Roadside Mower = Hole In Car...

[Dragonforce]

Hey all,

I am pissed off.

Earlier today I was driving along the local bypass road and noticed that there was some roadside mowing going on by council contractors. As I passed where it was happening the tractor (ride on mower thing) flicked up a piece of steel sheet approx 30cmX30cm which flew like 20 meters and embedded itself in my passenger door... Now ofcourse I stopped straight away and went up to the guy who was mowing and made him give me his bosses name and the department they were contracted to's phone number. I have lodged my complaint with the council now but have been told i will have to wait 3-4 weeks before I hear back from them. Has anyone else had a situation like this? and if so what was your final outcome? i better not be paying for this... The damage looks expensive and the entire door will need to be resprayed i assume.

Also, i was so lucky it didnt hit 40cm higher as i had my window down at the time.... and I prob wouldnt be here to write this.

Thanks for any input.

Cheers

Edited March 29, 2006 by Dragonforce

[Primordial]

Holy crap! I always worry about mowers etc when driving past!

You gotta be seriously unlucky to actually get hit with something, let alone a piece of sheet metal!!

They would have to compensate you for this, surely!

[Bliksem]

I would keep an eye on it, if you havent heard anything back after a few weeks chase it up again until something is done.

[Mr Italy!]

Stay on their asses about it. Possibly investigate some sort of legal avenue incase they arent prepared to play ball.

Unlucky mate, unlucky.

[Gav]

Although your concern is obviously for property damage, the real concern is one of safety.

Ironically, if you push the "near miss" safety point with the council (i.e. imagine what would have happened had the metal struck you directly), you will probably get results quicker. Go to the council office and lodge an "incident" report that is used by their staff. There will undoubtedly be a system whereby action needs to be taken within a certain time period. This should therefore flow on logically to repair/compensation of your car.

Good luck

Gav

[gazza750]

Dragon the council's insurancewill coverit i used to be one of the ride on mower /slasher drivers that mowed along the freeway in perth and while iwas doing that some rubbishflicked out and hit a car i was working for a private contractor and the persons car i hit was fixed within 2 weeks

[Dragonforce]

Yer my luck was just not in today..

When we rang their offices we got through to the guy in charge but he wasnt even prepared to tell me they would do something to stop this happening again. I assume he was just covering their own asses by not admiting liability or some such but even still. Im going to want this fixed and a written apology.

So guys watch those mowers, this shit does happen.

Damn you chance....

[Dragonforce]

Dragon the council's insurancewill coverit i used to be one of the ride on mower /slasher drivers that mowed along the freeway in perth and while iwas doing that some rubbishflicked out and hit a car i was working for a private contractor and the persons car i hit was fixed within 2 weeks

Cheers man, thats what i needed to hear.

I am close to Perth so hopefully our council here has a similar response time.

[crack]

my boss was driving to work one morning (r8 maloo ute) and they were doing roadworks. during the night it had rained. after he had got to work i commented how dirty his car was. at lunchtime he went to wash his car but the dirt wouldn't come off. it was like a cement slurry had been poured over the road. if you picked the dirt off with your fingernail, paint came with it.

in the end numerous phone calls were made tho the council and they eventually paid for a full respray.

keep on them and it will be fixed.

[Modena]

I suggest you lodge a claim with your insurance if you have full cover, they should sort everything out.

[insu]

That's really odd that I should read this, I was just talking to my girlfriends dad tonight about how they had a similar incident with a council ride on mower. Basically he was on his was to drop off his VS SS commodore to a holden dealership on the southside as a trade-in for the CV8 Monaro they now own, and as he was driving over, he went past a mower which flicked a big rock up which managed to hit the bonnet (and scratch it) and flick up on to the windscreen and crack it. He got out and told the guy what was happening and that if they didn't accept the trade-in due to the damage, that he'd be hearing from them. Luckily the dealership didn't even notice the damage.

Having said all that, I wouldn't worry to much about it, you should get compensated, read:Council's public liability insurance.

Did you take photo's of the damage? Did you have any witnesses? This could all help you if they deny responsibility.

-Insu

[342Four]

photo photo photo photo

just jump on the councils back till they give in - its there problem and they should watch out for public safety - just hit em with that sort of stuff, should do the trick

[Triskillion]

get a lawyer, one that only gets paid if you win! then make them chase it up. get compensation and repair to your car! that is a life or death situation you were in. close to death

[GTR_STEALTH]

Jeeeze! Thats full on!!!

Post some pics up of it in ur door

[AzzurrA]

I hope you have better luck with the council than i did.

I hit a f**kin pothole on the highway one night, it snapped my hicas lock bar in 2.... i lodged a complaint with the council etc, had receipts for repairs, had statements saying that it was dangerous etc, and that peoples lives were at risk, had photos... and after 4 weeks of them f**king me around, the come back with "Nope, we will not help you at all, and if you don't like it, tough shit" even though i pointed out that the car actually swerved into the adjoining lane, nearly hitting a car, due to the rear wheels having no directional control....

:@

[GTR R35]

Do not rely on the council to do anything. Their plan is to always wait it out.

What I would do if I were you:

Take heaps of photos and document everything about the scene, speed direction and location of incident and also as much info about your conversation with the mower man.

Contact your insurance company and tell them wat happened and get the car fixed. The insurance company will want all the evidence and they will sort it out.

If you do not have comp insurance, then get it fixed and send the council a letter of demand and follow it up.

Your comp/3rd party insurance company will help you out.

Do not let the council make it your problem.

[AzzurrA]

Do the above if you're not worried about your insurance rating or paying the excess etc.

When i had my incident, the council advised me to just claim it on insurance and be done with it..

i spoke to my insurance company, and they advised that sure, you can put the claim in, but your rating will drop, and you will be required to pay the excess, due to the fact that it is virtually impossible for them to get reimbursement from the council.

I decided to just pay for it myself ($550ish all up) than pay the$1.5k+ excess and lose a rating

[KamikazeR33]

a letter of demand usually makes eyes open. councils dont like court cases

[88silhouette]

mate

if there is one important thing to do here, it is to put it all in writing

you've gotta realise a local council will most likely have some career public servants, so do not be expecting a result in a flash!

regardless, put it all in writing. phone calls often get no where, and there is no record, nor do some people at the other end make file notes.

1 - put it in writing

2 - ring up day later to make them confirm that they have it in writing

AND as stated above, local councils hate the OH & S issue. harp on the fact that it endangered your life etc.

best of luck squire

[predator]

tell them you're too scared to even look at a mower anymore.. and have to go the long way just to avoid passing somebody doing the mowing along the street

tell them you wake up screaming on a sunday morning when somebody is out doing the mowing.. with vicious flashbacks.

tell them your lifelong dreams of becoming a mowing professional have now been shattered and your life will now never be the same. Ever since you were two years old you dreamed of mowing lawns all day, and now you will never be able to achieve that dream.