Insurance company towed my car to the wrong place with sad consequences

M0RGAN on 17/11/2021 - 20:20
Last edited 18/11/2021 - 13:03

This is a pretty sad story. Last week I hit a piece of scrap metal on the freeway, puncturing a tyre. I pulled over and while on the phone to roadside assistance, a tow truck driver pulled up and insisted that it wasn't safe to be pulled over where I was and convinced me to have my car towed to a yard and then make an insurance claim after dropping me off at work. I did this, paid a hefty excess, and arranged for the car to be towed from there to a nominated repairer. I then spoke to that repairer, who said they didn't have availability, so I got back on the phone with the insurance company to get it towed somewhere else. I specifically asked if I needed to call the yard to let them know of the change, and they said no need, they'll take care of it. I asked if they were sure, as I can't afford to waste time sorting out a potential mix-up. Of course, I get a call from the original repairer saying it mistakenly got delivered to them.

So I'm a full time doctor. I had to cancel my late afternoon appointments to deal with the mix-up, figuring out what happened and being put on hold for an hour for the third time to fix the situation with the insurance company. Some of my patients have serious, occasionally life-threatening medical conditions. I tried my best to rebook them at the earliest available opportunity. Unfortunately, one of them presented to the hospital emergency department before her rebooked appointment and died shortly after. I might have been able to intervene if I saw her instead of dealing with this mess. I know its not the insurance company's fault, but I just got the invoice for my claim and I'm so devastated and angry right now. I let them know what happened and they apologised but they obviously don't understand the unintentional consequences of their mistake.

Edit - Thanks for those who offered constructive criticism. I'm taking this as an opportunity to reflect and learn from what happened.

Automotive

Comments

  • spackbace on 17/11/2021 - 20:31
    +14

    Mistakes happen, take a breath and process the situation properly.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 12:48

      username checks out

  • jason101 on 17/11/2021 - 20:54
    +3

    I’m a busy person too. I learned many years ago that working all policies through an insurance broker will save much time and head ache. Despite not getting the “best” deals, rebates and having to pay a broker fee on every policy - whenever an insured incident occurs its a 5 min phone call and the rest is someone else’s problem to sort out. Last accident was literally, “Hi x it’s j, I’ve been in an accident in z car and I’m sending it to y using towing company v, they’ll send you the invoice goodbye” click…..

  • fullmetal on 17/11/2021 - 20:59
    +5

    hire a PA, get a corporate car.

    • [Deactivated] on 20/11/2021 - 12:34

      Consultants dont have corporate cars. All self employed.

  • Transient on 17/11/2021 - 20:59
    +6

    Not your fault either. Some things happen for no reason at all, but that's life. Some days everything goes right and you're on top of the world. Other days nothing goes your way and you're better off staying in bed. If only the scrap metal hadn't been there. If only you had been in a different lane and hadn't gotten the puncture. I think lucky you the puncture wasn't worse causing you to have a bad accident.

    • fantombloo on 17/11/2021 - 21:13
      +1

      If only the scrap metal hadn't been there. If only you had been in a different lane and hadn't gotten the puncture.

      If only they hadn't been a full time doctor.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 01:51

      Thanks for putting things in perspective.

  • cuteduck on 17/11/2021 - 21:02
    +4

    Corporate car?? With this type of cheap-type style .. https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/656905

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 01:53
      +3

      It was more the principle. But yes, I may be a doctor, but I'm still Asian. Frugality is in my blood.

  • SF3 on 17/11/2021 - 21:07
    +2

    The butterfly effect.

    1st order effect, car damage

    2nd order effect, can't attend to appointment

    3rd order effect, a patient dies :(

    4th order effect, posts on OzB!

    • silenthillrocks on 17/11/2021 - 21:21
      +12

      The 5 stages of remorse:

      1. Denial
      2. Regret
      3. Depression
      4. Post on ozbargain
      5. Acceptance
      • ozbjunkie on 18/11/2021 - 09:41
        +1

        I must still be at 4

      • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 11:42
        +3

        This is the way.

  • leiiv on 17/11/2021 - 21:36
    +5

    Are you for real? Why did you prioritise dealing with the car mix-up and cancel your patient appointment?? You could just ignore it and let the insurance company and the repairers sort it out themselves for the day.

    • dizzle on 17/11/2021 - 21:59

      I thought that's what doctors had secretaries for. Whenever I'm at the doctors, the assistants out the front are organising things other than patients for the doctors.

      • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 01:55
        +1

        I'm just a public servant.

        • [Deactivated] on 20/11/2021 - 12:35

          Thanks for contributing and doing community service.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 02:00

      How would they sort it out if they don't even know what happened? Doctors have lives too, and we've cancelled appointments for far less. I already regret what happened, no need to pile on the shame.

      • leiiv on 18/11/2021 - 09:59
        +1

        I said "ignore for that day", surely you can get back to it later when you have some more spare time? I think the cause of regret is not the insurance company, but the decision to prioritise far-less-important things over the patients. That kind of regret could happen and happen again anytime with different matter, right?

      • dizzle on 18/11/2021 - 11:56
        +3

        Doctors have lives too

        But so does everyone else. If you work in retail, you can't just close the store for the afternoon for this sort of thing, you do it during your breaks. I'm not even considering life threatening issues, rescheduling puts a lot of other people out as well. As someone who spends a lot of time taking my mother to appointments (I schedule my work in advance so that I don't dissapoint clients) it's crap to know the you cancel appointments for this sort of thing (or even less as you say).

        I can understand if there are important things to cancel your appointments, but this is not one of them.

        • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 12:28
          +2

          I can assure you that patients miss appointments far, far more often than we cancel them. Prioritising getting my affairs in order so that I can continue doing my job effectively in the days to follow is just being human. I'm not a robot. As for lesser things, these include family issues, mental health issues, looking after a sick pet etc. Our work may be important, but so is looking after ourselves and trivialising our personal issues because of our line of work is not particularly fair. It's not like I cancelled my appointments to go golfing. I need my car to most efficiently do my job. Perhaps I shouldn't have done it, and I fully realise that now. Just wanted to give some perspective.

  • Hardlyworkin on 17/11/2021 - 21:43
    +13

    Wait… You're a doctor? WTF are you doing at KFC? https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/656905

    • SF3 on 17/11/2021 - 22:38
      +1

      Seems like also not practice what is preached.

      "An apple a day keeps the doctor away KFC is the new way of life"

      • aragornelessar on 17/11/2021 - 23:00

        I work in healthcare, and you'd be surprised by the number of smokers there are… True, they're not doctors themselves but I feel they've got more of an idea than the average Joe out on the street

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 02:01
      +11

      I love it how being a doctor somehow precludes you from ever eating fast food.

    • jv on 18/11/2021 - 11:56
      +1

      You're a doctor? WTF are you doing at KFC?

      Trying to drum up more business…

  • pharkurnell on 17/11/2021 - 23:03
    +6

    You had a flat tyre, got towed…. and then claimed insurance and paid excess ???

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 02:03

      All that towing would've been more than the excess anyway. The wheel itself was damaged and I had no idea if anything else was at the time.

  • SpottedAle on 17/11/2021 - 23:16
    -1

    So you had a personal issue (your car), you cancelled medical appointments to deal with this (non-urgent) issue, a patient(s) went potentially undiagnosed as a result (for presumably, a treatable condition) and died. And you're trying to blame the insurance company?

    Next time, Youtube has tutorials on how to change a tire, would've saved you claiming costly insurance excess and apparently would've saved a life.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 02:13
      +3

      Everything is easy to say in hindsight. I'm not trying to blame the insurance company, the appointments were not urgent and I don't know if I would've made a difference. Its just a series of unfortunate events. Its hard to change a broken wheel on the side of a busy freeway with a tow truck driver hounding you for being stopped in an unsafe location.

      But yes, I will learn how to change a tyre for the future.

      • screensaver on 18/11/2021 - 02:20
        +2

        the NRMA does free towing. Insurance policies should include a personal rental car. If am on hold, I use speaker phone so I can attend to some other tasks.

      • jv on 18/11/2021 - 11:57

        the appointments were not urgent

        Didn't you say one died ?

        • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 12:31
          +1

          It was a routine check up. I'm not a fortune teller.

          • [Deactivated] on 20/11/2021 - 12:38

            @M0RGAN: Move on. The public system is full of sht and run/manage by mostly a bunch of clueless paperpushers.

  • ShannonN on 17/11/2021 - 23:21

    hi can I confirm other than a puncture there was no other damage to the car, it was still drivable and could at low speed be driven to a safe point of the main road where you could have then changed the tyre and moved on. Like you do know how to change a tyre?

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 02:18
      +4

      I hit a metal object on the ground at 100kph. There was a loud bang and then grinding of the wheel on the road as I swerved to the side of the road.

      I didn't know how to change a tyre and have taken this as an opportunity to learn.

      • El Grande on 18/11/2021 - 02:41
        +1

        Did you have roadside assit? How did you manage without knowing how to change a tyre?

      • Ughhh on 20/11/2021 - 11:40

        I didn't know how to change a tyre

        Aren't there videos on youtube?

  • bazingaa on 18/11/2021 - 00:06

    puncturing a tyre

    I don't get it, why insurance is involved ?

    • pegaxs on 18/11/2021 - 06:28
      +2

      The amount of cars I see in a week that get towed to us for simple shit is crazy high.

      Admittedly, with a lot of new cars these days, they don’t actually come with a spare tyre, just a tube of goo and a compressor. No good if you shred a tyre.

  • Bristhrifty on 18/11/2021 - 07:13
    -1

    The only person that could foresee this issue is you when you cancelled your patients appointments to deal with a personal issue. The insurance company doesn't know what your appointments are for and didn't make you cancel them - they made a mistake but the responsibility to your patients is not on them, it's on you.

    Imagine you call the fire brigade because your house is burning down and they say "sorry can't come today, got a flat tyre yesterday and still dealing with insurance". Who do you blame for having no house?

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 11:49
      +1

      You're absolutely right, I didn't get my priorities right and put myself first on the day. I'm only human. To be fair, I didn't have to go to work that day with everything happening, but I chose to because I wanted to get as much work done as I could in between dealing with this. I know its easy to judge, but I could totally see the mix-up happening and was so adamant with the insurance company about making sure it didn't, yet it still did. Yes, what happened is not on them (as I acknowledged in my post), but surely you can understand my frustration?

      • [Deactivated] on 20/11/2021 - 12:41

        Clearly anyone having a go at your have no f-ing clue about working for a mostly under funded public health system, run/managed by a bunch of clueless paperpushers.

  • Euphemistic on 18/11/2021 - 07:15
    +2

    Take a day or two. Process what happened. It will be a learning opportunity for you on priorities and how to handle a broken vehicle.

  • 82norm on 18/11/2021 - 08:02
    +4

    20/20 is great. Should have waited for roadside assistance. Told the towie to naff off (they’re only interested in getting a commission). Stand at a safe distance from other cars.

    Unless the area was reasonably safe to change the wheel, I would’ve left it until Roadside assistance came…after all you pay for membership, use it.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 14:50

      I should have. He was wearing high vis and there was a traffic incident response vehicle nearby. He came up to my car and said you can't stay here, it's not safe (as I was contacting roadside assistance, who told me to do what he said and call back). I was gullible enough to believe them.

  • bobbified on 18/11/2021 - 10:00
    +1

    Go easy on the OP. He may be a doctor, but also has his own life to live.

    OP, It's important to note that you can't save everyone, so don't be too hard on yourself. Learn from your experience though.

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 11:51

      Thanks mate.

      • bobbified on 18/11/2021 - 11:57
        +1

        ..and you've probably saved a lot of lives along the way too!

        We're only human :)

  • weezlebub on 18/11/2021 - 10:01
    +1

    Give yourself a break … stuff happens, learning to be a doctor and working as a doctor to save lives takes a lot of time, some people don't have the time to focus on figuring out simple tasks (what if he slipped undoing a nut and damaged his hands and had to take time off of work?)

    life is full of missed opportunities and things that could have been done differently, give yourself a break …

    but for future reference, insurance companies are often open late, i find it best to deal with the long hold time while i'm on the way home or making dinner (not fun, but you can distract yourself)

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 11:54

      Yeah, I guess that I was so frustrated about the very mix-up I foresaw and tried to prevent, still happening, that I immediately made it my priority to fix it. I let my emotions cloud my judgement.

  • OzHunterNSW on 18/11/2021 - 11:05

    You say a punctured tyre…. don't you have a spare in the boot?
    It's a 5min job!

    Your inability to perform a simple task has now cost you a lot of time, and a lot of money.

    Can you put fuel in the tank? How about water in the radiator? How about checking tyre air pressure?

    You know, just maybe…. just maybe… the tow truck guy planted the scrap metal.

    • jv on 18/11/2021 - 11:58
      +1

      don't you have a spare in the boot?
      It's a 5min job!

      They are a GP, not a brain surgeon…

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 12:03

      "Can you put fuel in the tank?" - that's a little harsh. Changing a tyre is a useful life skill but is it necessary to mock me for not knowing how to do it? Some people don't know how to ride a bike, or swim, or even drive a car. I'm good at diagnosing patients. I'm not so good with cars. Its not my area of interest.

      But interestingly, one of my friends made the same joke about the tow truck guy planting the scrap metal. I was gullible enough to let him convince me that I needed a tow as I was in an unsafe location. He saw me on the side of the road and took the opportunity to make a quick buck. They are vultures.

      • screensaver on 18/11/2021 - 12:14

        you may have had to wait longer if roadside assistance had to call a towie. Things went wrong, but they could have been worse. Dont always skimp on money, its there to make life smoother.
        I was at home yesterday minding my own business when an ill tempered impatient postie delivered my parcel. They were so bad I felt my heart turn in an awful way.

  • Webber000 on 18/11/2021 - 17:36

    From your title I was assuming that it was towed to a scrap dealer and crushed or something by accident. So maybe try to see the positive / that it didn't go quite as bad as it could have.
    And re your patient - maybe you could have prevented a death or maybe you'd have seen them and not found anything wrong if it was a routine appointment and they still died the next day.
    As the patient I know I'd be pretty pissed off to have an appointment cancelled so you could sort a car repair out. But that's possibly because I don't see doctors as humans with lives to live. (Your superheroes!)

    • M0RGAN on 18/11/2021 - 18:22

      We're not superheroes, just regular people :) I'm no more important than a teacher, scientist engineer or other profession, and just as fallible.

  • M0RGAN on 11/01/2022 - 00:59
    +1

    Just a little closure on this story - After denying responsibility for the mistake when I made this post, the insurance company recommended that I contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority should I wish to escalate the matter, which I did and forgot all about it.

    Last week, I heard back from the insurance company, who offered a written apology for their error, a thank you for my service as a frontline worker and a full refund of my excess as goodwill. The repairs on my car also just finished (definitely not just a flat tyre)! It was nice to see a little humanity in these trying times.

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