OK guys. I don't like to post rants. And I don't like to post something that can be construed as racist.
But I'm really steamed now.
So . . .
Thursday it rained. There were two accidents outside my place in E Van, so I knew things would be crazy--especially in my part of town. I was on my way to a computer place in Kits, and got little more than a kilometre from my place when some dope slams on his brakes in front of me. Being a veteran of East Van driving styles, and knowing the pavement was slippery, I had given him plenty of room (growing up in the NW, plus living for two years in a place with a lot of snow--I'm not stupid). Wouldn't you know, just about 6' from the guy's bumper, nearing the end of my stop, I hit a patch of oil on the road and slide right into him.
I wish I didn't have to relate what came next, but it's true. This older Asian male jumps out of his car (the guy in front of him still has his backup lights on, wanting to get into a parking space, but since this guy stopped on his ass he can't move), and starts berating this white chick who ran right into his brand-new car. We had to wipe the dirt off of his brand-new bumper to find three 1/2" scratches in his paint. I gave him info, and was so freaked out I went straight home.
I rang him that evening. A female voice speaking perfect, unaccented English is on his machine, so I leave a msg, asking him to ring me back. I've already spoken to a guy in a body shop, who gives me a decent estimate to sand and repaint the guy's entire bumper.
Remember, I may have lived here for four years, but I've never dealt with ICBC before. I'm used to American insurance companies with deductibles and huge rate increases if you make a claim. I figure if I offer to repaint the guy's bumper (and for all I know the scratches were already there--but I'm not going to argue) I'll save myself a lot of money and hassle. I've got a lot on my plate right now, and I just wanted to deal with this quickly and effectively.
The guy rings me up the next morning at frickin 6AM! I work late, and wasn't in the mood to talk with him, so I set up a meeting later that day. When we met I gave him the card of the guy at the body shop and took a picture of his car. He wanted to look at mine, for some reason, even though I told him it was all right. He asked me about every single bloody scratch on a six-year-old car that has seen many "anonymous" parking lot dings in its life (you know, the kind you come out and find--with no note on the windshield) and its 80,000 miles (that's includes five coast to coast trips, btw). I told him that I didn't have a husband or family to look after me--that maybe my car and house weren't super glamorous, but they were both paid for and I was just managing to support myself. I wanted to sort this business out with him as quickly and efficiently as possible. I told him the place I got the estimate from was where ICBC would probably send him, but they were giving me a break because they wouldn't have to deal with paperwork or delays and would get cash from me right away.
This guy was old enough to be my father and acted very condescending towards me. I did my best to be polite to him, but I wasn't going to let him walk all over me. He wanted to take his car to the dealership since it was new, but I asked him to ring my guy first (I gave him the number) before he got an estimate from the dealer. He also managed to worm out of me that I was from the States (for some reason he thought I was from Eastern Europe?!?). I think that is what is responsible for what happened next.
He rang me this morning and wanted to meet with me and give me the dealer's estimate: more than TWICE what my guy quoted--and said that it might be more if there was any "hidden damage" (yeah, like if he took a tire iron to it before he dropped it off to them). He had not rung up my guy, I said that I would only look at his estimate if he rang my guy first. Suddenly, after four perfectly cogent conversations, he "couldn't understand" what I was saying. I tried three more times to explain it to him in the simplest English I could. He started giving me this "I get to choose where to go, and you pay" business. I asked him to bring someone with him to our meeting the next day who could explain what I was saying to him. He said he knew no one like that. I asked him who the woman with perfect English on his answering machine was, couldn't she come? When he said that he knew no one who could translate I said I didn't believe him.
He then told me that he would ring ICBC. I warned him that ICBC would probably send him to the same guy I recommended but that it would take 3-4 weeks, and wouldn't he rather just deal with it now? Oh, no. He was going to ring ICBC and he hung up.
Five minutes later, I was talking to an ICBC adjuster. What is the first thing I found out? IT WASN'T EVEN HIS CAR! Someone else with the same last name owned it, but he wasn't the owner. So who was it? The woman on his machine? His daughter, perhaps?
He was playing the big man with the fancy new car (not even a medium-priced one, but "brand new") and acting patronising towards me while trying to hose a lot of money from someone who has no other support system who was going further than necessary to accommodate him, and he didn't even own the damn car! What do you want to bet the actual owner speaks perfect English, too?
I just really have a problem with this kind of behaviour. I'm trying to keep myself together here, and trying to do what's right even though this guy's actions contributed (albeit in a small way) to what happened--I mean, it was mostly just bad luck on my part, but I still admit that the fault has to rest primarily with me. So I'm trying to be a nice person, and I'm trying to appeal to his sense of humanity--and he's trying to extort all this money from me, playing Mr Big Shot and putting me down in the process, with a borrowed car.
Arrrgh. I don't imagine any of you would want to read through this long rant of mine, but if you happen to have done so, thanks. I just needed to get it off my chest.
I'm just getting so tired of people trying to take advantage of me. Just because I'm white and well-educated doesn't mean that I have money to burn.
