Law and Government

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Car Insurance Settlement With Intact Approaching Closure

My car claim with Intact is taking a little longer to resolve than what I’d been told last week, but that’s fine since it meant that I got my rental car until the end of my trip!

I came in this evening to two emails. The first was from the first adjuster I dealt with let me know that the moron’s insurance company finally contacted them and accepted all responsibility. This meant that my deductible was waived and will not be deducted from the settlement. The second email was from total loss adjuster and included a waiver I need to sign before my cheque can be issued. I decided that at this point, it would be easier to make the cheque out to BMO and me and sort everything out that way than to pay BMO first.

In response to Croft’s question from a few days ago, I have up to one year to buy a new car and get the GST reimbursed.

My May payment for the car went through, so when the dust settles, I should have about $7,700 to buy a used vehicle and set it up for towing. The kind of truck I want is selling for about $3,000 in Calgary, so I should be able to set myself up with a new toad with enough leftover to pay a year’s worth of insurance so that I can set off in the fall with an extra $450 a month off the budget. I’m just nervous about the idea of having a used vehicle that could be full of surprises….

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Reply to Comments About the New Toad & the Border Crossing

Croft said in a comment today:

Good to see you back on the road and I hope all the financial stuff works out smoothly! BTW, how long do you have to replace the car and are you going to start looking right away? I hate car shopping as I am a poor negotiator. I still think you should consider Internet shopping in the USA, at least to get a comparison of prices.

I have to check with the insurance company if there is a deadline for asking for reimbursement on the GST. If not, then I can take all the time I want.

I am not going to be looking in the US. I know what’s involved in importing and the money I might save won’t be worth the hoops I’ll have to go through.

I have pretty much decided on what I want, but need to finetune the research as to truck weight, gas mileage, ability to tow, bed length, etc. Since I have decided to go with a compact pickup, it makes sense to shop where there is a truck market. So I have decided to fly back to Alberta at some point this summer to buy my new toad!

Going back to Alberta will actually cut down on expenses and hoops. If I were to buy and plate in Quebec, I would have to pay PST and the registration would be almost $300 more than it would be in Alberta. When I got back to Alberta, I would have to pay for an out of province inspection. All those costs would add up to a lot more than the cost of a one-way plane ticket and the fuel to drive back to Quebec.

By buying the toad in Alberta, I’ll be able to leave Quebec in the fall with two correctly registered and insured vehicles. Plus, I know I can rely on Jody and Gary’s expertise in helping me make a good decision.

As for negotiating, I did really well one my last two brand new cars and Miranda, so I’m confident I can get a decent deal.

He also had this to say about the border crossing (with Norma (not Croft’s Norma) also wondering about this):

They may say nothing at the border (most likely) or they may ask where the car is if it shows up on their screen. They also sometimes ask if you had “repairs or modifications” done. Either way, only answer what is asked.

I put the total loss claim papers on my iPad to show at the border if the question comes up.

As for the repairs/modification question, it’s only as it pertains to work that could create secret compartments for stashing drugs. They don’t care if you get your brakes done but let them know if you had a safe welded to the frame! This is almost verbatim from the customs idiot who interrogated me last spring.

I have decided not to think too hard about the border crossing except for the fact that I have way too much beer on board! I’m off to attempt to make a dent in it!

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Petersburg VA to St Clair PA

Miranda was packed by 8:00 this morning. I handed the key to the lady in the office in case the mechanic was ready to work on her before I got back from returning the rental car. I got to Enterprise at about 8:20 at the same time as the guy who was going to drive me back to WS Campbell. Everything was fine with the rental and the insurance is picking up the full tab! I got back to the shop at 8:30 and Miranda was still outside. I took back the key and got her into the garage then went to the office to settle up the bill.

My adjuster at Aviva continues to impress me. She told me that the axle repairs alone would be $5,600. Um, no. That was for everything. The axle repairs came in at just under $3,000, so with the towing bill the invoice was $3202 and change, which was actually less than they would have thought because they didn’t need to replace all the parts they thought they needed to replace. I signed off on the repairs and faxed the invoice and credit card receipt to Aviva.

There was a truck blocking the pull-thru exit of the garage, so I had to back out. I always take it as a compliment when I am left to my own devices to do such manoeuvring. 🙂 It was an easy out, though, as I had a big empty space to back into and get pointed in the correct direction.

Before we leave WS Campbell, here’s the view I had from my desk the last two weeks:

It’s 5KM to the I-95/South Crater Road junction and there is a Shell just before the turnoff. It would have been a bit tight with the toad, but it was easy access with just Miranda. I had a quarter tank of gas and I was staring at the cheapest fuel prices on this trip ($3.49/gallon), so I had the pump pre-authorized for $125 and that filled the tank to the brim.

Now, I’m going to give more detail about my route than I usually do because there has been some discussion about it in the comments.

Just a few miles north of where I got on I-95, at 9:20, I took I-295 to by-pass Richmond and got back on I-95 north of the city. I grinned as I passed Ashland, awed that the last time I took this route, I drove straight from there to Gatineau in a day!

Traffic got thicker and thicker the further north I drove. I was happy to exit to route 17N just past Fredericksburg. I knew that the next bit wasn’t going to be easy as I would have to drive through a shopping district with lots of traffic lights, but it was better than going through DC. I followed the signs for route 17N to I-66 west.

My GPS continues to make me wonder who programs routes for it. I was heading for a destination just off of I-81 and right up to the I-81/I-66 junction, it was adamant that I drive through downtown Washington to get there! Whomever comes up with a GPS that automatically routes around cities is going to get my business for life.

I’d been too nervous to have breakfast before leaving (but not so nervous that I didn’t take the time to have coffee!) and the knots in my stomach had gotten pretty tight along route 17. But I began to feel better when I hit I-66 and I planned a lunch stop just before I-81, where there is a Walmart and a bunch of restaurants, so it was pretty convenient in an RV. I think it would a been a bit tougher of a parking lot with the toad, but with Miranda alone it was fine. I went to Applebee’s, of course. 🙂

It was almost 1:30 when I was done with lunch and I had three more hours of driving to do. I was getting tired and starting to jump every time a vehicle passed me, causing Miranda to shift in the lane. Had I left a couple of hours later, I would have stopped for the night in Chambersburg, but that option was a Cracker Barrel and 3:00 was way too early to stop there. I decided that I could handle another couple of hours and made a point to stop at the two rest areas I passed.

The day’s calamity struck at the first one: I could not get my key into the lock for the house door! So I need to troubleshoot the deadbolt when I get to MTL. *sighs with tongue firmly in cheek* It is a huge hassle to get into the house from the cab. I can get the door unlocked from inside, but cannot relock it from outside.

It was going on 5:00 when I got to the exit for St. Clair. The Walmart is about 6 miles from I-81, further than I usually like to go from my route, but I was hoping to get a few things that were on my shopping list for this trip and which I held off getting until I knew how things would end up with the insurance claims.

The last bit of the driving day was brutal as the 6 miles turned out to be straight down a twisty 6% grade. I was really glad to find a scenic Walmart that was happy to have me overnight.

Today’s drive took me from Virginia, back to West Virginia, up through Maryland:

and into Pennsylvania:

At Walmart, I picked up a frozen pizza for dinner and a bunch of bags of shredded cheese in anticipation of returning to a country where cheese is a luxury (snark, snark). I also got a slow cooker! I’ve been wanting one for ages and did some online shopping looking at reviews for little ones. The Rival brand didn’t look like much on the shelf, but I’d read reviews that said they make decent appliances. So when I found a four-quart model for less than $10, I snapped it up! Right next to it was an adorable six-cup rice cooker for $13. My beloved rice cooker is much too big for my needs and sticks badly. I can store both my new appliances in the space the old rice cooker took.

The next part of the day wasn’t much fun and I was pretty cranky by the end of it. I had a bag of used cat litter by the front door waiting for me to find a garbage can and a certain black cat decided to do her claws on it! I spent what felt like ages sweeping the mess and then disinfecting the floor. But my day wasn’t over.

I’m out of propane on the on board tank and haven’t had any luck finding some today. My fridge and freezer are full, so I had to haul the auxiliary tank outside, find my pigtail, and get everything hooked up so I can keep the fridge on tonight. Someone needs to create a propane fill directory! The two places I found today only deal in bottles; they don’t fill truck/RV tanks.

For tomorrow, I’m listening to everyone who told me to avoid the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre uphill climb at all cost. So I’m taking I-80 to I-87 and am going to research the toll to see if I need to have cash (I’m completely out but there’s an ATM in the Walmart). The only remotely decent place to overnight between here and my mother’s is the casino in Saratoga Springs. From there, it’ll be about three hours, plus the border crossing, to arrive for lunchtimeish on Thursday.

 

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Don’t Forget Your Supplemental Medical Coverage

I was just heading for bed when I remembered that my supplemental medical coverage expires tomorrow! I know that you can’t buy the coverage if you have already left the country, but couldn’t imagine them refusing to extend coverage.

Even though it was 9PM, I dialed the toll free number and after a five minute wait, I got a live person. He confirmed that I would not have been able to buy initial from the States (the phone system knows where you’re calling from and the web server can trace the IP) but since I still had a current policy, they could create a new one for me even though I’m in the States. I have no idea why they could not extend the existing one, but whatever.

I am now covered up to and including Friday and, yes, I will be submitting that amount ($23.20 or $7.73 per day) to the moron’s insurance company.

For the curious, I use CIBC travel insurance (underwritten by the Co-Operators), and have done so for years. It’s a little more expensive than Blue Cross (by about 10%), but I can order it through the CIBC website and have the amount taken directly from my chequing account, so it’s more convenient for me. The cost for 27 days was $91.26 or $3.38 per day.

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Update on the Aviva Claim

A supervisor at Aviva just called me back. He was a lot more forthcoming than my adjuster has been. A lot of what he said to me should have been explained by my adjuster. For example, the $1,000 she ‘authorized’ for a ‘hotel only’ can also include meals. I need to pull out all my receipts and can be reimbursed for up to $100 per day. Anything beyond that, they can submit to the moron’s insurance and see if they’ll pay.

What he had to say about payment on the repairs is not what I wanted to hear, but it was fine and perfectly logical. They can’t pay until the final invoice is presented and I sign off on the work. If I wasn’t in a time crunch, then I could sit here for a few days until the cheque is cut and go on my merry way. Instead, they will make the cheque out to the credit card holders and send the reimbursement to them directly. So that’s all well and good.

Now, I’m just grateful that I keep all my receipts when I am in the US as I need to prepare my claim for some recovery of the chaos my life has been the last two weeks.