My grip on the steering wheel tightened, I braced myself and tramped on the brake. I don't think I've ever hit a brake pedal that hard in my life. Despite how quickly everything was happening I could see the car in front of me getting closer and closer in S-L-O-W M-O-T-I-O-N. The question of the moment was how hard was I going to hit the guy? The second question, would my airbag deploy?
Then the car stopped. No bang, no crunch, no sounds at all. I'd missed him by less than an inch (about six centimetres for my Canadian friends). He turned into a driveway, I took a breath again, and went along my way down Bloor Street to work. About 15 seconds later the adrenalin rush hit me. I hate that feeling.
 |
| Missed it by this much! Actually I came a lot closer than this to hitting a car the other day but I didn't feel comfortable pulling my car up behind my wife's car for this demonstration, |
Fast-forward to the end of the day, I've returned home and there on the kitchen table is a letter from my insurance company. I normally get a reminder at this time of year telling me how my rates are going to rise again despite the fact I'm still driving a 12-year-old car and haven't had a ticket or an accident (touch wood). Basically it's letting me know that I'm going to get SCREWED AGAIN, without so much as a I love you or even a peck on the cheek.
But this letter was different from previous letters because this letter had a paragraph in it highlighted in bold type. It read:
With the coverage as it is now this vehicle can not (sic) be driven at anytime.
I read the letter again and the adrenalin rush I'd experienced in the morning returned. The letter was telling me I had comprehensive insurance ONLY on my car. That allows you to safely keep your car parked in your driveway. But I've been driving all year and nearly had a wreck eight hours earlier. Could you imagine the shit I'd been in if the traffic gods had not smiled on me causing me to miss the car that morning? Driving without insurance is a crime and for a guy with a perfect driving record that's a big deal! I was beyond frustrated but could do nothing about it because the insurance company was closed. So I stewed all night, barely slept and woke up feeling lousy.
When I finally got in touch with Keith (I won't mention his last name) and told him my problem, he laughed nervously and told me he'd remembered speaking to me last year at this time. Since we'd spoken for almost an hour about how I could reduce my insurance costs I was relieved he'd remembered me. But I didn't recall telling him to "pull the insurance off my car so I could park it in my driveway for a year." Granted that's one way to reduce your insurance bill but not if you have to drive it.
I could hear him plucking away at his computer while he pulled up my file.
"No, you've got liability, you're safe to drive," he said.
Then there was a pause. "Wait a minute, there's a note on another file, not yours."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your heart must have been racing when you read that letter, didn't it?" he chuckled.
"You think?!" I said, not impressed.
"I really should read those letters before I sign them and mail them off," Keith said.
"In my business if you make mistakes like that you get sued," I told him.
Keith's tone changed but not as much as it would have if I'd said what I really wanted to: "You stupid fucking asshole, can't you get anything right! You sound like you're barely old enough to have a licence let alone have a job!"
Keith then broke into his apology. He must practise it a lot because it sounded sincere. I told him I didn't want his apology (I did) but I wanted to make sure I had insurance to drive.
He confirmed that I did. Then he wished me a Merry Christmas.
I've got to get a new insurance company.
