On September 19, 2018, a good friend/neighbor of mine was driving down a road that he, my wife, and I all traverse every day when a single engine plane owned by the Drug Enforcement Agency crash landed in front of him and hit his Model X that he and his young son were in. Cue the ensuing absurdity of the auto insurance industry.
The good news: my friend (we’ll call him “O”; his name was made public long ago, but I prefer not to drop it for a blog post) and his son came out of the crash okay. The bad news: six months later, the DEA nor the federal government has yet to pony up any money to reimburse O for the damage to his $120,000 SUV. Not only that, but O’s insurance premiums have gone up because, according to his insurance provider, he was HIT BY AN UNINSURED MOTORIST. Now mind you, the “uninsured motorist” was a pilot in a propeller plane owned by the Federal Government, and he was hit on a public roadway that planes are generally not found landing on, but rules are rules. Right? RIGHT?!
When O told me this a couple of days ago, he told me that he has indeed retained an attorney and is trying to recoup the money he’s spent because he was the victim of a damned plane falling out of the sky onto his car. He also gave me permission to write this, considering his pending litigation, was a must for me to obtain. Just imagine: you’re driving along, minding your own damned business, when a Cessna falls out of the sky, totals your car, and then the federal government employee/pilot gets out and tells you that you’re S.O.L. and on your own for damages. Honestly, just close your eyes and imagine the absolute rage that you’d experience.
For now, O is in good spirits, since everyone survived the crash (the important part) and he and his son made it out of the ordeal without a scratch. Now, he just needs to get his insurance premiums down to what they were prior to being hit by the uninsured federal aircraft.