[Shotimes] (OT) Cars damaged during a test drive?

[Al Fitz]

In the past it was routine for a dealer to carry insurance on their vehicles
for situations like this. But the cost of and availability of insurance
makes it impractical for that kind of coverage on all vehicles. We carry
fire, theft and collision on only one of our vehicles and it is $900 per
year for that one.

If your insurance company doesn't pay the claim, then you WILL be on the
hook for it.

As far as replacing the whole windshield, that is common practice. From the
dealers point of view, why should he have to settle for a repaired
windshield when he had a new one before you drove it?

Anyway, the bottom line is that your insurance company will HAVE to pay for
the damage to the vehicle while it was in your possession. They may try to
weasel out of it hoping that you pay it yourself, but legally they are
liable.


Al Fitz
alfitz@alfitz.com
SHO Parts at
http://www.alfitz.com/sho
*************************************************************************
PLEASE INCLUDE A COPY OF THIS EMAIL IN YOUR REPLY
*************************************************************************

----- Original Message -----
From: <mkelley1@gt.rr.com>
To: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, January 19, 2004 8:07 AM
Subject: [Shotimes] (OT) Cars damaged during a test drive?


> I ran into an interesting situation last week while test driving a car
last
> week.  I took a Mazda 6 on an overnight test drive and on the way back to
> the dealership the next day, a rock chipped the windshield.  Friday, my
> insurance agent called to let me know that the dealership had sent them an
> invoice not for a chip repair but for a whole new windshield.  Now, I can
> see if I had done something negligent to damage the car that they would
> hold my insurance responsible but I couldn't do anything about a rock
> randomly flying through the air.  My insurance agent hasn't decided 100%
> what to do about it yet but off the record they're telling me they aren't
> paying for it.  I'm just wondering if they'll send me the invoice if the
> insurance doesn't pay.  I would assume that dealerships carry insurance to
> cover cars damaged during test drives.  Has anyone else ever run into this
> situation before?
>
> Mark
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> mail2web - Check your email from the web at
> http://mail2web.com/ .
> _______________________________________________
> Shotimes mailing list
> Shotimes@autox.team.net
> http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shotimes