Need insurance help, chunk of ice destroyed my windshield

[Infinitrium]

I waas driving back from Moncton earlier in the day and I was behind an Armour 18 wheeler truck. Chunks of ice were flying off the trailer's roof, so my dad who was in the van with me said I should pull out to get around him. Well of course, not more than 10 seconds after he said that, WHACK! A piece of ice at least 1.5 square feet in size slammed into my windshield destroying it. Thank god for safety glass, the window was still intact. After a few minutes of following the truck and waving at the driver trying to point out what happened, he finally pulled over. I called the RCMP, they basically said there is nothing they can do for me since the ice wasn't a part of the truck or it's cargo. They told me to get in touch with my insurance company and go from there. I only have basic PLPD coverage though! I did get the driver's information and the truck's number, so now I'm wondering what I should do. Should I go to my insurance company tomorrow and bring the van so they can get a picture of the windshield or call Armour and see what they can do?

[Infinitrium]

Oh, I'm with Fairweathers if that makes any difference..

[Chinna Dah]

A friend of mine was driving behind a flat bed truck, it did not have a load on it, as he was driving over the harbor bridge sand and tiny rocks were flying off and pitting his windshild and paint. He got the truck to pull over, and told him what was happening, they called the police, and with in a couple weeks of talking, my friend got a 600.00 dollar cheque in the mail. Mind you he is a scammer so he never replaced the windshield or paint, but you get the picture. Go after the truck. big rigs need to take responsability. We are defenceless behind them.

[Goin4Coffee]

I would do as you had said, but Call your insurance company, it's not safe for you to be driving the van. Have them come out & see the damages, although you do not have glass coverage, People are suppose to have their vehicles clean of ice & snow for just that reason, luckily you have his information. Ask your Ins comp to do this first and if your not satsfied with their anwser call the trucking company..If you don't like their answer I'd call another Ins. and research policy procedure. or get legal advice.
Even if you did have coverage not everyone waives the deductible fee, who was going to pay for that?--I believe it's not your fault, your vehicle was damaged YOU should Not have to pay for the damages regarldess if you had that coverage or not. Especially having the other drivers information. But in the future get comprehensive coverage Vans have alot of Glass, :)
Good Luck

[oasis]

Call Amour and talk to them. You have the drivers info. And the cops must have taken a report. Even if he felt there was nothing that could be done. Amour might do the right thing and pay to replace it. But at least give them a chance. If the basicly tell you to stuff it, then tell them your going to call the news media about this. But DON"T say this until you've given them a chance.

Same thing happend to my brother a couple of years ago. The company that owned the truck appologized then sent them to Apple after making the arraingements. He just drove in, they fixed the window and he left. The company was billed directly.

[puppyluv]

just as a sidenote, dont put it through your own insurance..it will act as a blemish on your record...and i know they warned me when i did mine if Ihad one more report my rates would go up! ( I had 2 at the same time as my lease was up on my car)..only 2 I ever had! So, point being, it might increase your rate..and many windshields are only200 or so dollars..sometimes that is better than a lifelong rate hike.

[jdobbs]

Agreed. I was going to replace a windsheild a few years back and my insurance company warned me that it would as a claim and and if a put in a 2nd claim with in something like a 5 year time frame that my insurance could go up a few $100 a year. For a couple $100 bucks you may be better off in the long run not claiming it. Assuming that you'd able to with basic coverage?

[Woofer]

i paid 235$ for a windshield and install from hatfeilds, awesome job :)

[Infinitrium]

I called Armour, they said it was an act of God so they can't do anything about it. Fairweathers said that since I don't have glass coverage, they can't do anything about it either. Looks like I'm screwed either way.

[icedragon]

Call armor and tell them you have to go to the papers since their drivers are not clearing the ice off tops of the trucks. Maybe you don't have to here but its a fine in nova scotia. I used to have to shovel the top of my oil truck. There are truck stops that have water blasting to clear the snow as well. At any rate, at least it will show that armor is not a caring company.

[Infinitrium]

Now that's a good idea, I'll give that a try if I can't get anything else done.

[icedragon]

seems to work for everyone else dealing with big companies.

[Goin4Coffee]

I'm sure I read on service NB,, something about that having to clean off ice & snow from the tops of rigs.... I just cant find it..I'm looking.. Under the Motor Vehicle Act, if anyone cares to have alook too....I know its around in those pages somewhere :)

[kb]

i would call armour back and tell them you are in the process of getting ahold of dept of transportation commericial vecile enforment and telling them the story truck number time and driver .they are responsible for keeping the top of the truck clean and for debrey flying off

[Chinna Dah]

I called Armour, they said it was an act of God so they can't do anything about it.

You are kidding right. An act of God would if a big wind came up and threw the truck on top of your car.....Ice falling off his truck and smashing your windshield is not an act of god.Please give me a break.

Perhaps if you don't get this resolved easily, you could threaten small claims court?

[HorsepowerGuy]

the best thing you could have done was not pass the truck, but stay far enough back that would not hit your car, its snow it doesnt bounce it hits the ground and disinagrates, i'm sorry but, i'm not going to risk my life getting on the top of my trailer to clean off the snow during a storm, it happens on cars and pick up trucks too, 4 wheelers hafta start using common sense, as the rcmp said its not part of our load, we have no control over it, given opportunity some scales have a scaffolding set up that we can clean off our trailers safely, but they are few and far between. you prolly almost caused more harm tryin to flag the driver down then the snow off his trailer caused

i can almost garantee you were too close anyway, i'm sick and tired of lookin in my mirrors and only seeing a shadow behind my truck not a vehicle, 1000's of these incidents are reported in NB every year, and only ones the companies settle with are when the item in question that hit the vehicle was indeed part of the trucks load, was not propperly tied down or covered.
Do yourself a favour, prevent these incidents by backing off far enough till its safe.

[JIm C.]

I'm not sure about the load or cargo thing

I was behind a rig on a couple of different occassions

and one time a bolt came off and broke my grill

and put a hole in my rad... the trucking company wouldn't do nothing for me even though it came off the back of their rig...

and the second time it happened to me a chunk of the mud flap

rubber with a piece of weight in it came off and broke my windsheild...

the company again says nothing they could do for me....

Big companies like this always try to shift the blame or weasel out of it..

basically I landed up paying for the repairs myself...

But in the meantime I let the companies know I wasn't impressed

and told everyone I know and some I didn't know about it..

One company was same day the other was Armour....

I now carry full coverage on my vechiles it only cost me

$28.00 more a year.

[HorsepowerGuy]

the mudflap they should have payed for, it was part of the truck, the bolt, it could have just as easily have been from a pick up truck, the law in NB says that as far as a rock comin off a tire if the truck has all mudflaps intact , they cant be held responcable, the mud flap i would have said somethin to the CVE about, if you had the company and unit #,

[JIm C.]

The first thing the company says it prove it came off our truck...

second thing they say their nothing they can do about the windsheild

Well armour wouldn't help me same as you

It cost me over $400.00 to get it replaced myself no use

putting it through my insurance with a $500.00 deductable..

But If I was buddy I phone them every couple of hours

and ask them if they will do anything about if you bug them enough

them may just pay for it to get to stop tying up the phone lines.

worse comes to worse you cause them some grief....

Takes a long time to get a good name only takes a short while to get a bad one....

[Lemme_LQQK]

Call the Insurance Bureau of Canada in Ontario, they will give you the ins and outs of any questions you may have.

[kb]

funny every scale i seem to pass or have to pull into have the scaffolding and i'm sure you are responsible for anything flying off your truck

[HorsepowerGuy]

funny every scale i seem to pass or have to pull into have the scaffolding and i'm sure you are responsible for anything flying off your truck

i think you better look again buds, cause only scale in NB with one is salisbury . Workers comp says we are not to be on the top of those trailers, and most companies dont permit us to be on top of the trailers due to workmans comp . and for the record those scaffolds to clean off our trailers is to remove extra weight when we are over weight due to the weight of the snow on top of our loads, i have only been asked once to report to the scaffold, and it was becuase i was over weight, i removed half of the snow , went through scales again, let through,

[kb]

hmmmmmm nope they all have them i just called

[angeliiiss]

My son drives a big rig and the company he works for makes its mandatory for him to clean his truck of snow and ice before he sets off for the day...no matter where he stayed the night before.He calls it part of his daily inspection that all truckers are supposed to do.Even if you are the proper distance behind a rig the ice can still hit your car and do damage..it will travel a great distance esp. if coming off the roof of the tractor.Keep bugging Armour!!!! the driver and company should be held responsible for anything flying off that truck!!

[HorsepowerGuy]

hmmmmmm nope they all have them i just called

bull, quispamsis does not have one, oak bay does not have one, atholville does not have one, NB/NS border does not have one, bouctouche does not have one only salisbury

[HorsepowerGuy]

i know of no company that will give me a 15 foot ladder to get on the roof of my truck, when i worked for irving i had to sign something saying that i was aware of the fact that under no circumstances was i to be found on the roof of my truck , an dif i was it would be immediate dismissle

[rhiley_08j]

I happened to looked over the Motor Vehicle Act for New Brunswick and there is nothing in the act that specifically states to your situation however, you could use the route that the driver was negligent in making sure that his actions as well as the condition of the vehicle, ie: not clearing off the ice; did not create a hazard to other motorists traveling on the highway. What would have been the case if the ice flying off and smashing your windshield had caused you to collide with another vehicle or go off the road and injure yourself or the passengers in your vehicle? It would have been a different story and no doubt raise an awareness to the hazard that is created by having loose debris on any vehicle, not just commercial, that can create a hazard to other drivers. So from my point of view the vehicle's driver was being negligent and without due care, and that is what I would say to Armour, that if it was an act of God as they say, than it could not have been prevented, however, it most certainly could have been if the driver had cleared off his roof. Hope this helps you get a little farther ahead.

[jkennedy]

the best thing you could have done was not pass the truck, but stay far enough back that would not hit your car, its snow it doesnt bounce it hits the ground and disinagrates, i'm sorry but, i'm not going to risk my life getting on the top of my trailer to clean off the snow during a storm, it happens on cars and pick up trucks too, 4 wheelers hafta start using common sense, as the rcmp said its not part of our load, we have no control over it, given opportunity some scales have a scaffolding set up that we can clean off our trailers safely, but they are few and far between. you prolly almost caused more harm tryin to flag the driver down then the snow off his trailer caused

i can almost garantee you were too close anyway, i'm sick and tired of lookin in my mirrors and only seeing a shadow behind my truck not a vehicle, 1000's of these incidents are reported in NB every year, and only ones the companies settle with are when the item in question that hit the vehicle was indeed part of the trucks load, was not propperly tied down or covered.
Do yourself a favour, prevent these incidents by backing off far enough till its safe.

Go ahead and blame the driver for being too close. Now what if that chunk of ice had hit a PEDESTRIAN????? Would that be his/her fault too?

I've lost a windshield from rocks pouring out of the back of a dump truck before. There were so many bouncing around the highway that I chose to pull over rather than try to flag the idiot down. Don’t bother telling me that I was too close Mr. Horsepower guy because I wasn’t. I ended up paying out of my own pocket, as my deductible is $500. I believe it was around $235 installed at Hatfield’s. I hope you can get the company to pay though. Good luck.

[beancounter82]

I think you guys missed something important. This user only has PLPD insurance.


They aren't covered. It's going to come out of their own pocket.

I know there is a lot of talk of what "Should" happen, but if you don't have full insurance. Nothing can be done.

[angeliiiss]

Let me get this straight now...if I only have PLPD on my car and you hit me,(even if you only break or crack a window) you are not at fault because I don't carry full coverage?

[beancounter82]

No.

If I hit someone PLPD pays for their car. But not mine.


I understand that you want their insurance to cover you. But seriously, Ice. Come on.

[nadia.m.]

You could hire a lawyer to write a demand letter to Armour, sometimes that will work and it won't cost you much in fees.

Or go through small claims yourself, it will just cost the $100 filing fee and your time.

[HorsepowerGuy]

Go ahead and blame the driver for being too close. Now what if that chunk of ice had hit a PEDESTRIAN????? Would that be his/her fault too?

I've lost a windshield from rocks pouring out of the back of a dump truck before. There were so many bouncing around the highway that I chose to pull over rather than try to flag the idiot down. Don’t bother telling me that I was too close Mr. Horsepower guy because I wasn’t. I ended up paying out of my own pocket, as my deductible is $500. I believe it was around $235 installed at Hatfield’s. I hope you can get the company to pay though. Good luck.

this could have just as easily been "hockey mom's" minivan go flag her down, she wont give a damn anymore than armour.Ice and snow doesnt just fall off big trucks. Everyone sees the billboard we pull and sees $$, if they pay for one they hafta pay for hundreds of windshields, we live in a time of insurance fraud someone hass a car with with a cracked windshield they go get a company name and unit # and they think they are set, company will fix them right up,.. its not gonna happen