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Accident involving moving truck
The Snert
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I got into an accident while driving a moving truck. It was a local move, and I bought the insurance offered by the company to cover any damages or accidents with the equipment. The accident involved me not clearing underneath a bridge properly. Now the insurance company through the moving company is saying I'm liable for damages, since it's part of an exclusion in the contract of the type of damage the vehicle sustained. I'm at a loss as to what my options are. When I bought the insurance, it was sold to me as "full coverage" for "any type of accident" since my own personal insurance carrier would not cover the moving truck. I'm kind of freaking out since the damages are over several thousands of dollars.
I figured I'd reach out to the collective, and get any advise if anyone here has been in a similar situation.
I figured I'd reach out to the collective, and get any advise if anyone here has been in a similar situation.
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It looks like you may need to look at the papers you signed and see what it says about this type of damage. It could, for example, really say "any type of accident involving another vehicle" which would in fact leave you shafted. You may also be SOL if the bridge/overpass had a sign saying "clearance - X inches" and you drove under it anyways, since it was clearly marked, and you did it anyways* - willful damage, even though you probably didn't think it would be a problem.
*Not like you can just be all like, well, let me just turn around or back out in the middle of the street, but that's how it would probably go down...
Might be a good idea to try to get a measurement of the height of the truck (is it still loaded with your stuff?) and the actual clearance of the overpass (the signs aren't always accurate).
Oh. Well. Sorry to hear about that.
That said, you may not be covered no matter what you do, because you drove a truck through a place that was clearly marked as somewhere you shouldn't. Which is a shitty accident and I can totally see how that would happen. That really sucks.
-From my insurance company's website- "Yes. The liability coverages on your auto policy will extend to a small moving truck or van (as displayed below) rented from a home improvement store or moving company (at the same limits that you currently carry)." I rented a box truck, with less then 2000 lbs load.
It seems like some back and forth is going on between my carrier, and the moving company's carrier on my claim. Since I got a call from them this morning to my shock and dismay that my auto insurance carrier won't be covering the damages to the truck.
I would second the whole credit card thing. I'm pretty sure my american express covers rental car damages. So it's at least not a completely crazy idea.
Yeah, I'm trying to cover my bases, but at the same time, preparing myself mentally if this is the case.
Car insurance might still cover it, it'll just spike his premiums up. My dad scraped the side of his car against some object, can't remember what, and dented the hell out of his new car's door. He reported it to his insurance company and they paid to replace the door minus deductible... dunno what it did to his premiums and probably wasn't worth it in the long run but my dad's a bit short sighted. The damages in this case sound like they cost considerably more than that so it'd probably be worth it.
But again, given that there are thousands of dollars on the line, you should talk to a lawyer. They're going to know way more about what the laws are in your particular state, and the practices of the insurance companies there than anyone on these forums.
It would be really weird for buying additional insurance to disqualify you from coverage under other insurance. Again, IANAL, and most likely not from your state, so it's entirely possible, but that really doesn't sound right.
Haha what. "We can't cover you because you paid extra for more insurance in case someone fucked you."
That's why a lawyer is key.
Edit: Yeah it's a large amount of money for me. The cost of repair almost reaches 5 digits.
That's probably more than the van is worth, in all likelihood.
You could've caused a major accident and killed a lot of people if you'd taken-out a support on the bridge / overpass.
http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/benefits/bft_dmg_waiver_personal.html
No one was around. It wasn't like I was driving on I-95 going 70. It was a quiet, dark country road in the middle of no where, I was going 35 (below the speed limit since I was tired) and I honestly just didn't see it till it was too late. Not excusing it.. but just explaining it.
Correct though this is, it's sort of irrelevant to the current thread's inquiry, especially on this most sacred of days.
Love to all, judgement to none. Let the arrows fly, not the sticks and stones.
If your auto policy will cover it that's much better; I know mine (geico fwiw) seemed to cover only the smaller van / tiny truck size and not the bigger trucks
I have listened in on a phone call to a medical insurance company that didn't pay a claim the first time through because "You might have had some other coverage and we didn't want to double pay the doctor."
Also, for what it's worth, a 2007 truck (smaller varieties) sells for about ~$15,000. To fix the cargo area, it should be under that. Probably less than half since it probably didn't damage too much of it.
Granted, I did not ask if there was an *exclusion*. And then when it seemed like it covered everything, I thought, oh cool, and bought it.