Truck Accident, Advice
 

Hello Guys,

My uncle who is an owner operator got in a bad accident, luckily he is fine and so is the person in the other vehicle. This SUV had a tire blowout lost control of the car and was fish tailing on the highway. My uncle swerved to the right to avoid her, and she smashed right into front of the truck, leaving the truck un-repairable. My question to you guys is this:

My uncle has to now rent a truck to continue operating. But due to the economic times he felt into some hardships, most rental truck places are asking for a $5k deposit which he does not have at the moment, because his mortgage is due. He has other funds available, but does not have a Major Credit Card with a high limit. Do any of you guys know if a Truck Rental place does not have such a steep deposit in the Florida area?

Ofcourse since the accident wasn't his fault the insurance is going direct bill the Rental Place but he still needs to come up with the deposit.

I am thinking he has a lawsuit case against these people too (the drivers fault) since they basically put a halt on his only means of income, his business.

All of your feedback is very much welcomed and you guys be safe out there on the road. I have a lot of respect for Truck Drivers and I never knew how much work one actually puts into until my uncle got in the business 15 years ago.

I'm not really sure on the truck rental question but can you really sue someone for having a flat tire on their car. I guess in this day and age it is possible but man that just seems a little out there to me.

They didn't have a flat tire - the car had a blowout and lost control of their vehicle, which ran into the truck.

Blow out, flat tire same difference pretty much when rolling down a highway at 60-70 mph especially if it is a front tire.....I fully expect that their insurance would have to cover all costs for damages and repairs but the people probably were not drinking and driving or driving wrecklessly or anything to warrant any lawsuits or payouts outside of the damages to the truck and any injuries that might have occured. Thats just my opinion, the legal system has just gotten ruined and over used with lawsuits over some things that sometimes just cant be avoided. There really are such things as just accidents that no one really has much control over. If these people were out driving drunk and running 80 mph down the highway swerving in and out of their lanes being wreckless and stupid and caused this accident I would say more power to ya, sue the pants of of them but it does not seem that way. I just hate to see peopleover punished for circumstances they really had no control over. If you are going to sue them you might as well sue the tire company for making a faulty tire that allowed a blow out, on top of that sue the state that the highway was in for allowing small debris to be on the highway that might have punctured the tire and contributed to the blowout, and if it turns out it was a small nail or screw, hey sue the company that produced it for making dangerous products. i know this sounds silly but that is how things work these days it seems, worthy legal actions seem like a joke anymore because the system is over used for crazy stuff. I wish The guys uncle all the best wishes and hope he gets back on his feet as i hate to see anyone go out of business or have troubles like that that threaten their home and family but It's just my opinion that unless there are other circumstances at hand, that doesnt really warrant a lawsuit. Sorry to hi jack the thread with my rant and i hope someone can offer this guy a little info on the rental situation.

I am not sure why the rental company needs a deposit if they are direct billing the insurance company. Check with other rental companies. I have rented from Penske before and they didn't charge a deposit. I used a credit card and they checked my credit before allowing me to have the truck. It could have been a combination of my credit and the card that I used didn't really have a credit limit on it. They only charged me for the time I rented the truck. I suggest he also check with some of the truck dealers. Some rent trucks. If he takes his truck to a dealer's body shop to be repaired they may be able to keep his truck as collateral in lieu of a deposit. If he can't rent a truck on his own then he may be able to receive money from the insurance company for lost income. He will likely need to prove the amount of loss. Keep in mind that cars are not required to carry as much insurance as carriers, so he could be somewhat limited as to how much he may be able to collect without going after the driver and/or owner of the SUV, personally. If he goes after the loss of income he will likely not get the actual amount of the loss.

What GMan said.... the insurance company should be involved in this process and it should make the it go smoother to rent a truck.

Check and see how much libality insurance they have. Maybe only $25,000. Hope its enought to fix the truck and pay the rental.

Jag...I understand that you don't like the idea of lawsuits. However, consider this. If it had been you driving down the road, in your truck, and you had a tire blowout, like this SUV did, you lost control of the truck, and hit an SUV like this, or even worse...several SUV's and a bus. Do you suppose the people in any other vehicle would hesitate to sue you?

No...it may not have been your fault that the tire blew out, but it would be considered your fault, for losing control of your vehicle. The same principle applies to the person driving the SUV in this case. The individual was not responsible for the tire blowing out....but the individual was responsible for losing control of the vehicle.

It's not that suing would lay blame to the driver, that's not the purpose. The purpose is to recoup losses incurred from operation of the SUV. The losses are the responsibility of the insurance company, since they accepted money (insurance premiums) in exchange for liability insurance. Therefore the insurance company is liable for what happened.

Why not sue the tire company for a defective product? They probably have more juice to squeeze any way.... :deal: :roll:

Thank you all for your prompt responses. The reason he is thinking of suing is because the insurance company only has a liability of 25K and as of today they had to turn the case over to someone else because it went over 25K. Now his own insurance company is jerking him around because it looks like they will be liable to pay the overage. It seems like a huge mess. As for the blowout yes the person is liable as well as the tire company. The reason as to why they are liable, speaking from my own personal past experience, is because a driver is suppose to know how control their car when events like these occur.

Last year I was in a car accident myself, luckily there were no other cars involved. I had a tire blowout and I could not control the car. I panicked and slammed on the brakes, which basically led to me fishtailing across the highway. I was suppose to pump the brake little by little, to slow down the vehicle and not force a vehicle that was going 75 mph to stop suddenly. My accident was pretty bad and it was all my fault, I could have hit someone especially since I rolled over onto a different fwy. The insurance company even sent me a letter saying the accident was my fault, and the DMV even placed a point on my drivers license mind you it was my first ticket/accident/dmv mark ever.

I do blame the tire company as well and I think the driver of the SUV has a case against the tire company especially if the tires were well maintained. This accident could have taken my uncles life, his rig almost rolled over, he hasn't been able to sleep since it happened, and well his business came to a complete HALT. He didn't ask for this for this kind of stress to come into his life, especially during these difficult times. His neck is hurting badly as well as his shoulder, and he doesn't want to take this to litigation at all, but what can he do? It's his family's well being that we are talking about as well as his childrens.

All too often we see Semi's get blamed for almost every accident out there on the road, and like one of the previous replies said they too would be quick to setup an allstar legal team to go after you.

We are going on two weeks where he hasn't driven a mile. The mortgage will be due once again in 23 days and what is he to do? As for now the priority is to get him back on the road because so far he's lost over 2k. That is why I just came to ask if any one knew of a truck rental company and what not? If anyone has experienced anything like this in the past, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect that, just know that we all have reasons for doing the things that we do. He is not a horrible person, seriously I have seen this man go weeks without coming home, seeing his kids,just so he can be on the road making money. I just hate for anyone to think he was trying to be selfish.

Thank you though for your feedback.

I hope he can get something worked out finding a rental truck.

If your uncle had rental/downtime on his physical damage his insurance would pick up that cost including the deposit but then he would have to subrograte to his company.(responsible for the deductable untill/if/when they recover)
The fact the other insurance is willing to pay the rental upfront is a plus. They are not going to rent the truck in their name,that is why he has to come up with a deposit. They are under no obligation to pay anything untill there is a total/final settlement cost.
Not to be harsh but if you operate strictly on cash with no credit these things can happen.

I had an accident a year ago, done $20,000 to my Truck which was paid for by his insurance company (I was not at fault) but ran into alot of problems trying to collect money for lost time. Since I was not hurt NO LAWYER would take my case to get payment for lost wages as they all told me it would not be worth the time.

Also how the Police writes it up has alot to do with it. I had a great State Trooper who sided with me as well as the Insurance.

I was down for 18 days counting weekends and got $2700.00 total for my lost wages. It was not what I expected and I waited until this year to settle thinking I could get the Insurance to pay more.

Going through a accident is like getting divorced, unless you have done it, then you really don't know what it is like. Every accident like divorces are different.