vincer77

^^ Can they claim poor design?

The tow hook should fail first? Really. They could be towing a 6000# plus Rolls Royce or a 3000#Porsche and I doubt they use different hooks. On thing I can say is that the left side of the plate that bumper shock mounts to, does not appear to be welded. Should it be? If the winch was in the center of the truck, and if it was too tight during transport, there would be a moment and a lateral force (towards center of car) working on the bumper and mount.

You may need to go to your insurance company to file claim and let them duke it out.

95_993

I would make an assumption that the force applied by the tow hook or winch was excessive and likely at an "angle" at some point. Thereby the force on the tow hook was no longer true tensile (straight on) and the tow hook acted as a cantilever when pulled at an angle increasing the resultant force on the mount. Just an assumption after looking at the picture of the mount tearing away laterally. Could the driver have activated the winch while the was strapped down?? That'd be a lot of force. I am an ME, but not a licensed PE. I am sure a quick force diagram from a PE showing the excessive force induced by the angular pull sent to their insurance company might prompt them to pay up.

doublecabmel

yeah, I'd probably be in jail by now if something like that happened to my car and they didn't want to help me! It would be worth it. Yeah, I'm a little attached to my cars. Fight it all the way. Call Better Business Bureau and BAR- bureau of automotive repair, always small claims court on-line as well

jansan946

I'd file a comprehensive claim with my insurance company and have them subrogate the loss with the AAA's insurer. Talk to your agent about how to proceed. Worst case, you might not be able to recover your deductible.

Leander

Does this indicate that we should avoid using the tow hook? I have had my car towed a couple of times since losing the tow hook some years ago. The AAA flatbed guys hooked onto an alternate towing area on each side of the chassis - the first guy said he was surprised to see that the car had that option.

Aircooled Dave

There is nothing to debate here. The car was not damaged before it was loaded and now it is. It’s unfortunate that clear responsibility is not being taken seriously here.

The argument that a tow hook is supposed to fail before another component with factors such as shear strength, young's modulus, etc.. are moot. This damage is very specific. The mount was pulled to one side and how many ways can that happen? Being strapped down tightly to a tow truck that bounces down the road is the only realistic candidate for the cause of this failure. The fact the car was not damaged prior and is now is another clear indicator. Not being there to personally witness the damage occurring or be able to refute in engineering terms why they're responsible is not your responsibility.

The insurance companies’ argument for claim denial is factually baseless. Fight this. Lawyer up if needed.

myflat6

Another unfortunate and common issue with towing our cars is where they hook onto the front jacking points and pull the car onto the flatbed. These were not designed to be pulled laterally - only designed to handle pressure when jacking upward. So you will see bent/deformed or even broken front jacking pads because of this. With so many issues with the driveblock system, 993's seem to see a lot of flatbed time.

Mr.Woolery

My guess as to how it happened would be that the tow truck driver activated the winch after tying the car down in an attempt to use it to further secure the car...but took it too far.


Regardless of how it happened, the fact is that it occurred during the tow operation, and it's the responsibility of the insured (towing company/AAA) to fix the damage they caused. Their excuses about the tow hook are poor attempts to shirk responsibility. Get a lawyer.

jansan946

Note to self: Print this out and wrap it around the tow hook.

Dplus

Hard for me to tell, but in the picture of the car on the flatbed it looks like the cable is still tight and angled toward the floor of the bed. If that's the case, only the wheels were strapped down allowing the suspension to travel and the car to bounce around-yanking on that hook-over every bump.
I can' find where it is specifically stated that porsche tow hooks are designed to fail at a certain limit; I'd request their source on that statement.

Best of luck,

D.

Holytin

[QUOTE=Aircooled Dave;13236748]There is nothing to debate here. The car was not damaged before it was loaded and now it is.QUOTE]

Correct!

"Stupid" never stops...

dpizi

Speedy

My 95 C2 was damaged in a similar manner while it was trucked from Texas to me in NC. The driver hooked both rear trailing arms, damaging both. The driver admitted it and the trucking company's insurance company covered the cost to repair.

Was the loading procedure followed by releasing the tension on the cable? I think the cable was tight and the truck hit a bump and something had to give. Whatever the reason, the car was on their truck and it was damaged. That makes it their responsibility. I would call my insurance company and a lawyer.

Good luck

SpeedyC2

Really, this is the point I've tried to make with AAA from the start.

I have contacted my insurance company, though I still feel it should never have needed to come to their attention.

I will also be contacting the BBB, our State Attorney General's office, and I have filled out a form asking for help from the local TV news station "Trouble Shooter". I have spoken to an attorney friend, and will retain him should all of the above somehow fail.

This appears to be how the insurance industry works these days, and it is very, very disappointing - not to mention just plain wrong.

Sigh...

SeanR

That's exactly what happened, the driver should have relaxed the winch line after the car was strapped down, not kept the tension tight. 100% the fault of the driver and company.

NC TRACKRAT

My dad used to tell me "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's your call". Looks like the folks at AAA have made their choice. Tell them they are being exposed on a huge forum. I'll think about this next time my membership comes up for renewal.