Uninsured motorist crashed into neighbors house and fled the scene

Submitted by orangekrush19 t3_yscf1s in vermont

I live in south Burlington and a car later determined by police to be stolen, driven in a residential neighborhood at 4 AM at a ridiculous speed, lost control and crashed into the side of my neighbors house. The car blasted into the foundation/basement and bent the walls of their house, sprayed motor oil everywhere, cinder blocks went flying through doors and walls. Amazing no one was hurt but it caused extensive damage. The driver and passenger fled on foot and the car (no license plates) had used syringes and all kinds of other charming things inside.

My neighbors have a deductible of $25,000 for damage of this type to their house and are in a bad spot trying to pay to repair their house. I did find that everyone in VT who buys car insurance has to buy at least $10,000 in uninsured motorist coverage for events like this that they are pursuing. I’m posting this to try and help them out by asking if anyone in this sub is aware of any other assistance or coverage for hit and run events like this? Thank you

**EDIT ** A lot of commenters questioned whether the deductible is an actual number or not. Friend/neighbor says I have it wrong, the deductible is $2,500 not $25,000. Apologies! But a good reminder to check deductibles to make sure they are set at affordable levels…

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Total-Bag-8973 t1_ivyewl6 wrote

I believe the uninsured motorist coverage may be for INJURIES, not property damage.

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BrokenAsFu t1_ivyfa0i wrote

Sorry to tell you, but he's fucked.

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VoyageursWitch t1_ivyi0xz wrote

Sorry about your neighbor, I don't know of anything that can help.

But I will say as a PSA for everyone reading this thread, always always keep your deductible to something you can pay.

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orangekrush19 OP t1_ivyii9a wrote

Replying to BrokenAsFu (#501,613)

If the motorists were insured and not dirtbags my neighbors (family of 6) wouldn’t be in this predicament, although one could also argue they should have insurance with a lower deductible. Just frustrating. I fear they are also fucked but trying to help somehow, hoping there is some magic VT umbrella policy for property damage done by degenerates…probably not

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MarkVII88 t1_ivyjp5g wrote

I'm too cynical to believe these scumbags are ever going to be caught and held accountable for what they did re: stolen car and damage to your neighbor's house. What's worse is that, even if these individuals are captured, the chances of ever getting any financial restitution from them is essentially nonexistent. Screw these people!

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Cobdain t1_ivykob4 wrote

Police might be able to check cameras near the area? If they can get a car with damage driving away possibly can track them down? Then you would have to sue themz and if they are running around without insurance they may not have much. I’m so sorry, that’s quite the predicament. I might have to look into my home owners insurance to make sure my deductible isn’t too high after hearing this

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_brycycle_ t1_ivylohb wrote

They might see if they qualify for victim of crimes funds. I don’t know how to start looking, or access, but the state or fed gov might have money set aside they could access. Sounds shitty all around.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_ivyn1tk wrote

Uninsured motorist covers your car if an uninsured motorist hits you as far as I know. It doesn’t cover your house.

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orangekrush19 OP t1_ivyo8yj wrote

Replying to Cobdain (#501,909)

Thanks for the idea, the car was abandoned because it smashed like an accordion and was not Drive able after making impact, they fled (hobbled) on foot and cameras did pick them up but at 4am could barely make out any features

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vtdadbod007 t1_ivyoygn wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#501,804)

Ive lived nearby my whole life and DoorDashed in Burlington this summer. It was honestly shocking to see the noticeable increase in incidents from May to August. Kinda wild that I’m now in Boston and feel like it’s much safer here.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_ivywa8q wrote

Replying to Total-Bag-8973 (#502,144)

Not to be a dick, but you are wrong and posting misinformation. I assume it is unintentional. First collision is not required in VT only liability insurance which pays if you are at fault. Your liability coverage has different maximum coverage amount for damage and bodily injury.

In addition every VT auto insurance policy includes uninsured/underinsured motorist which will cover both damage and bodily injury if you are hit by a motorist with no or not enough insurance.

As far as I know there are the VT minimums for auto insurance.

Here is progressive answer on what UM/UIM is

https://www.progressive.com/answers/uninsured-motorist-insurance/

Here’s is a Forbes article. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/uninsured-motorist-coverage/

Geico https://www.geico.com/information/aboutinsurance/auto/uninsured-underinsured-motorist/

If you look at your insurance policy all this is spelled out in the coverage section. I am pretty sure VT requires both bodily harm and property damage in insurance minimums. This includes minimums in uninsured/underinsured coverages.

https://www.moneygeek.com/insurance/auto/state-laws-minimum-requirements-vermont/

Here is the actual law that spells out the minimums in coverage If you would like to look as well.

https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/011/00941

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DBNodurf t1_ivyy1g0 wrote

You had me going for a minute; I thought it was Burlington, NC

Sorry that your Burlington is as bad as ours

Perhaps you could have a fundraiser for your neighbor?

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Tharoks101 t1_ivyydap wrote

Might be worth consulting r/legaladvice

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Real-Pierre-Delecto2 t1_ivz0iw3 wrote

$25,000 deductible? Holy mother of god are you sure that is correct. I have bare bones shit home coverage and mine is only 500. I mean if that's correct they must be pretty well off anyways to pick such a high deductible. I sure couldn't afford that one.

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Generic_Commenter-X t1_ivz14w1 wrote

Replying to orangekrush19 (#501,873)

Don't even get me started on Insurance Company fuckery. There's a guy, a nice guy, who is a top executive in a local insurance company, and he lives like a King. He's probably making millions. Builds post and beam this and that all over his property. I try not to have a bad attitude about him, but I can tell you his company is not making all that money by paying out insurance claims. Some of the biggest money in the Hanover/Norwich area is insurance money.

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Generic_Commenter-X t1_ivz415t wrote

Replying to Real-Pierre-Delecto2 (#502,879)

It's complicated. I'm a builder, so when the insurance company asked me to estimate what it would cost to rebuild my house, I estimated three times the purchase price, mainly because it's so funky and so full of character that I knew the framing would be endless, and then the sheet rock, the finish work, yadda, yadda. I ended up with a 14,000 deductible. I was okay with that, being a builder. Figured I'd be the one to fix it anyways. After a couple years I began questioning the wisdom of my estimate and lowered the replacement cost considerably (they quit inspecting my house after that); but it's a game of roulette homeowners play with insurers and the house (meaning the insurance company) always wins. Home insurance doesn't cover flood damage. Flood damage, last I heard, doesn't cover damage to mechanicals in cellars (that's separate coverage). The ways they wiggle out of paying out should be effing illegal.

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deadowl t1_ivz4pt4 wrote

Replying to Total-Bag-8973 (#501,597)

Well, I've had damage to my car covered by it before when a truck backed into my front hood and didn't leave any insurance info or anything. The a few months later more damage which wasn't covered because it was from a bicycle.

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thisoneisnotasbad t1_ivz9dud wrote

Replying to Total-Bag-8973 (#503,115)

I agree but that is not at all what you said. In fact I said the same thing in that only your car is covered, not your house.

What You said is, > Physical damage a/k/a "collision" covers your car. Uninsured motorist covers BODILY INJURIES.

And that is just plain misinformation. Perhaps in your haste you didn’t feel like explaining the intricacies of UM/UIM and how they apply but that does not change the post you made was just plain wrong.

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[deleted] t1_ivza3s1 wrote

I’m not aware of any legal action but try a GoFundMe :( it’s a unique enough story it should pull on heartstrings and generate some interest. Sorry your poor neighbors are going through this.

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vtjohnhurt t1_ivzad3k wrote

They might talk to an attorney about suing the owners of the car for negligence. It might have been one of the owner's kids/relatives that was driving the car. Was the ignition key found in the car?

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TwoCanSee t1_ivzc4cx wrote

They should get an insurance lawyer. I say this from personal experience.

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Map42892 t1_ivzhhsc wrote

See if anyone who lives at the property has UIM coverage on their own vehicles, because often it applies to the insured person (and their household members) even when they weren't driving said vehicle. It's not like liability insurance where just the vehicle itself is insured. Vermont has strong UIM protection laws. They should check in with their auto carrier.

I also definitely agree with /u/ARealVermontar's suggestion of calling the VT Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.

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jbrenn802 t1_ivzhtgc wrote

Unfortunately, your neighbor likely out of luck. Have them contact their insurance agency if they work with one to discuss options. Otherwise contact their insurance company directly and see if they can help. They MAY be able to subrogate the payment but without someone caught (and likely someone without money) it’s not great odds for your neighbor.

As others have noted, please do not take on a large deductible if you can’t afford to pay it out of pocket. I worked in the insurance agency/industry for a short period of time and we would never allow a customer to take on a deductible over $500-$1000. We made a few exceptions up to $5,000 but we required clients to sign a note saying they understand the risks of such a high deductible. $25,000 is crazy. You may save a few bucks a month but never worth it imo.

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tafunast t1_ivzkze7 wrote

Excuse me but, what the actual fuck? $25,000 deductible…?!

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gooker10 t1_ivzo6rh wrote

something isn't adding up here. If they have a loan, homeowner's insurance *is required* so either they didn't pay it or don't understand how insurance works?

- if it's 300K house you want 80% coverage and unless their credit is shit, should be like $1,500-2K for the year with a 1k or $1,500 deductible. Others have pointed out what happens if a tree falls on your roof? 25K out of pocket? doesn't add up here...

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kalitarios t1_ivzo8tq wrote

Replying to justreadthearticle (#503,614)

Here’s a list of their affiliated crap, too

https://www.geico.com/about/corporate/geico-ins-agency-companies

they have coverage for:

  • Automobile Insurance
  • Bicycle Insurance
  • Boat Insurance
  • Cell Phone Insurance
  • Classic & Collector Car Insurance
  • Commercial Insurance
  • Condo / Co-op Insurance
  • Dwelling Fire / Landlord Earthquake Flood Insurance
  • General Liability (Non-Commercial)
  • Homeowners Insurance
  • Identity Protection
  • Inland Marine Insurance
  • Jewelry Insurance
  • Life Insurance
  • Medical Malpractice Insurance
  • Mobile Home Insurance
  • Motorcycle / ATV / RV Insurance
  • Pet Insurance
  • Renters Insurance
  • Special Events Coverage
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SteveVT t1_ivzr10y wrote

What neighborhood was this in?

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KeeganDoomFire t1_ivzwu0v wrote

That deductible sounds flat wrong and I would run up the chain at the insurance company.

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Numerous_Rampantcows t1_ivzzb8a wrote

Sorry to hear about that. When I was a kid my neighbor was drunk and crashed into an old lady’s home car ended up inside the house in the dining room. destroying her antique dining room table irreplaceable family heirloom. Hope this gets resolved Mby try a go fund me if there’s no other coverage to rely on?

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dnstommy t1_iw0jbt8 wrote

Replying to Real-Pierre-Delecto2 (#502,767)

And home owners insurance is so cheap in Vermont. No sarcasm. My insurance in Florida, was 5x because of hurricanes. I have insurance that is 1.5x the value of my house and a 1 million umbrella policy for a little over 150 a month. Car insurance also dirt cheap here.

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GaleTheThird t1_iw0jfjg wrote

Replying to skiandhike91 (#504,359)

The Geico insurance adjuster I dealt with when my first car was totaled was a total ass who showed me very little respect and I got screwed on the value of the car. That being said, Geico was easy to deal with and let me extend the rental an extra week on their dime so that was pretty nice. I probably wouldn't have any complaints if I had had a different adjuster.

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Keiths_skin_tag t1_iw0qu8t wrote

Replying to Generic_Commenter-X (#502,953)

Those are all endorsements that can be added to a policy. Any agent or broker worth anything will go over those with you. Problem is people either don’t want to listen or just look at price choosing the cheapest options. Then they’re the first to complain when some random event isn’t covered.

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Jhealey55 t1_iw0tt03 wrote

I had the same thing happen to me…the drunk was—according to witnesses—going over 100 mph. He fled, but his plates were embedded on the impact point. Fought with the landlord for two years to get it fixed, to no avail. Culprit got no more than a slap on the wrist (didn’t happen here…) Every rafter holding up the roof on one side of the house was shattered! With a $25k deductible, I think your friend is in a bind; GoFundMe is not a bad idea. I definitely empathize with them…

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Stockmom42 t1_iw0u2uc wrote

Replying to BrokenAsFu (#503,341)

So weird we have Geico and have had an amazing experience with them. a mouse ate my cars airbags and totaled it. Geico gave us more than what the kelly blue book value was. We had chosen full comprehensive with zero delectable, because I was sick of paying for rocks hitting the windshield. But we got almost 10k and they replaced our car seats because the mouse chewed them.

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vtmtct t1_iw2s2nv wrote

I hope they are able to catch the driver and passenger and get some justice. Your neighbors shouldn’t have to pay a dime, whether it’s out of pocket or through insurance. These stories are a reminder why we need more police resources, addiction help and mental health services in VT otherwise it’s innocent people like your neighbors that are stuck holding the bag.

That story is far more egregious than mine but recently we were out to dinner in BTV and a truck with out of state plates hit our car which was parked next to a meter. There were no other cars around and they slammed into our rear bumper and left it parked like that. I can only guess that they were intoxicated otherwise they would have at least backed off the bumper and not left like that. We called the PD and they said not enough resources to investigate cases like this so file a police report online and we will review it to see if we can assign an officer to the case. Weeks have gone bye and no response other than it’s pending review. Our insurance can’t go after the other motorist because the PD won’t release the drivers info, due to “privacy concerns” unless the police pursue the case further. So basically right now it looks like us and our insurance are going to have to eat that one.

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