TheBucketOfTruth

So I thought I'd post this story up now that it is somewhat resolved. I took a longer drive up the mountain the other night and then when cruising home on a straightaway during my cooldown, I notice something in the road. Before I can figure out what it was or move away from it in time, I hit it on the driver's side rear wheel. Not long after I roll over the nubs on the center lane and feel no sort of shock absorption whatsoever. I pull over to find a giant hole through my rim and a deflated tire. Here's a quick shot from the night of the incident.



At this point I'm still not even sure what did this, so I borrow a friend's car to go try and find what the hell was in the road that could do something like this. After some searching and a couple U-turns, I find the culprit.







It's a sawed off portion of a manhole cover that just happened to be laying in the dark, wet road waiting for me. At over 18 inches long and an inch thick or more of pressed metal, it's not the kind of thing you want to run into. I'm pretty sure it was one piece and that I split that edge off by hitting it.

Fast forward: The local dealer found no brake or suspension damage whatsoever, so we ordered a new wheel from HRE, slapped two new Michelin PS2s on the back, and I'll be picking it up soon. I'm going to have to pay almost a grand though out of pocket between my deductible and the "betterment" for two new rear tires. Think a busted HRE and 5/32nds right rear Michelin PS2 are worth anything?

What I wanted to get help with here was trying to convince my insurance company (Progressive) not to consider this an at-fault accident. Typically stationary debris are things they say I should be able to reasonably avoid, while moving debris such as something falling off a truck would be out of my control. Does anyone have any experience dealing with this? My arguments are that I tried to avoid it, but the poorly lit road at night combined with the wet conditions made me unable to get out of the way in time. It would be a real shame if I was hit with increased premiums just because some guy accidentally dropped some scrap metal off the back of his truck.

Misplacedyankee

That should be covered under comprehensive. Like hitting a deer. One time in a storm a branch fell down in front of my audi and I couldn't avoid it and hit and it shot right thru the lower mesh and lodged into the radiator. Allstate took that as a comprehensive claim rather than collision. Thats the path I would take with it. Very similar situation.

Might go after the state on that one too - depends on who owns maintenance of that road. Thats pretty careless of them to have a 1/3 manhole cover laying in the road...

unterbergamotten3

hitting a moving object is the key to a comprehensive claim (other than another vehicle).

fly2low

I hit a pot hole in WA, took out both passengers wheels, and I was SOL

XwalkerX

holy ****!

you should take it up with whatever city/county is responsible for the roadways

Macster

Years ago late at night driving to work in Fremont CA came upon a missing man hole cover. I called 911 to report what I thought was a dangerous road hazard and the dispatcher who answered the call told me in so many words to **** off. Not an emergency. Guess I should have stayed around then and after someone ran into the hole and God only knows what would have been the result then called 911.

NewYorkBuck

Why? To get some dumb looks? ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance that a city/county would find themselves culpable and give you money.

red911c2

That is correct.