BG Legal: Rollover accident as a passenger in my friends truck.

[Ikith]

Paging BG Legal department.

So yesterday (Thursday June 10th) I was in an accident which involved me in a friends truck as a passenger while she was driving and hauling a trailer with my car on it to her husbands shop.

What happened:
Basically my car broke down on a street called Lakeway and we had rented a flatbed trailer with tie downs from a place called Circle A trailers. We loaded my car the only way we could which was with the back of the car facing the back of the truck making the trailer ass heavy but it was very secure and we even had Bellingham police help us secure the load and they said it was ass heavy but should be "good to go" (The officer even said that he had a lot of experience with trailers).

We had driven around to various places with the trailer in tow with no issues at all (To a supermarket etc). So we decided to take the freeway part of the way to where we were going. As we got on to the free way and accelerated everything seemed fine then suddenly the trailer fishtailed and she tried to correct and decelerate to regain control this did not work and we were heading tword the median so as she tried to accel to drive through it we hit the median and the truck flipped over and I hit my head. My car was still strapped to the trailer pretty well but it did shift during the loss of control and one of the tie downs (I can't remember what the thing is called but its the thing that you attach it to two links of chain far apart from each other then use a lever and that brings the links closer together and tightens the chain and therefore the load) did come loose.

After a full hospital visit and a full night of sleep we went to pick up the trailer and my car from impound. We were told that one of the tires on the trailer had to be replaced with the spare before they could tow it to the impound (More about this later). We paid the fees and hitched the trailer to my dads truck and took it to the destination.

During the ride to the destination we were around 45mph which is about the speed we had reached when we started to flip over in my friends truck and nothing happened... No shifting no loss of control... Nothing! (The distance in my friends truck was enough to reach 40 maybe 45 on the freeway). Which at this point makes me believe that the tire blew out when we were hauling it on my friends truck which certainly would explain the loss of control but being able to prove that the tire blew out on the freeway vs during the accident would be very very hard to prove since the rim on the tire is bent up as well. I've also had to rent the trailer for another day to have it inspected by my friends insurance company which has pretty much said that I'm liable for everything that has to do with the trailer (Damages etc) since I signed a contract that says:
"The trailer will be inspected before the renter takes it and will be returned in the same condition as when taken. The renter will be responsible for all damages incurred while he/she has the trailer in his/her possession including flat tires. The trailer must be returned in the same clean condition as when taken or a $50.00 cleaning fee will be assessed.
*Customer is responsible for all hookups, securing load and for all damages - this includes flat tires and insurance liability while trailer is in his/her possession."
So I have no clue what to think/do at this point. The trailer company is closed and so is my friends insurance agent. So I can't really make any calls to either of them.

I feel that since the insurance company wanted to inspect the trailer themselves that they should have to pay the extra day I will have to pay and that somehow they should pay the impound fees (Or circle a should I don't know).

I need help in figuring this out and planning my next action. So BG legal will you take the case?

[Plow]

Ok I'm usually pretty good with figuring out what the hell people are saying but uh... wha?


The rental fee and the impound are all you're asking about?

And, what would imply the insurance company has a responsibility towards the impound?

[Ikith]

Ok I'm usually pretty good with figuring out what the hell people are saying but uh... wha?


The rental fee and the impound are all you're asking about?

And, what would imply the insurance company has a responsibility towards the impound?

Well that and what else could come of this. My car also seems to be totalled as the news just came in. The frame is bent but I don't know if that happened when the load shifted on the trailer (It shouldn't have since it was secured through the wheels however it is a possibility) or if it was when I hit a curb on accident (This seems more likely). I'm asking about the rent since the insurance company said they would need to inspect the trailer so I feel that is their responsibility because if they didn't want to inspect the trailer it would be back at circle a by now.

I have no clue about the impound thing I was just asking lol.

Any other help or suggestions would be great.

[Plow]

You pretty much sign away all other people's responsibility as far as damages to the car and stuff, if you're running liability only, you're pretty well screwed.

You'll have to ask your insurance company about paying the trailer bill. Why couldn't they just go inspect it at the rental place?


Also, um, how fast did you hit a curb to think it bent the frame somehow?

[Ikith]

You pretty much sign away all other people's responsibility as far as damages to the car and stuff, if you're running liability only, you're pretty well screwed.

You'll have to ask your insurance company about paying the trailer bill. Why couldn't they just go inspect it at the rental place?


Also, um, how fast did you hit a curb to think it bent the frame somehow?

5 maybe 10 mph...

The thing is... We flipped her truck and her frame is fine so why does me hitting the curb a couple of times ruin my frame? I'm gonna get a second opinion.

[Stumblingdrunk]

you will be responsible for the damages to the trailer, the insurance company is not looking out for you, return the trailer and avoid the fees, doing so will not hurt you. It may not help your friend, but chances are the insurance company will not find anything that helps her either.

[Stumblingdrunk]

Why couldn't they just go inspect it at the rental place?

there is no reason they can't, though it is arguable that the trailer rental place could fuck with it in an attempt to hide any defect that may have caused the accident, if one existed.

[Ikith]

Well at the time that they decided to come and inspect it (4:30pm PST) it would have been impossible for me to get the trailer back on time before the place closes.

The math is:
30-45 mins from my house to my friends (Where the trailer is)
30-45 mins from there to the trailer place.

The place closes at 5pm.

With that being said I'm going to ask them to at least pay for one day of rental but they probably won't but it doesn't hurt to ask.

[Stumblingdrunk]

well yes you can ask, but if your question was "are they obligated to pay?" the answer is no