As I write this I am still in the process of settling my claim, which was declared a total loss. Now, I could say this has been a terrible experience, but that would be an understatement. Here I am 26 days after the incident and I'm still in a rental car!!! That should be an indication of how poorly this has gone.

The accident was the other driver's fault. So that night I call the 800 # to file my claim. I'm told I should get a call from my adjuster within 24 hours. The next day I get a call from the other person's adjuster and nothing from my own. Now, I'm out of my apartment, so I have to assume they tried calling there, but the other person's adjust got my cell phone # and was able to contact me. Hmmm...how come they didn't try sharing that information? Anyway, that night I take care of getting the car released to one of Mercury's approved shops.

A couple of days later, they quickly declare my car a total loss. Shocking me because the damage was not that bad, the engine compartment hadn't even been dented, it was quite intact. But the cost to fix was lower than low Blue book for my car, so I said ok. So I wait for the total loss adjustor to call me, and I wait and I wait. She tells me now that she tried calling my apartment. Where is my cell phone # in all of this?

Now my car is old, a 1990 Toyota Celica, but one that was in excellent condition. I took good care of it. Blue book value wasn't that much, about $3700. Mercury wants to give me "market value" which is an average of similarly equipped cars. The insurance companies stopped using Blue Book because I guess it was costing them too much money! The "market value" for my car comes out to $2600 that's after they subtract my deductible!! Ridiculous, my car was not in "average" condition!!! I just had it painted 2 months prior to the accident! All they throw about is the word "value" well the "value" of my car to me was far more than $2600 freakin' dollars. It was the most reliable car I ever had, never gave me any trouble. How does one measure that kind of value? I don't think they can.

I've been with Mercury for 4 years now, not a long time, but seeing as so far that's been over half of the time I've spent driving, it's quite a while percentage-wise. I can tell you right now that whatever piece of excrement I can get to replace my car with, given their pathetic offer, will not be insured with Mercury. Nor am I ever going back, and I'm going to make sure no one I know signs up with Mercury. I was thinking about referring Mercury to my folks, who have 3 cars, and my best friend. After this fiasco rest assured I will be converting every person I know who has Mercury to another company.

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