I.A.R.

I found a few acronyms for IAR on the Internet. IAR Systems, Institute of Auto Research, Investment Advisory Representative, International Animal Service and many more. My IAR stands for insurance, adjuster and repair.

After my accident on January 23, 2015 the first thing I did when I arrived home in my limping car, was to call my insurance company. I have heard and read many horror stories of people dealing with their car insurance and I did not know what to expect. The person answering the phone was professional, knowledgeable, and kind. He explained that I would receive a call from the insurance agent who would handle my claim. He seemed thrilled when I told him I had photos of the accident and asked that I e-mail them to him.

Within a day and half I received a call from a nice woman who said she would be my Claims Adjuster. She explained the process of what to expect and arranged for a rental car for me. She also contacted an  appraiser to come look at my car.

A few days later, the appraiser came by and took photo after photo of my poor, banged up car. I was impressed how thorough he was as he walked around my car and got pictures from all angles. He told me that he would send the estimate to the insurance company and they would contact me.


In the meantime, I was set up with a rental car and a young man came to pick me up . After the paperwork was completed, I drove home in a white Hyundai. The estimate came and I e-mailed it to the collision garage and my next step was to call AAA to come tow my car to the garage where they would repair my car.

The AAA driver hooked up my car on his hydraulic flatbed truck and I found him to be friendly and a talker. He told me about an accident he had been in, different cars he picks up, asked about my accident, and gave me his card and a pen. I commented on how nice he was and he said, "You know it doesn't take any longer to be nice and our world would be so much better if we all treated everyone with kindness and politeness!  I agreed and as he drove away I felt a sadness to see my new car being taken away.

Everyone I have dealt with has been helpful and efficient except for the collision garage who has called me three times asking for the same information. The first caller did not have the estimate or the insurance company name and I let him know I had e-mailed the information. The second caller told me that my gray Honda had just been brought it and I had to tell her it was a brown car. When I received a call at 7:30 in the evening asking for the same information it puzzled me that the right hand did not seem to know what the left hand was doing. Again, I let the caller know all the information had been e-mailed to their office.

I wondered why there was so much confusion at the collision center and hoped that the confusion would not stand in the way of getting a good repair done on my car.