Mobile hailstorm

[road_rascal]

Had a lawn service dump truck spew salt/gravel all over the highway and the front of my car took a beating. I tried to contact the company (no response) so I filed a report with the Minnesota State Patrol and my insurance company. Mainly windshield damage and quite a few paint chips on the front bumper, hood and A-frame pillars. I have quite a few screenshots of marble sized and larger chunks of salt/ gravel impacting the windshield and front bumper. Audio from the dashcam doesn't do this justice- literally sounded like a hailstorm. Wish me luck...

 

[Nigel]

You didn't need to drive past it and damage your car!
And there was another lane you could have used to give more distance and thus less damage...

I'm not convinced that the insurance companies are going to be very helpful when most of the damage was avoidable and you chose not to avoid it.

 

[kamkar]

At least the trowing stones of motorway overpasses here are now down to pebble size and not boulders like the one that killed a woman this summer, and thank god the cops now have good DNA too.

I swear we Danes need to start give natural selection a helping hand.

 

[DashcamDPR]

You didn't need to drive past it and damage your car!
And there was another lane you could have used to give more distance and thus less damage...

I'm not convinced that the insurance companies are going to be very helpful when most of the damage was avoidable and you chose not to avoid it.

I still think the truck driver needs reporting for the insecure load regardless, there was a lot of not so small rocks left behind on the road that other cars will have ended up driving over many minutes later without any such warning

 

[road_rascal]

You didn't need to drive past it and damage your car!
And there was another lane you could have used to give more distance and thus less damage...

I'm not convinced that the insurance companies are going to be very helpful when most of the damage was avoidable and you chose not to avoid it.

Well, there was a car right behind me and one quarter panel creeping at my 7-8 position. I'm not going to make an unsafe lane change. My insurance company was really helpful and they reviewed the footage.. Fairly confident that this will be a not at fault claim. A State Patrol trooper got back to me and they are investigating this.

 

[Gibson99]

wish i could have got something for this... i ended up paying for windshield replacement myself.

 

[road_rascal]

Quick update: Had my insurance company inspect the car and it was almost $2500 in damages (mainly cosmetic- paint chips), windshield alone was over $450. They also reviewed the video/ photos I submitted to them and the lawn care company was 100% at fault in this case. Now it goes to subrogation and hopefully they'll recover the cost from the other party's insurance. If not, I'll file a small claims case to get my deductible back. Without the dashcam I would have never been able to prove my claim.

 

[road_rascal]

Update: I received a letter from my insurance company (Progressive) stating that the subrogation department was not able to recover any damages from Valdes Lawn/ American Family. American Family stated that the dump truck did not drop any debris and they're not liable. So, I re-uploaded another video with slow motion/ zoomed footage to show that the dump truck was indeed dropping debris on the road. If AmFam still denies the claim then it's off to small claims court. Total damages came to $2485.30.

 

[kamkar]

Maybe get a hold of that driver in the Culligan truck, he must have been peppered too, but probably dont care as its just a work vehicle.
Though from video to me it is pretty evident that stuff come off that Valdes vehicle.

 

[SawMaster]

All trucking companies and insurance companies will fight this kind of claim, but your video clearly shows what happened so you will win in the end. Just keep at it however you must, and I hope it gets resolved quickly.

Phil

 

[Gibson99]

Obviously you have employed the likes of Industrial Light and Magic or DreamWorks to doctor your video and make it look like the some truck was dropping rocks and that they were bouncing off the front of your car. That makes total sense to me!



If you do go to court, be sure to pad the claim to cover your attorney fees as well.

 

[road_rascal]

Update: Ahhh, justice!

After dealing with (and being ignored by) American Family for 2 months I finally was able to get them to come to their senses and they will cover all the damages. I don't know what changed their mind. This was the email from them :

We viewed your video of the incident. We sent the estimate to be reviewed and approved by an Auto PD Adjuster. They should be reimbursing Progressive and your deductible soon.

Without the dashcam footage there was no way I could be able to prove what happened.