Call Kurtis: Construction Zone Car Damage
YUBA CITY (CBS13) -- A Yuba City viewer's car was damaged in a construction zone. She says she filed a claim with the construction company but they've ignored her, for five months. It was time to call Kurtis Ming.
The crack across the Angel Day's windshield has been bugging her for months. It happened in June when she was diverted onto gravel through a Yuba City construction site. She says an excavator swung toward traffic startling the driver in front of her.
"It really was about two feet from our cars. It was pretty scary," Says Day.
The driver in front of her gunned it, kicking up rocks, damaging her windshield and hood. Day thinks the construction company; Sacramento-based Marques Pipeline should pay for it.
"They need to realize that you can't have cars driving off into heavy gravel and not have some sort of damage happen," says Day.
She says she faxed over and emailed her claim with a repair estimate for $1,244 to fix the windshield and hood.
"They were really nice at first and said they would help me out," Day recalls, "I've heard nothing from them since; they won't return my calls, my e-mails."
We reached out to the president, and operations manager of Marques Pipeline. Both denied having knowledge of her claim and asked for Day to call herself and submit her information again. She says she did three more times and even found a cheaper estimate for $803. At one point Marques Pipeline told us she should file a claim with the city of Yuba City; the same city that paid them $4.1 million for that project. But Yuba City says she should take it up with Marques Pipeline.
Finally this week, the contractor sent her an email saying she can pick up a check for $803.
Looking ahead, Day says she can't wait to have that check in her hands. "I would be excited. I would be very excited. I would feel like the little guy won finally."
These broken windshield cases are tough to prove. Typically this type of damage is covered by the comprehensive portion of your auto insurance. The problem for Day was her policy won't cover this type of damage.
If your car is damaged in a construction zone the Insurance Information Network of California suggests writing down license plate numbers of other cars involved. Go back to the site and take pictures. Also, you might want to get the construction company's name and report the incident to the site supervisor.
