Moving On
Both Bellarosa and Dyckes, who lost her Subaru to the storm surge, are moving on with their lives now. But they are not likely to forget Hurricane Sandy any time soon. Bellarosa is finally behind the wheel of a new car, but she still hasn't received an insurance check for the old one. Most recently, she found that a strongly worded e-mail to her adjuster garnered an apologetic reply — but still no specific details on her settlement.
Dyckes, on the other hand, received a swift settlement from her insurance company, the highly rated USAA. However, she has decided to forego replacing her car for now. "I take a ferry to work," she says of her daily trips into Manhattan. And on days off, whenever she's needed to get somewhere, she's been able to rely on public transportation or simply her own two feet.
In the future she may consider a car-sharing program where, when you've finished using the car, you can simply return it and walk away.
Coincidentally, her hometown of Hoboken offers just such a plan, called Corner Cars, in partnership with Hertz. Unfortunately, a number of their cars were also damaged in the storm.