Auto Accident - The Rental

Not much to report except that it took the girl's insurance company a day and a half to call me after I phoned them. Their plan of attack basically involved me taking my car to a service center, then their estimate, and then I get my rental.

Um, no. I told the woman I spoke with that I absolutely must have a car, and she sort of blew me off until I alluded to the magic words, "lost wages," by politely telling her that I am self-employed, that my work requires travel to different locations, and each day I can't work is a day I can't earn money. Their at-fault driver (and so they) would be responsible for those losses as well.

"Okay, Mrs. Burbage, I'm approving you for an intermediate-sized rental."

"What kind of car is 'intermediate-sized'?"

"It depends on who you go through. Each company defines it differently."

"Okay," I said, "because my husband is 6'6" and doesn't fit into most cars. Believe me, if we could shoehorn ourselves into a Prius, we would have bought one with gas prices the way they are."

You know, I didn't used to be this way. It used to be that I agreed and complied and did what they said with nary a peep. What the heck happened to me? How did I get to be so ornery? Their driver took me out of my super-roomy crossover, and now I'm being asked to squash my family of four (two of us in booster seats) into an "intermediate-sized" vehicle. If it's anything like the loaner Toyota we had during warranty work on our Explorer, that simply wasn't going to work.

The State Farm lady wouldn't budge on vehicle size, though, so I selfishly took it up with the collision center.

After much flip-flopping, I decided to have my car repaired at non-State-Farm-approved dealership because it's so new and still under warranty. Well, it's actually under warranty forever because we bought the mega-super-ultra extended warranty. We're not the sort of people who need a new car every few years. We drive them until they can't be driven any longer. With that in mind, I wasn't going to put it in the hands of anyone else and risk voiding my extended warranty.

For the sake of convenience I decided to use the dealer's rental service. One-stop shopping, right? I spoke with the woman there, explained my plight and the fact that my warranty contract would normally include a rental anyway, and managed to get myself into a Crown Victoria.

It's a nice-enough car, but I want my Pacifica back. I hope they don't drag their feet on this.