Photograph Credit: Flickr (Jason Thompson)

Last week, I began the story of my pot hole reimbursement journey and left off with the denial from the county, due to the incident occurring outside their jurisdiction. Though my county claim was denied, I received the contact information for the State.

State Risk Management Contact

Choosing to proceed with the State, I contacted the SC DOT office for the filing instructions. This process was more detailed than the county submission. To file with the State, I needed to submit the following documents:

1. Notarized Claim Form. I downloaded the claim form, filled it out, and then contacted my State Farm insurance agent about notary services. With verification that they offer free notary services (yeah!), I selected a day to visit. When I arrived at their office a  day or two later (while on that side of town), my State Farm agent’s assistant notarized the claim form, and I was on my way.

2. Copy of vehicle registration. To retrieve these documents, I went to file box 1, found the 10^th file slot which houses our vehicle documentation, and located the copy of our vehicle registration. I then made a copy from my printer, and filed the paperwork back in the file box.

3. Copy of driver’s license. With my important document file box 1 out, I also located a copy of my driver’s license from the fourth file opening housing our personal documents. After choosing one of the copies, I put the accordion file back on the shelf.

4. Pictures. Thankfully, I had taken pictures of the damage before getting the repairs made. After going back to the site to take pictures of the area, I downloaded all the pictures to my computer. Using a word processing program (Microsoft Word), I placed the pictures on one sheet using the copy and paste feature. After titling the document with my name and address for identification, I printed the page of pictures.

5. Copy of receipts. I made copies of the receipts for the tire ($16.84), the wheel ($125), and the alignment ($45.74).

With all the documents packaged gathered, I wrote a letter to accompany all the documents and requesting an $187.58 reimbursement. I then mailed all the information to the State on June 7, stapled my copies, and waited. In the middle of November, I was pleasantly surprised to open correspondence from the State finding enclosed a check for $187.58.

Though the whole reimbursement process required about 2 hours of time, I was able to stretch our dollars by submitting the reimbursement paperwork. Was the time spent researching and compiling the documents worth it? For me, using time wisely to gain $187.58 was worth it!

Though I had no guarantee that the State would process my claim, I still followed through and was thrilled with the results. Without any knowledge that reimbursement was possible, I was thankful I chose to call my mom and bring her up to speed on our life events. Speaking of mom, I think it’s time to make another call. 🙂

Question: Does your insurance company offer free notary services? Would love to hear of other insurance companies that offer this benefit. Of course, other comments are greatly appreciated as well. 🙂

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Cody Young)

When I hit that pot hole back in May, I had no idea I could get reimbursement from the State for the repairs. When the incident occurred, I focused on the task at hand – repairing my vehicle. While working through the process, which took about 3 weeks to complete, I mentioned the incident to my mom. This conversation saved me $187.58!

Having worked for her local county for almost 20 years, my mom asked if I had contacted the Risk Management department for a claim form. Having never heard of the risk management group, I inquired. Mom explained that each county has a risk management department to handle claims from pot holes, branches, etc. that damage property. After gathering the information and chatting with my mom, I looked up our county’s risk management office.

County Risk Management Contact

Not only was there a phone number listed, but also the employee’s name and e-mail address. I sent an e-mail requesting a claim form and was rewarded with instructions and the form by that afternoon. After filling out the information, I scanned in the document and e-mailed it back. The next week, I received communication that the road on which the incident occur is operated by South Carolina DOT (Department of Transportation). A contact person and phone number were provided.

At this point, I could have cut my losses and decided that this reimbursement process is taking too long to resolve. Knowing there was still a possibility that I could get reimbursed for these damages, I chose to continue searching and filing for reimbursement. Next week, I will share the end of the story. You will want to come back. It has a happy ending.  🙂

Question: Have you ever submitted a claim for reimbursement from your county? If so, please share the results in the comments.