Insurance Claim of Truck Rolling Down Hill

buckoff1

New Member
6
I'm a carpet layer , I did a job well it was not there at the time my men were
The van was parked on a hill , It slipped out of gear rolled down a hill hit a fence about 9 feet long 4 feet high then hit a tree .
When arrived the cop wrote up the report , I was a bit nervous and told him the insurance only covered me , I was not there because my wife was sick
So any way when I told the cop that , He said he would put the report in my favor , I'm assuming by saying no one was in the van when it rolled down hill.
So now insurance company has police report I got a letter it was under investigation. some lawyer on some forum said if he did not put on parking break which by the way I don't think he did , The insurance company would not cover it . Now that dosent make any sense . If i purposely ran a stop sign and hit someone, well insurance would cover it , But if i leave off brake that would be just a mistake human error . Now the driver of vehicle got a ticket for suspended lincense , Which i have no idea if that was reported in report . The lady at highway patrol said they would cover it , but would not disclose the info of report , I guess my question is , Will insurance company cover it ?
Damage would be about a fence 10 feet long about 4 feet high and some shrubbery, The tree has a gash in it , But what do you do to fix a tree ? put some tar in it , I don't know , it's a tree

By the way the cop and me were both were in agreement , That people from Mill Valley were kind of snooty , He Called them Me Valley ,
 
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I'm not sure what they are investigating, but in most cases, yes, they will cover this.

Now, there could be lots of questions:
- Driver had a suspended license? Not sure I fully understood this, but there was no driver if I read this correctly. This situation alone will cause an investigation though.
- Is the truck insured for commercial use? If not, this can cause an investigation.
- Is the insurance paid up to date? If not, this can cause an investigation.
- Is this a repeat situation? If so, this can cause an investigation.

Its pretty rare for a vehicle to suddenly roll down a hill on its own. It can happen I guess. Police Officer in the report only writes what he is told, not what he witnessed (unless he saw it happen). This is the same with you. You don't really know what happened, you are going by what you were told.

Insurance companies like to understand what actually happened. They like to compare that against the policy and make sure the claim can be paid. Since this isn't a case of you running a stop sign and making an ooops, they want to understand (investigate) what happened.

Don't panic over the term investigation, unless you suspect something is not correct yourself.

Dan
 
Miguel is the one that went to the job with the suspended licensee
But no he was not in the van when it rolled back , it was the customer that told him " Hey Your van just rolled back
The cop arrived and Miguel told him what happened not me
The cop just asked for my insurance info when I arrived which I gave him the next day , He gave me his personal cell number
It says commute on policy
I called them gave them what happened , He only asked a few questions
Next thing I know i got a letter it was it was under investigations, But no more phone calls to me on anything
Van was destroyed only liability it was a old van
Now I had to buy a new one , Got full coverage double the price
So I guess I'll see what they say or send me in mail on results , if not he will sue me and I will have to deal with him on fence and shrubs , The tree no clue its a tree
 
I'm not sure what they are investigating, but in most cases, yes, they will cover this.

Now, there could be lots of questions:
- Driver had a suspended license? Not sure I fully understood this, but there was no driver if I read this correctly. This situation alone will cause an investigation though.
- Is the truck insured for commercial use? If not, this can cause an investigation.
- Is the insurance paid up to date? If not, this can cause an investigation.
- Is this a repeat situation? If so, this can cause an investigation.

Its pretty rare for a vehicle to suddenly roll down a hill on its own. It can happen I guess. Police Officer in the report only writes what he is told, not what he witnessed (unless he saw it happen). This is the same with you. You don't really know what happened, you are going by what you were told.

Insurance companies like to understand what actually happened. They like to compare that against the policy and make sure the claim can be paid. Since this isn't a case of you running a stop sign and making an ooops, they want to understand (investigate) what happened.

Don't panic over the term investigation, unless you suspect something is not correct yourself.

Dan


I called them they said it eas covered up to 5000
So its just a small fence and some shrubs
 
That could certainly cause a problem if you failed to disclose commercial use to your insurance company.

I have denied claims and rescinded policies back to inception when an insured has concealed a material fact from the underwriters.


I never concealed anything , I even told the understanding cop , I don't think the damn emergency brake we on , Still human error , Insurance company chuckled and said no problem your covered , its a damn fence and a untalktive tree , van is totaled , bought new one , They get 200 bucks a month now instead 100 bucks , done deal , except no murder charges yet for killing stupid helper , But it crossed my mind
commercial , thats a joke , whats the difference , Theres no trees in white collar parking lot , just people that can't drive , So end to a honest mistake , Me valley person I'm sure will bitch , Good he was a asshole
 
I never concealed anything

Then why does your policy say "commute" when it should say "business" with an appropriate increase in premium.

It's nice that your company isn't making an issue of you not telling them you use the van for business but it could have easily gone the other way.
 
Funny I had Wawmanessa for 20 years , Had a few fender benders , Always no problem we gotcha , Until about two years ago I mentioned work , They must have changed owners , They seemed alot colder , To bad they were great , I've been driving to carpet jobs for 40 years , I've never has a problem , i'd fire him but at my age its hard to replace them , I won't go into details , But look who dominate the construction industry , If you look around , You'll figure it out, it ryhmes with Corona , Yup got lucky , But not without other pitfalls to deal with , I won't bore you, Lucky the cop poured concrete before to get thru police school , He was cool
 
Interesting topic on commercial, I'm on the road everyday , These commuter cars are always in the fast lane going 70 or more , Where am I slow lane going 55, Whats the leading cause of death , Speeding add texting to that and it even adds more to death , I see them everyday doing just that , How often have been cut off by a carpet layer , I'll guess very seldom , It's always these sport drivers , And your concerned about carpet layers , I'd say your statics might be off , But I'm not a adjuster on claims so I could be wrong , I'm just going on horse sense on what I've seen with 50 plus years driving
 

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