No particular place to go (except Calgary)

Back in March, I was—to quote Chuck Berry—“riding along in my automobile.” And yes, my wife was beside me at the wheel. But instead of stealing a kiss at the turn of a mile, I got smashed into by another car. Hard.

Let me paint the picture. It was a sunny Saturday, early afternoon. I was at a complete stop in traffic, waiting patiently for my chance to move the car forward a couple more inches. As I sat there with my foot on the brake, I glanced up into the rear-view just in time to get a brief glimpse of the car that was about to plough into mine.

My wife remembers me hurling out an expletive at the top of my lungs at the moment of impact. I guess I’ll have to take her word for it, because I don’t remember that part. What I do remember is being rammed into so hard that I became the first impactee in a four-car pileup.

There were some personal injuries sustained within my vehicle, but I’m going to gloss over the injuries because I try to keep this magazine as breezy as possible (which is no mean feat for an insurance publication). Long story short, medical treatments commenced, and my car was repaired a couple weeks later.

Once the dust had started to settle, it occurred to me that I had two years of payments left on a car that had now seen its resale value diminish significantly— through no fault of my own. And my beloved car insurance company essentially told me that this amounted to a you-know-what sandwich that I’d just have to eat, like it or not.

If only, I thought, there were some kind of coverage available that would compensate me for the diminished value of my car. Well, it turns out that there is— it just didn’t exist back in March.

A few weeks after my accident, I was contacted by Farhad Eslah, who told me all about his new product, Out of Pocket, which provides coverage for out-of-pocket expenses drivers face when dealing with auto insurance claims. The coverage is designed primarily for at-fault drivers, but it can also reimburse drivers for the diminished value of their vehicle following an accident, regardless of who’s at fault. This sounded interesting, so I decided to write about it.

But, first and foremost, this is our marketing issue. We’ve got everything you need to know about boosting your web presence, finding new clients and marketing cyber insurance to small business owners who don’t think they need it.

Before I sign off, I should mention that by the time you read this, I’ll be gone. Not dead—I’m just moving to Calgary. Thank you, dear readers and advertisers, for the support you’ve shown the magazine during my stint here. I’ve written a couple stories for the next issue of CITB, but this will definitely be my last editor’s letter. I’ll miss you.

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Copyright © 2018 Transcontinental Media G.P. This article first appeared in the June/July edition of Canadian Insurance Top Broker magazine

This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.