Windshield busted by a guys lawnmower

Sharp10r

I was on my way to work Sunday night and saw on the road ahead of me a strange dust cloud, like a mini tornado. I thought it was some strange wind, but as I get over the hill see some guy on a riding lawnmower, mowing a lawn with NO grass around, he's mowing the dirt. He kicks up a rock and buts a small circle hole (not all the way through) my windshield.
Well I had a quarterly report and meeting I could not be late to so I drive on, but when I leave and go home, by the time I get home the small hole is about 8-9 inches down.

Anyway, my insurance came out today and replaced the windshield with a $100 deductable. Should I go knock on the man's door and ask him to pay my $100?

Gnome-Interruptus

I would ask him to pay the deductible at the very least. A lawnmower should not be driven around over gravel or bare earth with the blade engaged.

Hopefully your insurance company arent too big of dicks or else your rates may go up as well.

Crashtard

Definitely go ask for the money.

Lail

You said you kept driving when it happened? Coming back a couple days later may result in this guy telling you to take a hike. Would you fork over $100 just because someone came and asked you for it? It might be worth a shot, but if someone knocked on my door right now saying I cost them some money, I'd be asking them to prove it.

DevoutlyApathetic

What would your reaction if some guy you've never noticed before knocked on your door and demanded you pay for their windshield deductible?

Not having stopped at the time, you're not going to get any money out of the guy unless he's a saint.

Pussum

I don't think your going to have any luck. You didn't stop and confront him immediately so its your word against his. He could easily bring up that it could have happened anywhere and since you didn't stop you have no proof that he did it. I don't see CSI coming out and matching the blade marks on the rocks to the lawnmower in question either so it looks like you just suck it up on this one.

cloudeagle

Yeah, stopping immediately is the thing to do. Same thing happened to my mom, she told the mower guy what happened, he called his boss, and not only did he pay for the replacement ENTIRELY without getting the insurance involved, he paid to vacuum all the glass out of the car at a nearby car wash. All because they knew what happened.

In your situation, it's too late. Hate to say it, but I'd pay the money, consider it a lesson learned and move on.

Nitsuj82

There's this thing called subrogation. Basically what it means is that your insurance company will attempt to get some or all of the money back from someone if they can. If you get the guy's info, your insurance company will go after him for you.

However, something like this isn't easy to deal with legally. Yes, his mower kicked up rocks, but so do cars on the highway. In a case like that, unless it was a rock that fell out of the bed of a truck that wasn't secured properly, it's hard to place blame on that person. I mean, if you wanted to get really technical about it, you could pursue action against the highway administration for not keeping the road debris-free.

My advice? No. Leave it be.