Car crash was ‘an act of God’?
December 5, 2011 10:13AM
Updated: January 23, 2012 3:56AM
Dear Fixer: I would like to thank you for the support you give to the community of Chicago.
My problem is with American Family Insurance.
At 1:30 a.m. Dec. 9 the police rang my doorbell to inform me that a vehicle had hit my vehicle while it was parked in front of my house.
Since that day, I have been trying to get American Family Insurance to pay for the damages that their insured client did to my car.
I was able to get in contact with the person in charge of the case two times. The other times I tried calling, it went to voice mail and nobody has contacted me. At one point, they said they needed to investigate because it may have been caused by “an act of God.”
The driver hit my vehicle and two others. The police report stated that “the windshield was blurry, which kept him from seeing.”
I want to mention that due to the poor economy, I am in the process of a loan modification for my house; for this reason I did not continue paying for extra insurance on my car. I was trying to keep my money just in case I lose my house. (By the way, my house is insured by American Family.)
In the beginning, they said this would not be a problem since my car was parked when it happened. So I rented a car for a month. I still do not have an answer, and I do not have money to keep renting a car or even to buy a new vehicle. That car was the only vehicle for my family — to drive my 9-year-old daughter to school and myself to work.
If a person is behind the wheel and is not able to see through the windshield, aren’t they responsible for damages done if they hit any property? What if a person was injured because the driver could not see through the windshield?
Elias Gil, Elmwood Park
Dear Elias: When we heard the story of your poor, defenseless 2002 Pontiac Aztek getting hit in the middle of the night while parked in front of your home, our first thought was what’s to investigate?
This seemed like a slam-dunk case, unless it could be proven that your car was somehow driving itself.
We asked American Family Insurance’s PR guy about it and he promised to get someone to take a look.
It took about four more months of pestering, both by The Fixer and your private attorney, but last week you finally got your check. After your lawyer got paid, you received $5,261, a settlement you told us you consider fair.
Now let’s hope no more visually compromised motorists drive past your next parked vehicle.
