Now, that I have finished laughing long enough to coherently explain this, I hope someone can answer my question. I first must say my laughter is due in part to the fact that this woman and her family have had the worst luck in recent months. Nothing horrible, like the death of a loved one, just damn rotten luck, such as loosing money, the car breaking down on the turnpike near Newark airport, etc. For the record, some of her stories I have trouble believing, particularly this one, but I humor her.
This took place in New Jersey: Her nephew recently started going to college and found it difficult to get to school, to work and then home. In most cases, his parents had to pick him up and drop him off. Her brother decided to buy a used (and extremely cheap) $500.00 car for his son to get around in. The kid was thrilled; he no longer had to depend on mom and dad to get him around. Well, after about a week or so the kid is sitting at a traffic light when he notices that the woman in the car next to him is frantically trying to get his attention. Without opening the window, he motions to let her know that she has his attention. She screams so loud that he actually hears her tell him to get out of the car. He doesn’t know what is going on and he calmly gets out and quickly realizes the problem. From what I can gather from my coworker, the engine was on fire and the flames were shooting out from underneath the vehicle. The kid ran and called the fire department from the safety of the sidewalk and called 911 on his cell phone, while the woman attempted to divert traffic from the flaming car (apparently, the gawkers were tying up traffic). In any case, the kid is fine and so is the Good Samaritan.
Now, here is the part that that I question and laughed at (given this woman’s history of tall tales, let’s pretend I didn’t question the whole story). It seems that while the car was burning the tires (and other parts I imagine) melted causing damage to the roadway. **According to the police, the parents will be sent a bill from the county/town for the cost to repair the road. ** :eek:
Maybe, I am naïve, but I have never had my car melt onto the roadway so I’m inexperienced there and I’ve also never heard a story like this. I just cannot believe that the parents are liable for the cost repairing the road. I understand the legality of it, it is after all, county/town/state property and was damaged in a freak accident with a cheap car, but still. How much will that bill be? Is this just a wacky New Jersey thing or is this common practice in other states as well?
I have never heard of a road repair being charged but I do know of power poles and street signs being billed for. Most of the time insurance pays for them.
Recently the driver of a double tanker truck fell asleep at the wheel here in Seattle. He awakened as the first tank was scraping the guard rail. He had the presence of mind to jump out before the truck came to a full stop, at which time it exploded. This happened on a freeway over pass. It burned for about 2 1/2 hours. The hiway surface was “spaulded” Meaning, most simply, broken.
DOT charged the owners of the trucking company for the repairs. Their insurance covered it. The driver lost his job.
I think the price tag was over $20,000.
A car fire would cause way less damage, since they are usually put out with in a matter of minutes, in most cases, I suspect, none at all.
Now, many insurance companies are getting the hell OUT of New Jersey (primarily due to regulations that cripple a company’s ability to charge adequate premiums to cover losses) so I can only hope that laws there are similar to the rest of the country. Then again, it’s Jersey. So NORMALLY:
In order for the owner of the road to collect from the owner of the burned car, said car owner would have to be proven liable for the damage. If you smack a light pole or flip your tanker truck, ensuing damage is typically the result of your inattention or whatever. Wrecking your vehicle is your fault (to over simplify) and so then is related property damage. When your car burns, the Insurance company considers this a “comprehensive” loss, meaning the vehicle operator was not to blame for the damage arising from the fire.
The story as you told it indicates it was just “one of dem tings” that happens. Engines malfunction and they burn up the car. If there happens to be a road that gets damaged, oh well.
If the car burned because of a recent mechanical issue (a shop just replaced the fuel injectors) the shop could be liable for the fire if they did the repair incorrectly. So I guess if the car owner did something like that he could be held liable…but I doubt it.
If, however, it was determined that he had modified the car on his own by using, say, Grampaw’s vintage Death Ray to preheat incoming fuel and so caused the fire: His car would be covered under Comprehensive Coverage (if he has it on his policy) and damage to the roadbed would be covered under his Property Damage liability coverage (MANDATORY coverage on ALL car policies). Thus, the owner of the road should be directed to the insurer of the car for compensation of damages.