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folkvictorian

Auto insurance -- learn from our mistake! (long...)

folkvictorian
12 years ago

We've got 3 automobiles insured with Geico. Our primary vehicle has full coverage, but our '96 Saturn SL1 and '97 Dodge Dakota truck only have liability coverage -- we went with the conventional wisdom not to spend money on collision coverage for such old vehicles.

About a week and a half ago, DH took the truck to a dealership to have the headlights checked. For a while now they'll switch off by themselves while the truck is being driven. We've spend hundreds of dollars on supposed fixes but no-one can figure it out. So the truck was in the shop a second time after we paid $350 for a new switch that didn't solve the problem.

So when my husband dropped the truck off, they offered him a loaner vehicle and he accepted. He signed for it and was told they don't insure, so he filled out the form and said we have Geico as our insurer.

Well, on his way to work last week, he hit a deer with the loaner minivan. Not a good time for a $500 insurance deductible, right? Well, it's worse than we thought. Geico says that because it was the truck in the shop and the truck has no collision coverage, the loaner has no collision, either. Nowhere in our policy does it state that a Temporary Vehicle's coverage is limited to the coverage of the vehicle it's substituting, but it's their story and they're sticking to it. We've got liability coverage for others' property, but that's not going to work per Geico.

So learn from our mistake and read the fine print before you accept a loaner vehicle. At the time, we thought it was great to have a loaner as DH works about 45 minutes away and I'd have had to pick him up from the dealership, etc. A loaner? Great! Well, not really.

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