The city may be self insured. They might just write you a check after your attorney works it out with their attorney......
I'm not sure the City would or should be responsible unless they were in a City vehicle on City business. Turn the tables as say one of your employees, while in their own car on their own time, hit a parked car in your parking lot. Would you be responsible for the damage? Hopefully you got the contact information for the person who hit the instrument. They are the responsible party so give that info to your insurance provider.
Mark Mayer, post: 446590, member: 424 wrote: That can happen. But I think that a person can talk to their agent without risk.
True.
Even a casual conversation with your agent could trigger him being required to notify the carrier of a potential claim... leading to receiving a registered letter of 30 day notice of cancellation of the policy. (happened to me, structural defect, California, 20 years ago)
PS: first question for agent is "are you required to report possible claims?".
That might end it...
When a cone does get run over, I would rather get hit with a regular cone than one filled with concrete.
I put a board on the bottom of and filled them with sand before.
Sand or Water buckets and Cinder Blocks under cones catches some respect.
The more immovable of the object the more careful drivers become.
Saw horse barriers are an upgrade from cones.
BTW, Always take pictures of the driver, vehicle, license plate and damage number, when the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident leaves the scene, the owner of the vehicle will get the blame and probably a ticket or at least a demerit on their driving record.
Tort liability - don't mess with traffic control devices.
Some drunk idiot will kill himself and the investigation will show that the cones were altered maliciously and you will get pulled into a lawsuit.
Heck if the driver has a good attorney, they may figure out that the guy who hit your instrument got whip lash or had emotional pain due to you leaving your instrument out in the parking lot where it could get hit.
Of course it will be easier just to settle out of court.
There are some sick money loving people out there that actually make a living twisting these things until they can make some money off it.
Jim Frame, post: 446579, member: 10 wrote: As noted above, in this instance I would turn it over to my insurer due to the size of the claim. But the rationale behind not submitting a claim for smaller matters is to retain coverage for future claims more substantial in size. An insurer who pays out on a $30k claim is going to look very hard at the risk/reward ratio and is likely either to raise premiums or drop coverage. And my understanding is that insurers share claim information, which means you can't just move down the street and start fresh with another insurer.
Exactly my experience 6 years ago on a $34k claim.
The contractor insisted that I make the claim.
I wonder if my balls have grown big enough to refuse the next bully.
Boy you guys have some tough insurance stories...
If I had cones out and the instrument was damaged due to no fault of my own the way it was described, I'd have no problem calling my agent and asking a bunch of questions, getting some feedback, and making a claim. If it was a dented fender or a broken mailbox I wouldn't even think about it. Legs & robot or gun, would be worth having insurance for and using it when necessary. If I were your agent I'd be on your side that it wasn't your fault and added risk or higher premiums for you is not logical. If you let it fall out of the back of your truck or left it in the road without cones or signs that'd be different. Then again it really depends on the insurance company & agent. These guys already vouched for that...
D Bendell, post: 446647, member: 12975 wrote: If I were your agent I'd be on your side
This is where the relationship matters, and the reason that changing insurers just to get a lower premium can be penny wise and pound foolish. An agent whose nest you've been feathering for decades is much more likely to provide favorable treatment than one to whom you're just an account number.
SellmanA, post: 446583, member: 8564 wrote: Many years ago I heard someone doing this during construction of either I-405 or I-90 when they had significant problems with one driver knocking over their cones with an open car door around lunch time. One day they filled the front cone with cement, and just like clockwork the guy came through with his open door... however, THIS time he was in for a BIG surprise...WHAM!!!
No more issues after that.
My wife's uncle Charles, as a young man, used to drive really fast in residential areas in town. One old lady always raked her leaves out to the street/curb to be picked up. Charles loved to drive right through the pile. After several times the lady had enough. The next day when he hit the pile of leaves he had a surprise... a large cement block in the center of the leaves. He didn't pull that one again.
Jim Frame, post: 446672, member: 10 wrote: This is where the relationship matters, and the reason that changing insurers just to get a lower premium can be penny wise and pound foolish. An agent whose nest you've been feathering for decades is much more likely to provide favorable treatment than one to whom you're just an account number.
Jim,
I wish I had your experience. I've been in business going on 20 years now. When I started, I went to a family friend whom happened to be the president of a fairly large local commercial brokerage firm. I have been with him or his crew for the entire time. Over the years I have had several claims but nothing that was really our fault save one trailer jack-knife miss-hap that I'm not sure I even used insurance to cover. The last year, after giving Traveler's a large sum of money each year, I had two incidents. A GNSS receiver fell off a moving truck when the mount disintegrated while doing a LiDAR verification. The second occurred when I drove up over a curb in a dark rainy night only to find a big hole on the other side. I ended up breaking the front axel of my F150. The repair shop thought I might have also bent the frame and suggested I get my insurance agent involved because I could be looking at a $4k bill. After all was said and done it ended up being about a quarter the cost but the insurance was already in play. About a month later I got a cancelation notice from Traveler's. It had nothing to do with the relationship I have with my broker, it was all done at the carrier level.
My Pops told me that as a kid, He and his pals would put a cardboard box out in the street with a brick inside to see the people run the box over. Good fun back in the 60's when kids were outside playing and riding their bikes around neighborhoods entertaining themselves...
Heard a story about a guy that had problems with a truck running his metal trash cans over.
Late one night the guy ran into 55 gallons of hardened concrete. It was a serious accident.
John Putnam, post: 446720, member: 1188 wrote: Jim,
I wish I had your experience. I've been in business going on 20 years now. When I started, I went to a family friend whom happened to be the president of a fairly large local commercial brokerage firm. I have been with him or his crew for the entire time. Over the years I have had several claims but nothing that was really our fault save one trailer jack-knife miss-hap that I'm not sure I even used insurance to cover. The last year, after giving Traveler's a large sum of money each year, I had two incidents. A GNSS receiver fell off a moving truck when the mount disintegrated while doing a LiDAR verification. The second occurred when I drove up over a curb in a dark rainy night only to find a big hole on the other side. I ended up breaking the front axel of my F150. The repair shop thought I might have also bent the frame and suggested I get my insurance agent involved because I could be looking at a $4k bill. After all was said and done it ended up being about a quarter the cost but the insurance was already in play. About a month later I got a cancelation notice from Traveler's. It had nothing to do with the relationship I have with my broker, it was all done at the carrier level.
Where is that dislike (sympathy) button?
Insurance, arrrrrggh.
There is a stop sign pole near the Cass County and Marion County line that is actually a railroad rail deeply set in a large hole filled with concrete.
It has stopped many a fool trying to run it over.
Brad Ott, post: 446731, member: 197 wrote: Where is that dislike (sympathy) button?
Insurance, arrrrrggh.
I totally agree.
Following the local earthquakes, NZ's experience of insurance companies is that they absolutely can not be trusted.
They will do everything possible to avoid their responsibilities and liabilities. They do not act with any sense of morality or fairness.
Their attitude towards claims can be summed up as "Delay, Deny, Defend".
Seven years after the first quake there are still many claims outstanding.
I wonder how those caught up in hurricanes Harvey and Irma will fare?
Stacy Carroll, post: 446677, member: 150 wrote: Charles loved to drive right through the pile. After several times the lady had enough. The next day when he hit the pile of leaves he had a surprise... a large cement block in the center of the leaves. He didn't pull that one again.
Sadly, there was an incident here in Portland where two small children were playing in the pile of leaves. The driver said she felt a thump but didn't think much of it. At the time.
It happened in our little town right down the street from me. The mother has been a friend of ours for years. Still very sad for both parties.
