Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

Thanks for the info - I just spoke w/ a min wage customer service person, i'll try my agent tomorrow and see what he says. Nationwide.

I thought if I claimed this through my company my rates would go up?

I'm a pretty calm person and will stay calm and professional as I work through this.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

your rates should not go up as it was not a claim against you.

 

[oops!]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

the damage on your boat is superfical.

we need more pics of the transom area.....but it looks fine so far.

the places to look for damage are in the deck hull joint at the transom...
the transom keel area,
the transom interior where it joins the hull.

look for cracks in the fiberglass.
it is possible that you have weakened the bond between the skin (fiberglass) and the transom wood.

if so.....it is an expencive repair.
i really dont think its written off though.

but again....we need more pics......reduce to 640 x 480 something or other and post them here.

that boat really got whacked to move the winch post.

 

[oops!]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

by the way.....if it is written off....

let us know who the insurance company is ....

that way bubba and i can swoop in and buy the boat.
heh heh heh....i smell money

 

[eastont]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

From what I've read/heard, Nationwide will do everything it can to keep from paying out on any claim. On another site there is a huge thread about Nationwide has not paying out when it should and how they will do nothing to help their customers.......check out the following link:

http://www.economywatch.com/insurance/companies/nationwide.html

 

[Jillybean]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

I've often wondered about these storage places that use forklifts to launch and move boats. Who's running the forklift. Some minimum wage guy?

This is my worst nightmare. We keep our boat at one of these storage type places. One of the guy's working the forklift looks 18 I'm going to read over our agreement with the marina today.

Sorry to hear about your bad news 1badhuskey. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[RickJ6956]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

Spoke to my insurance, they said work through the storage facility's insurance and if I can't get what I want they'll assign an adjuster to help me out.

That doesn't sound right. This is an accident, same as if two cars had smashed each other in a parking lot. Your insurance company has a vested interest in the vehicle -- the marina's insurance company does not. They should send an adjuster immediately.

 

[hubbard53]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

boat insurance is a little differnt than auto but not much... just go through your insurance co. as if you caused the damage yourself. Get the ball rolling, get your boat repaired. Then, let your insurance co. collect loses from the other company (subrogation)

it wont count agasint you unless for some reason the claim is denied by the other company (doubtful)

 

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

Just spoke to nationwide, they said "we noted it, work through state farm". Thanks for the help a**hats. Defs has me rethinking my policy w/ them.

so, just waiting to get ahold of state farm now.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

I JUST settled with state farm on an accident caused by their insured.... They are HORRIBLE to deal with .... they will pinch every last penny on you.... Do not tell them ANYTHING they can use against you.... get professionals to look at the boat and impress upon them that they need to find every possible point of damage.... get several estimates and make sure you are eprepared before you talk numbers with state farm. Also whatever the offer you, politly tell them how offensive you find that number and tell them to work on it and get back to you.... DO NOT threaten them with a lawer... The adjuster loves that because they simply hand your case over to the legal department and it is off of their desk.... Instead a comment like "Look I really want to work this out but you are gonna have to work on these numbers, I don't think lawsuits are in either of our best interests" lets them know you mean business without pulling ur gun only to have to re holster it. They will tell you that you have reached their top dollar repeatedly but it isn't so.... Through a dozen phone calls over the course of a year I took their top doller offer of $700 to $5300..... Never rude but always serious and direct. You may indeed lose the season.... If you do then you have a claim for that loss too...

 

[Water logged]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

"Look I really want to work this out but you are gonna have to work on these numbers, I don't think lawsuits are in either of our best interests"...

Be very careful with that line. I sat in with a friend who was dealing with an adjuster. He made a statement similar to that and the adjuster gave him a sheet of paper with info on their Legal Dept., said we're done, have your attorney contact our Legal Dept., and he left. He called and sweet talked them into getting him together with the adjuster again, but my feeling is he went in a lot weaker and settled for less than if he had avoided that line.

Glenn

 

[Expidia]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

From what I've read/heard, Nationwide will do everything it can to keep from paying out on any claim. On another site there is a huge thread about Nationwide has not paying out when it should and how they will do nothing to help their customers.......check out the following link:

http://www.economywatch.com/insurance/companies/nationwide.html

I second that Nationwide is the worst, always have been. They always rank low on consumer reports surveys.

I finally left them after they refused to let me get an OEM windshield replacement. Cost me $400 out of pocket just to get the windshield to match the rest of the glass on one of my Saabs.

Most insurance companies allow for OEM parts, if policy holders desires this. Awful local agents customer service wise too. I switched to Amica and never looked back.

 

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

I JUST settled with state farm on an accident caused by their insured.... They are HORRIBLE to deal with .... they will pinch every last penny on you.... Do not tell them ANYTHING they can use against you.... get professionals to look at the boat and impress upon them that they need to find every possible point of damage.... get several estimates and make sure you are eprepared before you talk numbers with state farm. Also whatever the offer you, politly tell them how offensive you find that number and tell them to work on it and get back to you.... DO NOT threaten them with a lawer... The adjuster loves that because they simply hand your case over to the legal department and it is off of their desk.... Instead a comment like "Look I really want to work this out but you are gonna have to work on these numbers, I don't think lawsuits are in either of our best interests" lets them know you mean business without pulling ur gun only to have to re holster it. They will tell you that you have reached their top dollar repeatedly but it isn't so.... Through a dozen phone calls over the course of a year I took their top doller offer of $700 to $5300..... Never rude but always serious and direct. You may indeed lose the season.... If you do then you have a claim for that loss too...

Thanks, this sounds like good advice.

What am I missing here - I take the boat to a reputable repair place, they tell me the cost of reparing it, State Farm pays them, or, if the cost is more than the boat is worth, they pay me for a replacement boat. Assuming it's not totalled, where is the negotiation?

Would be interested to hear if you were able to get them to pay for loss of season?

 

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

Also appreciate the advise on not playing the lawyer card...will save that for last desperate measure.

 

[QC]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

I just took another look at the pics. I am with Oops with one exception. Aren't all of these pics of the other boat with the exception of the trailer bow stop and probable scratch near your bow eye? If so, then . . . well here's what I think.

This (the other boat) looks superficial only, and I don't believe your outdrive suffered much more than a slight annoyance. You need to remember that your drive routinely transmits in the neighborhood of 300 bhp through all of these components and the transom. Now instant shock loads are significant, but even banging a drive routinely off the bottom doesn't do much but work on the gimbal ring which could easily be inspected.

I am anal about the appearance of my boat, but gelcoat repairs are not all that difficult and can be hard to even find if done properly. This is easy for me to say as of course it's not my boat and I am not looking directly at the damage, but considering the timing and the ultimate risks, I would help the Marina get on with the repairs. Have them file with their insurance company, document everything and go boating. My .02.

 

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

just the underside scrape pic is the other boat, everything else was mine - we both had swim platforms get crushed.

 

[QC]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

So, the damage is limited to the back of your swimstep, the trailer bow stop and some damage near the bow eye? Is there any visible damage to the drive?

If the last answer is no, heck I 'd run the boat as is until they were ready. Ask them to replace the step, the bow stop and a gelcoat fix on the bow, and I'm thinking you're good to go. Am I missing something?

I COMPLETELY understand your concern and the feeling in your stomach, so I don't mean to sound overly casual. I do, however, think this is pretty minimal and will not be cosmetically or mechanically significant at all if I am understanding that damage correctly.

 

[1badhusky]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

So, the damage is limited to the back of your swimstep, the trailer bow stop and some damage near the bow eye? Is there any visible damage to the drive?

If the last answer is no, heck I 'd run the boat as is until they were ready. Ask them to replace the step, the bow stop and a gelcoat fix on the bow, and I'm thinking you're good to go. Am I missing something?

I COMPLETELY understand your concern and the feeling in your stomach, so I don't mean to sound overly casual. I do, however, think this is pretty minimal and will not be cosmetically or mechanically significant at all if I am understanding that damage correctly.

The swimstep is torn apart, the swim platform is ruined, there are some scratches in the hull from where it hit another boat, not sure what damage to outdrive - could be just cosmetic, and then the cover and trailer damage.

The outdrive is my biggest concern - probably nothing, but who knows, and yes, I'm not thrilled about the cosmetics, but the repair place I want to take it to said if you can see where we repaired it, we'll do it again - so that gives me hope.

I'm sure not enough to total it, and it should be up and running in a month - probably take a while for the parts to come in. Just really annoyed that none of this would have happened if the storage yard weren't a bunch of idiots.

 

[109jb]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

Spoke to my insurance, they said work through the storage facility's insurance and if I can't get what I want they'll assign an adjuster to help me out.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow what their insurance's process is.

NO!!!! If you have hull coverage insurance on your boat then work with your insurance company to get the repairs done. They can then subrogate to the storage facility insurance. That is their job and part of what you pay premiums for. Make them work for you like you pay them to do.

 

[ifallsguy]

Re: Boat Crushed by Storage Facility's Forklift!!! Help!

You could always contact your state Insurance Commision and Attorney General. I once did that when I was rear ended by a car insured by State Farm. The Insurance Commissioner told them they had 48 hours to get this done or they would face state sanctions.

Also, find yourself a news reporter who is into consumer protection. A natural for them and looks great on the air, especially if they can get it settled in your favor.