Our Filipino car insurance report was a virgin experience for both my asawa and me. My loving wife sideswiped a sand and gravel truck on the husky size the other day and came out on the losing end. Our new Ford Ranger XLT passenger truck was not even a week old. It was the battle of David and Goliath and David, the little guy, got his ass kicked this time.
While I was grateful that my wife was not injured, it brought me a measure of stress that I didn’t embrace. Regular readers of Philippines Plus, know that I do as little as possible and try to enjoy my golden retirement years in the Philippines as much as possible.
I didn’t retire to work another job. I had almost 30 years of sweat, stress and anguish at AT&T. If you think writing this blog resembles work in any shape or form you must not have been with me very long. Look at the quality of the crap I write. I do not profess to be another Hemingway.
(Photo Source: biography.com)
Aside from the national health plan of the Philippines, PhilHealth, my asawa and I have not purchased any other insurance, car or home, since moving to the Philippines over five years ago. So when I knew that I would have to be dealing with a car insurance company here, I automatically feared the worst.
First, we couldn’t reach the number provided for us from the insurance company to report the accident. My wife then called the Insurance/Finance Officer at the Iloilo Ford dealership where we purchased our vehicle. The employee informed my spouse that she would call the company and report the accident.
The next day we received a call from the insurance adjuster in Iloilo who would come to Guimaras and investigate our claim. I pored over our policy and by what I could tell, aside from a 6,000 peso deductible, 135 US Dollars, we should occur no expense for damages and should be covered. But I still worried.
The insurance agent came the following day via pump boat and jeepney from Iloilo. A young man who asked my wife a few questions and took pictures of our Ford Ranger. A polite man, not aggressive in any of his questioning.
The investigator handed my wife a checklist of documents he needed to process our claim. Since I had read the policy, I knew what paperwork he needed, Police Blotter Report, a copy of my wife’s Driver’s License and a copy of our insurance policy. I handed him the documents and he advised us that the Letter of Authorization, LOA, would be forthcoming from his office in Iloilo in three to five days.
The following day we received a text message from the Iloilo office informing us that our LOA would be ready that day or the next. It was ready the next day and forwarded to Iloilo Ford.
I verified with our salesman at Ford that they had indeed received the Letter of Authorization from our insurance company. He informed me it took seven days for them to receive any LOA’s from the insurance company. I advised him that the insurance company told me it was already at the dealership. He checked. It was.
I asked when we could bring the truck in to have them look at it. He informed me that any parts would take two to three weeks to arrive. I stated that I already knew that. We were told that when we picked up the truck. I told him that it was no problem but when do I bring in the truck for the parts department to look at it?
No need. The insurance investigator already informed Ford of what parts were needed and that they had already been ordered. I was impressed.
I was happy that we didn’t have to take the truck on the RORO, Roll-On, Roll-Off Ferry, to Iloilo and navigate from the Ferry Terminal to the Ford dealership. Once I return from my visit to the States, the parts should have arrived and we can make only one trip on the ferry.
But I will wait until everything is cared for before I release the name of the company and give them a final recommendation. But thus far, I am extremely happy with their service and hope to file a positive report on them in a few weeks.