accident prone

So, this january, someone with a learners permit hits a truck that hits me during a snow storm. I loose my car for a good month (middle of winter mind you). Since I work from home; no big deal. It just happens to land on a week where I have some business driving to do.

@geico was great, got things rolling with @statefarm no problem. I advised that to save some money all the way around; I really only needed a rental for a week out of that month.. no problem, it'll be taken care of i'm told.

So; two weeks later. I drop my [broken] car off at the shop; pick up the rental. I think to myself:

Self: "it's supposed to be a bad blizzard type week down in Central PA; since rentals don't usually come with snow tires, you better get an SUV, should be no problem... they'll probably be fine with it since you're only renting for a week while you won't have your car for a month."

now; if you know anything about me; you know that the story didn't end that way today (over a MONTH later I had to track down both @geico and @statefarm to move this along). I was told point-blank over the phone:

"since you don't drive an SUV, we can't reimburse you for that"

which; in and of itself is a fair assessment [all things being equal]

to which I responded:

"so let me get this straight; if I had rented a mid-size for a month, you would have fronted for that, but the fact that I needed something with four wheel drive [because my car; with it's monster snow tires was taken from me by a guy who was driving too fast with a learners permit and no licensed driver with him in a snow storm, multiple citations] and only rented for a-week, you can only reimburse me for a week of the-type-of-car-I-own?"

if this had been a non-winter season in a non-blizzard-prone land, i'd understand and take the hit. But it's winter and I need my snow tires (or four wheel drive); and guess what... rental places rarely put snow tires on their

some how it seems as if "protocol" is a huge sacrifice for customer service this time. I was trying to do @statefarm a favor; and I was told "well, it's not our fault @geico didn't tell us you needed a rental, if they had, we would have direct billed it and you'd have had a car for a month".

dude; that's a pathetic response at-best...

@statefarm: These types of claims are one of the few chances you have to show how you're better than everyone else. You're claims people are your BEST sales people. That $100 you're saving because of "protocol" is a potential lost sale. Accidents happen; but I'm trying to save everyone some pain because I work from home and can afford it; the least that could have done was take this into consideration given what normal policy dictated (eg: a month of rental vs a week).

try harder... both of you. I shouldn't have to track anything down... or defend my decisions. You should just make stuff take care of itself... it should all just be magic and i should be happy with both services at the end.