... My sister brought their Honda 4wd Quad into a shop for PM to get ready for winter. My brother in law passed away this past July. Thanks for the prayers!, but he used to do it.

While in the companies care, the place burned to the ground, which destroyed everything. Building, inventory, customers property and all.

Sis gets a letter from the insurance company stating they only have 125K of insurance for the whole ball of wax and won't be compensated for their loss. Too bad, so sad, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

This company is putting up a new building while advertising and screwing over former customers and not being responsible.

It's kinda like, who cares and wipe the slate clean, but it's their care that caused this.

Small claims court issue??

If the business is incorporated, she'll have to go after the corporation, not the owners.

I am with Esshup. Small claims court should handle it unless she signed a paper authorizing the work when she took it to the shop that stated they were not responsible (the fine print).

Not always protected with a corp., but in this case, probably are.

JKB,

Just a thought. With only 125k insurance and they are rebuilding the business, makes me think somebody has some deep pockets they ain't talking about!

Most farm insurance policies cover ATV's if instructed. Ask your own agent if you have coverage. That may save the day.

My agent and I review my shop policy every year. Two important areas we go over are to be sure and carry adequate coverage on customers equipment while it's in the shop, and on my trailer while being transported to and from the shop.


The same agent recently picked up our home coverage as well. We put everything on a farm policy, and he specifically mentioned adding in the Kawasaki Mule. It was not automatically included, so I'm glad he caught it.

Same here. The tractors and Mules are on a separate insurance rider.

Like Bob said, my farm insurance covers the ATV, whether here on the property or not.

Tell sis she should talk directly to the owner(s) and ask if they could replace it. If the answer is no, small claims, BBB, and she will attend the grand opening with friends with signs.

My agent thought I should carry ins. on "Big Allis"....a 1940 Allis Chalmers model B, that is only used to mow trails through the property once a month. Almost 75 years old and still running good!

Cost $7 a year.

Thanks for the feedback.

I passed on the insurance info this morning. Got a text just a few minutes ago that "their" insurance suggested filing a claim on her homeowners policy. It's covered to blue book minus the deductible. Only problem is, it goes against her as a claim, and premiums will be adjusted.

She's a tad ticked off and prepared to do battle with their insurance or the owner.

They bought this new from this dealer a few years ago. It's been in regularly for service and PM. Crappy way to treat a good customer.

Bob-O, they already had the Grand Opening. Showroom is all fancy, inventory to the ceiling. Insurance info was sent out "after" they fired the place back up. That's what really ticked her off!

See how it goes.

Seems that the store may be prone to burning down again....and again...and again if the owners are total a$$hats.

I wouldn't expect it to burn down again. This place has been around for quite some time. That would also toss in some pretty RED Flags.

My personal opinion is someone rolled the dice with the insurance (it will never happen to me) and it came up snake eyes. And now they are rolling the dice getting back up and running while crapping on former customers and hope they will just go away.

Well, this type of thing "just don't go away". I'm sure there are a few more of their faithful customers who are getting burned as well.

I meant unhappy people torching the place.

I don't really expect that to happen, but it sounds like the owners are real pieces of work.

I lost a $150.00 cash payment for taxidermy services in a bait and tackle store that was broken into. The money was in an envelope taped under the cash register drawer. They said their insurance wouldn't cover it. I still wonder about that.

Not saying the owners ripped me off but wonder if the insurance company found a way to weasel out of it.

They caught the perps. Drug crazed meth zombies looking for cash. Really did a number on the store.

Piece of work probably nailed it a hundred times on the head

Just glad you can toss this stuff out here and get some good feed back. Thanks!!!

JKB,
I would have sis start out with some letters on legal letterhead. Some folks will try to get away with what they can, unfortunately. A couple of letters won't cost much. It may be enough for the dealer to "get his mind right". It's a shame people wont do the right thing. I'd be willing to bet that the distributor got compensated for it.
Charlie

In my experience, not many shops offer coverage for customers' vehicles (autos, ATV's, etc.) and most have a sign stating that. Know of anyone with their vehicle being vandalized while at the shop's lot? Obviously if the shop is legally liable for damages then they'd be responsible (falling off the lift, accident while test driving, damaged by technician, etc.). And fire? Well, was the shop negligent? I've been told it's very difficult to subrogate a fire loss under fire-legal liability, but;

I would certainly consider filing a claim under her Homeowners Insurance policy, IF there's coverage for the ATV. If there is, and if in-fact the shop is legally liable, the insurance company will subrogate against them which would include a return of your sister's deductible. The claim should also be coded as being fully subrogated (or not-at-fault) so as to not count against her, but that's kinda iffy as the insurers want to count just about everything against you that they can .

I would speak directly with a claims adjuster about whether the ATV is covered under her Homeowners policy and if they feel they could subrogate. I wouldn't just take the agent's word for it. If they pay her claim, they will subrogate if they feel they have a chance for recovery. If they don't, she probably wouldn't either. Let them foot the legal costs!


I would be curious under what coverage the $125k applies. Fire legal liability? Property Damage liability? Customer's Bailee coverage? IF there's coverage but not enough, I would think it would be prorated amongst the claimants.

Regarding coverage under a Homeowners policy here in NE (with State Farm) it may offer coverage for liability and "Named Perils" under the Personal Property coverage IF the ATV is used SOLELY to service the residence premises. And this could truly be up for interpretation as anything outside of that, the ATV could be considered a recreational vehicle. And if the ATV EVER leaves the residence premises it is then considered a recreational vehicle. Technically this could include a gravel road to get to a different section or part of your property.


Most Home and Farm policies now specifically mention ATV's due to their recreational nature as well as service uses. So even though your agent may say "yes" when asked if my ATV is covered under my policy, if you mention to the claims adjuster that you occasionally take it trail riding or your son or daughter rides on his or her friends' poperty, it's now a Recreational Vehicle and may have limited or no coverage under your home or farm policy! And what if it's a friend or relative injured on it and you then find out there's no coverage? Can you financially afford a bodily injury lawsuit?

For those of us with any type of ATV, UTV, UTX, etc, find out now what your policy covers (Homeowners, Farmowners or RV policy) and most importantly, in what cases would there be NO coverage? Get this directly from your policy or Claims Rep, not just from the agent unless you can get it from him/her in writing (which would be a major faux pas on their part!).

I have 2 ATV's and a UTV on the farm here, all used to service the residence premises (from my perspective) and never leave the premises. The UTV is the only one I have a separate policy on due to it's value and allowing others to ride it, because I want nothing left to chance if there's a loss, carries a much lower deductible and if there's a loss it doesn't go against my homeowners policy! The other two SHOULD be covered under my Homeowners policy but if they're not, it's not a big loss.

Just my $.02

Good info LL! Thanks!!

Yep, have to watch insurance companies.

I've had my share of troubles, but that was caused by an agent at first. The ditzy gal transposed someone else's info on my policy that had a couple wrecks, but lives in a town that I have never, ever been to, and it said I lived at such and such address. Not me!

My eldest sister had insurance thru the same agency I had. It was really surprising that my premiums went up because she had a fender bender with her own vehicle on her own policy, but it showed up on mine for some reason. Trust me, she could not climb in my truck and the vehicle in question was her White Ford.


Just silly!

Don't know what's happened with this recently, but the last round was that my sister claim it on her insurance. The owner would cover the deductible in the form of a discount if she bought a new quad from them.

I hope she kicks their butt, but there is a time to just cut your losses and move on.

A buyer should read the policy very carefully and ask questions that few would think of asking.

For example, if your house is on a concrete slab, the slab is not insured (unless coverage is absolutely stated), so a rebuild would have to be of essentially the same floor plan as the lost house to be able to connect to the water and sewage. Wanting a different floor plan would likely require removing the old slab and pouring another and doing so is at your expense.