Auto Insurance & Lost wages

[beaston]

Ok, this is more of a rant than anything.....but there is a moral to this story, which I'll close with.

Ok, I haven't been around lately, because on April 30th, I was the front car of a 3 car pileup on an expressway just outside of Philly. Technically, it's i76, also known as the Schuylkill, but better known as the Surekill....so that should give you an idea of the conditions. lol

But anyways, it's stop and go traffic, and I'm stopped, and had been for about 30s or so. Next thing I know, I hear a collision, and I'm thinking "that sounded close, I wonder where ...." and I'm hit from behind. Come to find out, some idiot "look down" (or at least that's what he told the state trooper) for a second, then the next thing he knows, he's about to hit the SUV in back of me, and can't stop in time. So basically, he rammed into the SUV behind me, and in turn, they rammed into me. The force was so much that not only did my rearview mirror fly off the windshield, but it also knocked out one of my air vents in the middle of my dash. Both of which ended up coming to a halt in the passenger side floorboard.

So anyways, to make a longer story shorter, I now have back and neck problems so severe that my doctor has cut me off from work. I'm in physical therapy 3 times a week, and have been for 5-6 weeks now, with not really any end in sight. My neurologist wants to start giving me back injections, as well.

To wrap it up, the moral of the story is this:

Do whatever you can to protect yourself. Scrape together whatever it costs to get the 'lost wages' or whatever coverage they call it at your particular auto insurance company. I learned the hard way, that if you're in an accident, even if it's NOT your fault, you cannot get ONE PENNY from the at-fault driver's insurance company, until the FINAL SETTLEMENT. And yes, this even includes your monthly wages for the period that you are not able to return to work. It doesn't matter that you can prove without a shadow of a doubt that you're unable to work, and can also provide them with an exact $ amount that you're losing by not working.

Basically, you are left to fend for yourself from the time of the accident, until that final settlement is reached between you and their insurance company. This is a crock, if you ask me. Auto insurance companies need to be under tighter regulations. But, this way, people are forced to settle early, simply because they'd be out on the streets if they didn't. This means increased savings for the insurance company, at the expense of those that are truly injured by the negligence of the driver that they had insured.