City wrecked my fence, need quotes for the claim

[TorqueDog]

A few days ago, one of the city's Waste Management trucks decided to play rock 'em sock 'em robots with my back fence when they twice failed to grab our blue bin properly (first attempted pushed the bin out of position and too close to the fence, second attempt delivered the hit). The driver didn't seem to care, got out, moved the bin, emptied it, put it back, and drove off without leaving a yellow Incident Notice as he was supposed to. Unfortunately for him I have two 5MP cameras pointed at the spot that capture the truck number, him biffing the pickup twice that resulted in the damage, and a clear view of who was driving the truck.

I've put in a claim with the City and they want me to go through the process of getting quotes, put in an insurance claim with my home insurance, etc. Who has experience with this before?

Anyone you'd recommend for fence quotes?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

A few days ago, one of the city's Waste Management trucks decided to play rock 'em sock 'em robots with my back fence when they twice failed to grab our blue bin properly (first attempted pushed the bin out of position and too close to the fence, second attempt delivered the hit). The driver didn't seem to care, got out, moved the bin, emptied it, put it back, and drove off without leaving a yellow Incident Notice as he was supposed to. Unfortunately for him I have two 5MP cameras pointed at the spot that capture the truck number, him biffing the pickup twice that resulted in the damage, and a clear view of who was driving the truck.

I've put in a claim with the City and they want me to go through the process of getting quotes, put in an insurance claim with my home insurance, etc. Who has experience with this before?

Anyone you'd recommend for fence quotes?

I had a place called "The Fence Store" build me a gate for RV access into my yard. Thought they did good work.

http://thefencestore.ca/

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

A few days ago, one of the city's Waste Management trucks decided to play rock 'em sock 'em robots with my back fence when they twice failed to grab our blue bin properly (first attempted pushed the bin out of position and too close to the fence, second attempt delivered the hit). The driver didn't seem to care, got out, moved the bin, emptied it, put it back, and drove off without leaving a yellow Incident Notice as he was supposed to. Unfortunately for him I have two 5MP cameras pointed at the spot that capture the truck number, him biffing the pickup twice that resulted in the damage, and a clear view of who was driving the truck.

I've put in a claim with the City and they want me to go through the process of getting quotes, put in an insurance claim with my home insurance, etc. Who has experience with this before?

Anyone you'd recommend for fence quotes?

I'd be willing to get quotes but not file a home insurance claim. They can claim it on their insurance and let it go up.

If you have quality video seems like a situation where YouTube would add to the urgency on their side for getting it paid.

[DoubleF]

For insurance, I think you just contact them and let them know what's going on. Ask them what they want from you and how they'd like to be involved. You're not making a claim on your own property (the other side is supposed to just ameliorate it) but they may want to know if there's something that has happened to the property before (ie: kinda like an accident history on a car).

Quotes wise, I'd get a couple of quotes, but I'd also be certain to be specific in what I am asking for with the quotes. I think mentality wise, it's no different than if you are going to get a quote for damage on a car. It's sometimes not just the specific spot that needs work.

Make sure the quote involves restoring the overall fence to what it was like before. It's not your money, it's likely insurance, so make sure it's done right and it's fair for all parties. Don't squeak in stuff that's obviously not necessary (ie: unreasonable upgrade), but don't undercut yourself for stuff that if unaddressed makes your fence lesser than it was before.

Also, make sure that the quotes are more conservative and will be unlikely to change (materials increase, additional work, etc.) and if there's some parts of the quote that may fluctuate more, potentially have those portions split out so that the other side is aware (although if you have several quotes in the same range, they may not really care if there's not enough detail in the break down). Other parties don't care if the quotes are higher. They just hate paying anything above the agreed upon quoted price once they have committed to a specific amount. They'd be happy if it came below though.

[guzzy]

I would just call your insurance claims dept and tell them the situation. They will usually pick up the ball and get the quotes and deal with all third parties. It won't count as a claim against you.

[Northendzone]

i'd get a chiro to look at your back as well. there may be damage to it

[Shazam]

"Uh, instead of building a fence out of solid wood, can we just give you a solid gold ingot instead?"

[TorqueDog]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll look into a few of the suggestions.

Originally Posted by Northendzone

i'd get a chiro to look at your back as well. there may be damage to it

Is this a "City f-cks up and you're stuck doing all the heavy lifting" joke?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'd be willing to get quotes but not file a home insurance claim. They can claim it on their insurance and let it go up.

The city doesn't legally have to rebuild his fence. They only own him the cost of the fence, generally the costs of a new fence less depreciation.

His homeowner's should pay for a new fence.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

The city doesn't legally have to rebuild his fence. They only own him the cost of the fence, generally the costs of a new fence less depreciation.

His homeowner's should pay for a new fence.

You don't think after they break something they need to fix it?

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

You don't think after they break something they need to fix it?

I got in an accident and totaled my car, and I don't recall ever forcing the person at fault to fix my car personally. Instead I got paid for the value of the car (which also wasn't what I paid for it but the book value).

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Shazam

"Uh, instead of building a fence out of solid wood, can we just give you a solid gold ingot instead?"

I understand wood is now worth more.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

You don't think after they break something they need to fix it?

It doesn't matter what I think, if they damaged it to such a point that it needs replacing they don't owe that to him.

His insurance company is contractually required to pay replacement cost (if he purchased that product).

The city only owes him the costs of the property they damaged.

[Calgary14]

nm - question answered above

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

I got in an accident and totaled my car, and I don't recall ever forcing the person at fault to fix my car personally. Instead I got paid for the value of the car (which also wasn't what I paid for it but the book value).

Sure, but the value of the car would have been determined by the cost of buying you a similar car to the one you had.

I agree the cost of buying him a similar fence (if the existing one isn't repairable) is an appropriate settlement, which is presumably why they wanted quotes.

Edited to add: anyway, this whole line of discussion is probably not helpful to the OP. Sorry for the de-rail.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Shazam

"Uh, instead of building a fence out of solid wood, can we just give you a solid gold ingot instead?"

I know this is a joke, but settling for a reasonable amount and figuring out what to do with the fence is reasonable IMO, especially if you are OK with just doing a band aid solution and sorting out the rest later on when materials costs aren't as insane. (ie: kinda like totaled car, but paid out rather than bother trying to repair that car).

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

It doesn't matter what I think, if they damaged it to such a point that it needs replacing they don't owe that to him.

His insurance company is contractually required to pay replacement cost (if he purchased that product).

The city only owes him the costs of the property they damaged.

I believe the city at least owes him the costs relating to restoring his property to the condition prior to the damage they (their employee) inflicted on his property. But why there are comments saying OP would be on the hook for getting his own insurance to address the rest of the replacement costs makes no sense to me. Maybe OP's insurance corresponds with the city/the city's insurance people, but I don't believe they should be paying the costs here. The city/the city's insurance should be doing that.

OP's fence was fine until they effed it up. The city doesn't get to just run off with only the costs of a few new fence boards and a little paint and then you charge the rest to your own insurance.

It won't be exact and yes they don't owe him a completely new fence, but you can't exactly just say, "It's an old fence and basically worthless." in the same way you can't just say, "Your car is older and only the door is damaged. Thereby we owe you barely anything." Often times, a body shop will get a new part and then there's the labour and perhaps additional costs for addressing structural issues that weren't there before.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I believe the city at least owes him the costs relating to restoring his property to the condition prior to the damage they (their employee) inflicted on his property. But why there are comments saying OP would be on the hook for getting his own insurance to address the rest of the replacement costs makes no sense to me. Maybe OP's insurance corresponds with the city/the city's insurance people, but I don't believe they should be paying the costs here. The city/the city's insurance should be doing that.

OP's fence was fine until they effed it up. The city doesn't get to just run off with only the costs of a few new fence boards and a little paint and then you charge the rest to your own insurance.

It won't be exact and yes they don't owe him a completely new fence, but you can't exactly just say, "It's an old fence and basically worthless." in the same way you can't just say, "Your car is older and only the door is damaged. Thereby we owe you barely anything." Often times, a body shop will get a new part and then there's the labour and perhaps additional costs for addressing structural issues that weren't there before.

Again, the City is responsible for the actual value of the damaged property, they don't owe him the costs of putting up a new fence.

It doesn't matter if we like it or not that's the way it goes.

[Shazam]

CoC insurance contacts homeowner's insurance, they handle who pays what.

Homeowner gets new fence, blue bin driver keeps destroying fences. Hakuna Matada.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Again, the City is responsible for the actual value of the damaged property, they don't owe him the costs of putting up a new fence.

It doesn't matter if we like it or not that's the way it goes.

I don't get it. Like, you're saying they owe him a the value of the wood and some screws? That's not a fence; that's raw materials. A fence is a structure anchored in the ground and joined together to make an actual thing. They broke his fence; not a pile of wood he had laying around.

[Knut]

If they wrecked his car and they pay him out 15k or something like that for the value of the car then he can buy a used car for that 15k without any additional cost. If they pay out 1k for the fence damage he is in for at least another 5k for the rest of fence based on today's lumber prices.

Or he can patch the area that was affected and have a mismatched fence because a city worker messed up.