Posted: 8/3/2007 6:29:32 AM EDT
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Long story short..... We hit an oyster bed with our boat causing a good amount of damage to the hull, lower unit and engine. Progressive is telling me now that the engine damage is, in their expert opinion, unrelated, and it was coincidence that the "unrelated engine failure" occurred at the same moment we hit the oyster bed. what recourse, if any do i have? thanks for any help you guys can give me on this. |
| I won't go into my insurance rant, as I have already in two other threads....anyway now that two seperate insurance companies in two seperate wrecks have insured I need not fear prison anymore, I give them one chance to act right then lawyer up. They are betting you won't and will do their best to cheat you. Dking might be your man. |
| The Small Claims Court limit in my county is $15,000. Don't know if that's what it is statewide, but I do know that you don't need a lawyer to file a claim in Small Claims Court. I'd simply refuse to sign any kind of release and immediately file a suit against the agent and the Progressive. After they're served, they'll be cutting a check, post-haste. |
The Oyster bed impact was the "proximate cause" just as a fire would have water damage "proximate cause" is a term used by the insurance company. Do a little bit of research on how to use that term when speaking with them. They may think you know enough to be a pain in their ass. Just as water damage is covered so should engine damage. 
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I've threatened to file complaints and it works well without actually having to file a complaint. also in your letter say that they are making no effort to actually investigate the claim and their actions "may be stubbornly litigious and are an attempt to cause unnecessary delay". That scares them too. |
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keep complaining. that's about all the works I have found. my wife got hit head on. sent to the mechanic on a flat bed. the body shop said it had a blown head gasket and insurance wouldn't cover it. (this is an 06 with 20k miles on it) they said the head gasket didn't happen from the wreck, it must have been unrelated. the mechnaic said it was from the wreck and it was THEIR recommended mechinic! it took me finding out who the manager was and I kept calling that person and complaing. finally they covered it. |
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1)overheating due to radiator damage, if the cooling system empties overheating can occur in seconds. 2)impact damage to the head, with precise torque specs and clearances a hard impact to the head itself could create enough gap to blow (it would only take a thousandth of an inch) |
That's good enough for me. Just never imagined that the head gasket could blow under those circumstances. Seems to me the impact to the head is a lot more likely than the instantaneous overheating, due to radiator failure. |