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rd_aaron · 10-22-2017, 12:42 PM

So I'll preface this post by saying I feel like a big idiot in hindsight.

We were out in the mountains yesterday and unfortunately we hit a deer that jumped out in front of us on the highway. Hit it straight on so it damaged the front of the car pretty good and we weren't able to drive it back to Calgary. We called the RCMP who responded and we also called AMA for a tow back to Calgary as I have a Plus Membership (tows up to 160km.. we were about 100km out of town).

Tow truck driver showed up and he was really friendly and quick at loading up the car. Before he even hooked up the car, though, he said we have some options and we'd talk about them on the way back to Calgary (we rode in the truck with him). Basically on the drive to Calgary he advised us it would be easier if we just processed the tow through our insurance company rather than AMA (saying it would be simpler, one point of contact, etc.). He convinced us that we would certainly have tow coverage since we had comprehensive coverage. I'm pretty sure now that he did this because he wanted to charge insurance rates which are higher than AMA rates.

I phoned my insurance company on the drive home to file the claim but unfortunately their systems were down and they couldn't access my policy (they're still down today). So I ended up paying with my credit card (about $1,300) with the intention of submitting to insurance after.

So looking at our insurance paperwork when i got home, I'm pretty confident I'm not covered so now I'm panicking. Insurance company's systems are still down so they're going to call me tomorrow. AMA office is closed so I can't find out about reimbursement until tomorrow. Looking to see if anyone has dealt with something similar that could give some advice. I think my steps are:

1) Talk to insurance company tomorrow and find out if I'm covered at all.
2) Talk to AMA and ask if I can get reimbursed through my membership (though it seems they only cover Club Rates and I'm pretty sure the tow truck driver charged higher insurance rates)
3) Phone the tow company's head office and see if I can convince them to refund me and charge AMA directly (I'm guessing they're not going to be very cooperative)

As I said, I feel like an idiot in hindsight. I was stressed out by the situation and felt that the driver had our best interests in mind, when in reality he had his own interests in mind. Just trying to make the best out of the situation so any advice is welcome.

10-22-2017, 12:42 PM	#1
rd_aaron Scoring Winger Join Date: Mar 2011 Exp:	Tow truck driver mislead me So I'll preface this post by saying I feel like a big idiot in hindsight. We were out in the mountains yesterday and unfortunately we hit a deer that jumped out in front of us on the highway. Hit it straight on so it damaged the front of the car pretty good and we weren't able to drive it back to Calgary. We called the RCMP who responded and we also called AMA for a tow back to Calgary as I have a Plus Membership (tows up to 160km.. we were about 100km out of town). Tow truck driver showed up and he was really friendly and quick at loading up the car. Before he even hooked up the car, though, he said we have some options and we'd talk about them on the way back to Calgary (we rode in the truck with him). Basically on the drive to Calgary he advised us it would be easier if we just processed the tow through our insurance company rather than AMA (saying it would be simpler, one point of contact, etc.). He convinced us that we would certainly have tow coverage since we had comprehensive coverage. I'm pretty sure now that he did this because he wanted to charge insurance rates which are higher than AMA rates. I phoned my insurance company on the drive home to file the claim but unfortunately their systems were down and they couldn't access my policy (they're still down today). So I ended up paying with my credit card (about $1,300) with the intention of submitting to insurance after. So looking at our insurance paperwork when i got home, I'm pretty confident I'm not covered so now I'm panicking. Insurance company's systems are still down so they're going to call me tomorrow. AMA office is closed so I can't find out about reimbursement until tomorrow. Looking to see if anyone has dealt with something similar that could give some advice. I think my steps are: 1) Talk to insurance company tomorrow and find out if I'm covered at all. 2) Talk to AMA and ask if I can get reimbursed through my membership (though it seems they only cover Club Rates and I'm pretty sure the tow truck driver charged higher insurance rates) 3) Phone the tow company's head office and see if I can convince them to refund me and charge AMA directly (I'm guessing they're not going to be very cooperative) As I said, I feel like an idiot in hindsight. I was stressed out by the situation and felt that the driver had our best interests in mind, when in reality he had his own interests in mind. Just trying to make the best out of the situation so any advice is welcome.