funkadelic

is this something that I can file with Caltrans and get them to pay for? i've only heard people do this in regards to potholes, and this i would guess is considered a road hazard or something else.

anyways, i'm driving in the 2nd lane from the left and i saw a huge trucker tire tread in that lane, which a few cars dodged. a few seconds later the car in front of me swerves to avoid what was i guess another piece of that tread in our lane. the car in front drove over it and the tread went flying to the right, but it was too late for me to try and avoid it so i just ran it over with the right side of my car.

when i got to work the bumper looked ok other than some rubber marks on the right fog insert (which could be claybar'd off it seems). darn..i wanted a RS4 bumper, but when inspecting underneath, the entire plastic bellypan was ripped off. i think it's like a $200+ part, but even worse is that it appears that at least the front mounting points seem to have been ripped off the car.

so for anyone that's dealt w/caltrans and attempted to get them to pay for repairs, i'd love to hear your thoughts/advice on this (and whether this is worth pursing or just go through my insurance)

gracias

Cup-a-Chow

Sup Norm,

Sucks to hear. Anyway, you know my basic story. Hit pothole, claimed CalTrans. It took them 2 weeks of "carefully investigating your claim" to figure out that they were subcontracting, hence not their fault. They pass me to their subcontractor.

I call them, they send me to their insurance company... The insurance company sends a damage assessor out to look at my wheels and car, and take pictures of everything with a junky *** camera using 1.44mb disks. When I sent them both digital and film pictures. I met up with him in Dublin and had to drive from Davis for this nonetheless.

He finally agreed that there was damage, as witnessed by the huge angle on my wheel. The other wheel was bent, and I took it to a tire place to verify, then faxed them a statement from the tire place.

4 months later, the insurance company of the subcontractor paid me $1614 for 2 new Fikse FM/5's. I had claimed more, including tires, alignment, mount/dismount cost of tires, tire disposal fees etc. But they only gave me the price for 2 new wheels. So I sent the wheels into Fikse, had the inners/outers replaced, bought 4 new tires, and an alignment, and had lunch money to spare.

It's hard to say it's CalTrans' responsibility to pick up the tread, might be the trucker's responsibility. I would nevertheless try and claim. Just buy the part, and send them the receipt. If they don't cover it, then send to ins. company.

funkadelic

which he considered this big rig tread on the highway to be, but since he's not the one making decisions he might have just said that to appease me.

i guess i'll get an estimate for the repairs and file a claim w/caltrans. i'm not worried about replacing the belly pan since that's cake, but more worried about repairing any damage to the mounting holes. guess i'll need to have the car up on ramps tonight to get a better look. there's always my car insurance policy i could also use, too.

on a side note, the belly pan had a tear in it anyways so it's good it's getting replaced. and i was scheduled to go in for my rear main seal and new clutch this week anyways so maybe i can get that all done at the same time

Cup-a-Chow

So while you're waiting for that in the mail, you should get pictures in film anyway, exact location as detailed as possible etc. etc. Grab all the info now before you forget.