Sanity Prevails? Yay!

[theodosia]

I'm very very thankful for intelligent insurance guys. Especially after today....


So today I had a doctor's appointment at 2:30, so hence I left work early and had time finally to go over to the Somerville Police HQ and file a stolen car report. It's over a mile from my place, uphill both ways (no seriously -- there's a rather big hill right between us) and there's no direct bus routes from right around here to around there. But if I leave from Davis, I can take another bus entirely, so, now free from work obligations and being sick, I went in to tie up that loose end.

Except I got Officer UnFriendly, who when she realized I was gasp reporting a stolen car an entire 8 days after the fact, refused to file a stolen car report. Yes, I'm not kidding. She grumbled something about "we don't let people come in and report it three months after the fact! Most people are down here an hour after they find it stolen!"

I tried to ask her if there was some rule about how long you were allowed to wait, but she just continued on about how she was going to mark it down as towed and my insurance company would refuse to pay out on it. It was clear to me that she was on one of those petty bureaucratic power trips and arguing with her was not going to help at all, in fact at the moment if I tried to talk to her superior all that would most likely happen is that he or she would just back her up on general principle of Us Against Them.

Talking to somebody else when she wasn't on duty might help. Hell, calling in a lawyer, if indeed the law is on my side (I have a mighty big suspicion that there is no time limit on reporting a theft, or a very generous one. And I could also honestly plead ignorance of such a law if it was. Since my car had been recovered before I even knew it was missing, it wasn't like the police needed to put out an APB (not that they would) on the car. My word that the car had been stolen should be as good an hour later as a week later or a month later.

Retreat, and a call to my insurance company was definitely called for, so I walked home, sweating in the humidity and feeling rather put out. I consoled myself that if the insurance company balked, I might be able to get the car back and hope that it was salvageable as an ugly little beater.

Thank goodness for my peace of mind, the insurance company claim appraiser turned out to be easy to get hold of today. "I may have done a horribly stupid thing," I started out, and launched into what had gone down -- and I swear I could hear his eyes rolling -- "Not a problem" he said. "We'll just include your notarized statement, and take a recording over the phone for legal purposes. I saw the car, that was totally consistent with theft damage."

You can imagine my relief at that. The world started to seem like a just place where sanity prevails again. At least occasionally.



In other news, I got a recommendation from friends and acquaintances at work for the services of a car buyer-broker -- for a flat fee he will sit down with you, go over the options of what you want in a car, come up with a list of new or used cars that meet the criteria, take you out for test drives, negotiate the price, and all that.

Just yesterday, I was wishing that there was such a beast -- my experience with buying this house through a buyer-broker was so very positive, I felt I ended up with some really good advice and confidence in the choices I made (as well as knocking a serious amount off the asking price during negotiations). Paying somebody to help me through the car-buying process would really really help, and perhaps find a car I would never have come to on my own....

Comments

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I bought my first car through a buyer-broker. It was an incredibly easy experience. I recommend it.

[french-teacher.livejournal.com]

That's such an utterly ridiculous assertion by the police officer. Suppose you had been out of town, bedridden with a broken leg, or something like that, and unable to come to the police station?

[fufaraw]

I find "public servants" on the whole to be unhelpful and surly. Which is why I either hew to the letter *and* the appearance of the law, and make sure I have backup: either witesses or written documentation, or both. Or I take great delight in circumventing them entirely when possible, and in deflating their sense of petty authority whenever it will not sabotage my own case.

I'm a mean, small, nasty-minded little biddy, but I learnt it from the ones who take my tax dollars and purport to "serve" me as a citizen.

I'm glad your insurance person was human and helpful.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of a car buyer-broker, but it sounds like a good idea. I'm secretly dreading the future day when I will have to replace my 1996-model car; the car-buying world has changed *so* much since April 1996.

As far as the cop, all I can say is: WTF? *hugs*

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I hope the last of the bad luck is used up in the craptastic cop.

The broker sounds like an excellent idea, if they come with a good rep.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Just a note - I would call the police HQ, ask to talk to a supervisor, and describe your exchange with the butthead yesterday afternoon. If you're lucky, the person will get written up, and maybe the next car theft victim will receive better treatment.

[sfmarty.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call the superior, I would write a letter to the commander in chief of the police depatment and cc the police public relations, her superior and her. There is a limit and you have reached it.

The broker sounds like a wonderful idea. Especially for a busy person.

[readsalot.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Yes, I think a letter (handwritten if possible) to higher-ups in the Somerville Police organization is called for. I know that accident reports are supposed to be filed within a week of the accident, so I'm not too surprised about the theft report, but she still didn't have any reason to be such a jerk about it. My last two dealings with the Cambridge police have been quite friendly--there was the one who was around when my car had its front fender torn off while sitting in my driveway, who made sure that the offending driver left contact information for me, and then there was the one who drove me home after the last accident so that I didn't have to sit there in the cold waiting for a tow truck.

The car buyer-broker sounds quite nice. I like doing the research myself, and have gotten to quite enjoy bargaining the price down, but it's not for everyone.