I have been working with my insurance carrier for the past few days. I even hesitate to use the word with, because the process has been less than a cooperative effort. Insurance companies and mine is State Farm, get mixed reviews from everyone who has ever had to make a claim.

Unfortunately for me, this is my second claim in as many months. If you follow my blogs, you may recall the tree on truck incident.

My truck had been repaired and returned to me for about 6 weeks when I called to tell State Farm that my repaired truck had been stolen.

I had dropped the truck in long term parking at Montreal’s, Dorval airport on Sept. 16^th and according to records the truck was removed that same evening.

I reported the truck stolen to State Farm on my return on Oct.10^th. It seems that there is a 21 day waiting period before my claim is paid. State Farm offers a car rental stipend or contract which pays 25 bucks a day. It’s not enough and initially I was told by my agent that I would have to pay for my own car rental. It turns out; that was not true and a big thanks to my buddy Scott for telling me that they were lying to me. When I questioned the adjuster on this she told me that State Farm could arrange a discounted rate but that it was still not likely going to be as much as the rental would cost. What she didn’t bother to tell me was that rental car company would direct bill State Farm rather than just give me a discounted rate. I found this out by calling and quizzing the rental car company directly. In fact, the rental company said that State Farm typically pays up to $900 max and $35/day.

My adjuster had given me just enough information to make it sound like I would be just as far ahead to keep the rental car I now had and bill State Farm or be reimbursed at the $25/ day rate later.

This does not portend well for the rest of my claim process. It appears that some of the items I purchased for my truck and installed can be claimed. My air ride hitch, the roll top cover, mp3 radio, G.P.S. and that’s all.

Claiming I had them is one thing, but proving it is quite another. If you are like me and kept all your vehicle receipts, registration and insurance in your glove compartment you may now be considering an alternative plan.

At the very least make copies. I have never kept my drivers license in the glove box and had I done that I would not be complaining about the rental car deal. No license; no rental car. Also no registration for our 5^th wheel trailer,(yes it was in the glove box), means no proof that we own the trailer.

No worries ,get a new registration, right? It takes two weeks minimum after the DMV gets your affidavit of “lost” registration to get another.

It is a good time now, to thank my buddy Chad who is in car sales and who walked down to the DMV and got me a replacement in 5 minutes. The new registration will be here by courier today.

The 21 day delay is pissing me off. The vehicle has been gone for 30 days now but the 21 days goes from the day of the report. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than I have of ever seeing that truck again and I don’t have a lottery ticket. Face it, my luck has not been that spectacular of late, so I’ll save my money and not buy any lottery ticket, ever!

My money will be better spent buying a new truck. I will get paid out, some day.

Will I get fair market value for my truck as equipped? Well, remember that these are the same people who tried to let the $900 rental slip by me…so I am thinking that my $55,000 truck, now valued at $36,000 a whole 2 ½ years later will be very fortunate to see a payout of even that amount.

In the mean time, I have my 5^th wheel trailer sitting in an RV park that closes for the season today. I am not leaving. Even if the park wanted to move me out, there are no rigs available to move me. Believe me I have checked! All the haulers are swamped moving boats on trailers. It’s the season end to the boating year. There are no RV parks to move me to anyhow. Not that anyone would care. Its end of the season for most everything except snowmobiles and ice fishing here in the North country. I can park the trailer at friends and relatives if I can get it moved but no water, no sewer and a 15 amp. electrical service makes life a challenge when the temperature dips below freezing.

So, I’ll just have to buy another truck. Except that the bit of money I have is making interest,(not much) and so I’ll finance, right?

Not so easy to do these days, but after a day of negotiating I have a deal. Except that my trailer hitch is back ordered. (7 to 10 days).

A truck without a 5^th wheel hitch will be just an expensive lawn ornament parked beside my not welcome trailer.

So, this is how I am spending my time off. Paula is on the other side of the country in California and heading this way on the 21^st after her school reunion. She will be flying into Washington D.C. where we plan to park our truck and 5^th wheel at a nice RV park we had reserved.

Perhaps you have noticed a slight “hitch”, (sorry) in that plan.

Oh well, I am still in good health and employed as far as I know. I’ll write the happy ending to all this in a few days I’m sure.