Damage to home entry by delivery truck

A local company was delivering pinestraw to my home when their truck slammed into the granite stone wall of my driveway and damaged it. That was three weeks ago. The owner of the company says that ‘he is busy and will get to it’ more than once. Is there any process we can start to get him to move on having the damaged wall repaired. We are not confident that he ever will. Thanks!

Have you called his insurance company? Have you called whatever state agency licenses him (if there is one)? I wouldn’t have him repair it personally, if it were me. I wouldn’t even let him arrange to have it repaired. I’d get a quote from someone I select who knows how to build stone walls, and demand the owner pay that.

Thanks, ratbert2k. I did get a quote from a contractor and sent it to him and he said it was outrageous amount and he would find a contractor himself, which he hasn’t done. If I call my homeowners insurance to cover it will I end up paying the insurance deductible to cover the repair? Our deductible is pretty high and I don’t feel like we should pay anything out of pocket. Thanks for your feedback!

Ask him for his insurance policy information. How much was the quote in comparison to your deductible? Your insurance company might do the work of seeking reimbursement from his if you file a claim above the deductible amount. They do on auto insurance; I presume homeowner’s is the same.

Did you call the police when this happened? If not, do it now while the damage is still there, and have them file a report. The truck had to have had auto insurance (or the company was breaking the law), and they are responsible for the damage caused. You are not required to use a contractor they choose. The choice is yours. But you should get three quotes, not one.

Thanks , SonoranSilkies. The truck was actually a rental and the owner of the company said there was no damage to the rental, only the wall. I do have photos of the wreck because the truck was actually stuck on the granite wall. I’m going to pursue the insurance route having my company contact his company. But if that doesn’t work the police approach will be next.

Thanks - that is exactly what I will do! Appreciate the advice :grin:.

Does the rental company know about this accident? “No damage” might actually be “no obvious damage.” There could be damage to the underside of the truck that isn’t apparent unless you are looking underneath the vehicle.

I have had success using small claims court.

Be sure to sue for your labor cost in preparing the suit and attending legal proceedings in addition to the damage.

Thanks, RasputinII. It looks like I may have to go that route or use it as leverage. We are going to do the repairs ourselves and seek reimbursement. I contacted my insurance company and since the damage is below my deductible they cannot get involved. Did you have to hire an attorney for small claims court?

If you want to get advise ahead of time, by all means hire an attorney. But neither the plaintive nor the defendany are allowed to be represented in small claims court.

No, as a matter of fact in most jurisdictions attorneys are not allowed in SCC.

Since you have never done this before a good way to get started might be to look up the adverse party on the courts web page and see if they have been sued before.

If so get a copy of that file (if it’s not too long) use you cell phone photo to copy the file.

If they have not been sued before look for a simular company that has been sued and copy that file.

You can up load the photos to google drive, right click on them and open them as google documents.

Mimic the suit editing as necessary.

Not a lawyer.

As a casualty claims adjuster, supervisor and claims manager I have handled a lot of litigated files (including my hallmark case which was the Hyatt Regency Hotel Disaster.)