My first conversation with an insurance agent over the phone was ok with fairly standard questions until I was asked about my university grade point average.
"Did you maintain an average of straight B's or better at college?"
"We didn't have A's and B's at my university."
"Did you maintain a gpa of 3.0 or higher?"
"We didn't use a gpa at my university."
"Did you maintain at least 80% throughout your time at college?" No-one gets 80% or higher as an average on my university course of English and Philosophy, if you wrote essays that scored 80% or higher you could probably publish them in an academic journal.
"Um...we didn't really have a percentage score at my university."
"Fine, what did you have?
"First, upper second, lower second, third. I got upper second the second highest score possible."
"OK...I'll put you down as all B's then."
"Excellent news." Good grades are somehow synonymous with good drivers, I suppose they feel the people failing their courses are more likely to get behind the wheel drunk or stoned.
But eventually she could not provide me with a useful insurance policy, neither could any insurance company we called in Massachusetts, or any online policy. We resolved to try again the next day.
Then to get some practice when we went out to see a film, I was told to drive the car for some experience. Slightly nervous because I knew that people selling cars tend to keep the petrol tank near empty but more so because I knew I was a fairly shaky driver. The car certainly took some getting used to, in that I didn't really get used to it. After witnessing my performance behind the wheel it was decided that the bus was probably the safer option.
Now we were a day behind schedule, not the end of the world but it did mean we would have to rush the Atlanta trip a little.
