17948: Burnham: RE: 17934: Laleau: Re: 17909: LOCCM: insurance in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: thor burnham <thorald_mb@hotmail.com>

The number of stories I heard in Haiti about car insurance were quite funny,
unless it was you trying to get money you were owed. An example: A friend's
car was hit while he was in a store. He chased the guy down, screamed a
little bit, and then Information was exchanged etc., but that was two years
ago. To this day, whenever he sees the guy, which is fairly regularly he
tells me, the fellow will yell excitedly, "direk! direk! m'ap pote bay ou,
tande!?" But what is he going to do?

Another time i was riding in a car with a friend and an off duty police
officer. We were being passed by an airport bus. He bumped us leaving a
fair-sized dent. We chased him down, took his license, found out where he
worked etc. My friend who owned the car later went with the officer to "bay
presyon", but he never did collect.

my experience is that you'll be lucky if you get re-imbursed for an
accident. one has to decide if the amount of the damage is worth worrying
about. But drive there for awhile and you'll know why people put on the
metal bumpers. It's much easier to prevent than deal with it later, and
you've got a snowball's chance in Haiti of collecting.

my two bits
thor burnham

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