Car Insurance: My Idiotic, Stupid Attempt To Do Something I Should Have Done Online, Pt. 1

I don't usually get mad about something that should be simple. I've found that life is way too short to waste time and get mad about things that are beyond your control.. And for good reason. Simple things should be, well, simple. But when the simple becomes complex, I get frustrated, which isn't good for anyone involved.

I found myself at the end of my rope a few years ago, trying to get new a car insurance quote for my 1998 Honda Accord. This was before I found out about getting online auto insurance quotes, and how easy, and quick it was. I was standing in a car insurance agent's parking lot, on a cold California morning (yes, there IS such a thing), waiting for a woman to take pictures of my car.

Unfortunately, I remembered my appointment, but the woman taking pictures obviously didn't. She hadn't arrived at the office yet. Her assistant, a rather large, dour Hispanic lady, had opened the offices, and was the first one there. Her expression was anything but eager and happy. Just my great luck.

“Could you wait just a few minutes?”, the opening lady asked. “Our girl is stuck in traffic, and running late. She'll be here in just a few minutes.”

What choice did I have? It was a little after 8:00 in the morning. I couldn't speak badly about her attitude, because that morning, I had a attitude myself. I was hungry. I needed my morning ham and cheese croissant and chocolate milk, but rushed to get to the insurer's office. And now, I was stuck, wasting time, and getting hungrier by the minute.

I thought about going somewhere else, but the place I could get another quote was a good 5 miles away, which was about 30 minutes away in morning rush hour traffic. I had set up a quick one-two schedule that morning. I was going to finish up my insurance, then rush down to a 8:30 DMV appointment down the street with my new insurance paper, so I could register my car. I'm just a creature of habit that way. I'm also usually very calm. But my calm was slowly leaving me.

The simple had become complex. Arrrrgh.

It was now 8:10. I was calculating that I had mere minutes before I had to leave for the DMV. But without the car insurance papers, though, I wasn't going to get anything done.

“Can't we just get all the other paperwork out of the way, and take the photos last?”, I asked the lady.

“I'm sorry, we can't,” the co-conspirator replied. “She be here in just a few minutes.”

I think that I would have been OK with that standard, dry reply, if not for the semi-rude demeanor of this obviously inconvenienced lady, a mix of “keep-your shirt-on”, and “take-it-or-leave-it.”

Whatever happened to “the customer is always right?”

It was now 8:15. My DMV appointment had officially been blown. “ I have to go,” I said. “Just forget it all,” I said, trying to cover up my anger.

“All right sir. Have a nice day.”

That's all I got. No apologies. No “sorry for the inconvenience”. Not even, “thanks for trying”.

As I was walking out the door, the phone rang. I stopped, just in case it was the camera girl, saying that she be there in seconds. Miss Sunshine picked up the phone.

“Hello?...where are you?...what?...well, get here when you can...bye.”

She hung up the phone and turned to me. “She was in a car accident on the way here.”

I just stared blankly at her for about 3 seconds. How ironic. I shook my head, and walked out the door.

Now, knowing what I know about the convenience and speed of the Internet, I wouldn't have done it that way.

Do yourself a favor, save some time, and get a free online car insurance quote from insurance-info-center.com. It only takes a few minutes, there's no obligation, and the smiling lady on the front page is WAY nicer looking than the grump I had to deal with that day. Take a few minutes and fast and free online auto insurance quote. It could save you $450 or more on your auto insurance.