore, the hardware store, restaurants, movie theater, and multiple ethnic clothing stores, nearly all life needs can be met within two or three blocks. It would be like living in a rural French village. Katja prefers to drive ten miles and shop at the fancy mall, but that’s more of a recreational thing than a necessity. We would probably give up the theater and the symphony. If need be, we could call Uber (which our son J fortuitously set up on Katja’s phone several months ago). I don’t like the idea of Ubering around, but it’s better than nothing.
We called the insurance company, and they were no help. They suggested an alternative company who would give us a policy at four times our current rate. I would rather live in a French village and walk. Instead I posted a blurb on our neighborhood website, asking if anyone could recommend a helpful insurance agent. Half a dozen people responded, and, after looking at available websites, we picked the one recommended by Alissa J. We met with the agent on Friday, and he took a bunch of facts and assured us that we would get a new policy. I asked the pivotal question at the end, “Am I going to be able to start sleeping again?” He assured me that I can. I have slept better, but I’m going to be fully relieved when we sign a new contract. (What I took away from all this: Be careful about filing claims with the [evil] insurance company.)
Love,
Dave
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