Over the weekend I was a real tool and locked my keys in my car. Luckily I have emergency roadside assistance coverage which covers general "toolness" like that which I exhibited on Sunday afternoon.
Now this isn't the first time this has happened. And in the past when I've inadvertantly locked my keys in my car (both times on weekdays) the locksmiths charged between $65 and $70 to open my car for me. For some reason, and (to add to my "tool quotient") I was a dolt and did not ask how much this particular locksmith charged for his services. If I'd asked, I wouldn't have used this locksmith. But by the time I received the bill-- they were charging me $190!!!
Normally, the emergency roadside assistance only covers up to about $80 so my wife & I thought we would still be out $110 for my general stupidity of this weekend past.
But my agent, who has been really good to both my wife & I all along since we switched our insurance over from Nationwide to American Family back in 2004 really went to bat for us and was able to get American Family to reimburse us $180 of our $190!
And in all honesty-- my wife switched from State Farm to Geico shortly before I moved out here then we switched from Geico to Nationwide because they had better rates, and then we switched from Nationwide* to American Family-- so we've experienced various different levels of customer (dis)service. And American Family has them all beat hands down! I'm not sure if it's that company or that we just happened to find a good agent for that company but he's never done us wrong!
*In all fairness to Nationwide, when we told our agent the rates American Family was offering he advised us that he couldn't match those rates and encouraged us to switch.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
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4 comments:
It's nice to hear something positive about an insurance agent. I haven't talked to mine in years but will have to call him soon for...deep breath:
a quote to add my son to my policy! UGH!!!!!! MY baby will be driving in June! (that price quote ain't gonna be pretty)
I've worked in the insurance industry, and I'm trying to figure out how your agent did it. I've never heard of emergency roadside assistance only covering $80 for a locksmith...
And I have AmFam too. Maybe I should check that out.
barbara: Yeah I've got some siblings who have gone through that and/or are about to go through that whole "adding Jr. to the policy" thing. I believe my brother will have to add his son, Gregory, to his policy this fall (but he's already gone through that with his other son and his daughter, so he knows what to expect). Greg is a smart kid and while his older brother Chris may have made some "driving mistakes" in the past which proved quite costly from an insurance and fine/citation standpoint, hopefully Greg will learn from the mistakes of his older bro and be a much more careful and safer driver.
aka fatty: Oh I am too, for the wrath I might have faced from the missus had it not worked out would have made the dent in the wallet pale in comparison.
Phoenix: The thing is I think they're SUPPOSED to cover over $80 for a locksmith, but they're probably a bit more hesitant to cover higher amounts and try to find loopholes to get out of doing full reimbursements. I think that's where having a good agent comes in handy. In contrast my wife has some pretty horrendous horror stories from when she had State Farm Insurance... like good neighbors they certainly were NOT!
That is very nice---you are lucky to have that guy/company. I fortunately have roadside assistance which covers three "lock-outs" a year---they will send a guy right over and not charge a thing. So I always pray I son't lock myslef out of my car more than thrice a year...
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