Episode 5/9/2011 Now Available!

**Shane R. Monroe** · 05-09-2011, 10:22 PM

Topics Include:

Uninsured Motorist Jail Time
Terrorists at the Pump
Nintendo's Next Console
Documentaries / Taboo

**WorknMan** · 05-10-2011, 01:15 PM

I remember when I was in community college and still living at home, I got the munchies at about 1am and decided to make a trip to Jack In The Box. So I was driving home with my food, and I came up to a red light/intersection where I needed to turn right, and there wasn't a car in sight, so I did one of those 'rolling stops' you were talking about. Just my luck, a cop saw it and pulled me over.

Well, my luck got even better when the cop asked to see my DL/insurance, and that's when I realized that the insurance I had in my glove compartment had expired and I forgot to put the new one in. So the cop says, "You know if you're driving without up to date insurance, we have to take you to jail". To which I replied, "Does that mean I don't get to eat?" So they hauled my ass to jail, towed my car with the food still in it (where it sat until the next day), and my car smelled like ultimate cheeseburger for the next 3 months. I had to call my parents to come and pick me up, which really sucked.

Moral to the story... laws must be different in Arizona than in Texas

**alexjlopez** · 05-10-2011, 01:23 PM

Texas cops don't play around--since moving here, I realized the last thing you want to do is mess with a cop wearing a cowboy hat...

**mrimprezadent** · 05-10-2011, 06:59 PM

Diggin' the ex-wife story. Thats the same voice I use for my brothers ex. Speaking about pious mutilation, here's a video about crucifixion in my homeland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q30yN_gIs94

**wildo2ne** · 05-10-2011, 10:58 PM

I was traveling south and entered the intersection right as it turned yellow, a van turned in front of me and I clipped his back end, he was ticketed. I had Farmers and he had State Farm. I contacted my insurance the day it happened, over a week goes by and he had not contacted his nor had State Farm contacted the witness. I continue to try to work with them as I was using my vehicle for work, they told me if I wanted to help them I could go down to the police station and buy the police report and mail it to them, I was mad at them for this but did it.

So I kept calling them 3 times a day for a couple of weeks and they did nothing, after a couple of weeks I am told by State Farm's agent to quit calling them if they need anything they will call me. I got pissed and basically told him to go fuck himself, I called his boss and was told the same thing which ended with me telling him fuck you pal I am getting a lawyer.

So I get a lawyer and the State Farm wants to cover 80% as they see me partially at fault, the guy takes me to court where the cop stands with me on the issue and he is found at fault. As soon as I get home I call State Farm and tell them that their guy just lost in court they should cover 100% they tell me no we don't see it that way. I tell them what the hell are you talking about? your guy just was told by a judge that he was 100% wrong you guys should cover 100%. They tell me we don't see it that way and stick me with 20%.

I call up my lawyer and tell him basically what the fuck? so there was not much we could do on that bit but my lawyer tells me this, I had already racked up about 3k in chiropractor bills and he looks at me and tells me you know you still look hurt go see this chiropractor for another 4k.

So ultimately I got fucked by State Farm but I did stick them for a large medical bill.

**Shane R. Monroe** · 05-11-2011, 06:14 AM

Yep, that's exactly what State Farm does these days. My wife had a similar deal to you. They claim she was speeding, so they stuck her with 20% fault - despite the fact that the other driver was CLEARLY 100% at fault.

See, Judge Judy taught me this phrase called "If Not For" ... If not for that cunt bitch pulling out in front of my wife, it wouldn't have mattered how fast my wife was going.

**wildo2ne** · 05-11-2011, 04:59 PM

I can understand the "if not fair" but I have learned to go with the "mind over matter" if you don't mind then it don't matter.

**TechMaster** · 05-12-2011, 06:56 AM

That's why insurance is such a dam scam. It equates to shaking you down for protection money. Then when it comes time to pay, they don't pay in full.

@worknman, it is different in other states. Up here, New Hampshire doesn't even require you to have insurance.

**JPMorgan** · 05-14-2011, 06:26 AM

Small claims is a total crapshoot. I got backed into at a gas station jan 2010. Kid who hit me was 17, no damage to his vehicle. Parents came, wanted to pay/not put it thru the insurance. Fine - till they get the estimate - 3k. Then they started with we got a friend in the bodyshop business, take it there for an estimate - screw that - so many potential issues it'd just turn into monster headaches. I could just see them whipping out the 55 gallon drums of bondo and some brick layers' trowels. When I declined, I got the 'Oh, theres no way we can pay that, better put it thru the insurance.' The father claims they're already paying 6k to have the kid insured.

Adjuster comes, looks at the car, takes pictures, says he knows the body shop and that their estimate should be close if not more, blah blah blah. Get a check few weeks later for 1900. Check is really cute, has like a 30 day expiration on it. Guess they figure you'll be so quick to cash it, you'll just take it. Everything I've read said if its not your fault, the insurance should pay at the least, 80%. Call them up, told them its not even close, and they say maybe they can add another 200, but thats all they can do. So, I file small claims against the parent/owner of the vehicle. I call the insurance up right before the court date, give them a chance to make a better offer - oh, no, lawyer has it now, we cant do anything. Fine. Get to court, they give you the spiel about going out, trying to make a deal in the lobby, etc. Lawyer says - no deals, let the judge decide. Fine. During the trial, they tried to say - I must have hit him. I must have had previous damage to the vehicle. I must be partly at fault. I'm like wtf? Kid was pulling out in his full-sized raised pickup, saw he was gonna scuff his wheels on the curb, so backs up like 10+ feet so he can make a wider turn out of the lot (thats when he hit me). Tried to say that he was backing up really slow, and there was no way he could've done that kind of damage. I had 2 estimates from 2 different shops, off by less than 100 bucks. I submitted them, told the judge, these are 'real world estimates' not fantasy insurance ones. Stated there was no prior damage, and that I had stopped completely when I saw the truck backing up, and hit my horn.

so, about 6-7 weeks later (small claims seems slower than ever), I get the judgement notice - got the full amount I sued for. Here's the beauty of it. Terms are, I believe 25 bucks a week? So Shane, if you had tracked down the motorist, and you had won, you'd be waiting a long time to get full payment. Since they were insured, the insurance cut the check for the full amount.

Small claims is a total crapshoot - doesnt matter how strong your case is. They just raised the filing fees to 75 bucks, I believe, which should at least give some people a second thought about filing frivolous claims/lawsuits. The other thing was, usually if there is a lawyer for either party, the court lets those cases go first. There were so many before us, that it was 4 hours on a Friday afternoon - so yeah, pretty much a whole day shot. If they were paying 6k to have the kid insured, IMHO woulda been better to drop him for 6 months and pay the damages, I have no idea how bad their insurance is now. Kid coulda got a summer job and paid it off. I'm pretty sure the parents did not make the best choice in this matter.