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Insurance Claim Problems
Well, I'm back to rec.boats after a long hiatus...Been busy.
So, the gods of boating finally evened the odds and I nailed a piece of wood in the San Juan's (WA) on Father's Day weekend (June 19th). No hull damage but drive damage. I was able to limp into a local harbor where the boat was shored. It was determined the impact broke my upper pinion shaft and caused bearing and gear damage. The insurance company decided to send the drive out (Bravo 3) to be rebuilt rather than replace it. The drive was then shipped back to the harbor, put back on the boat, aligned (supposedly) and returned to the water. The whole process took about a month. (To long in my opinion). So I used the boat two weekends and noticed the drive seemed loud which I reported to my claims guy. My drive fluid reservoir also went empty on the second trip. I filled it and hoped that it was just a burp and settling. So last weekend I used the boat and was planning on bringing it back down to Seattle (about a 90 mile trip) but again my drive fluid reservoir went empty. So I went back to the harbor and had the boat looked out. Turns out a seal in the drive had gone and the fluid was leaking into the bellows. The drive was again removed and shipped to the shop that had rebuilt it. The shop claims that the seal went due to either engine misalignment or something else putting pressure on the drive. So it appears that the mechanics at the harbor either did not due an alignment or did it incorrectly. I'm trying to get the insurance company to either send one of the drive mechanics up to the island to reinstall/align the boat, or have the boat transported down to them at the insurance company's expense. I do not have a trailer and I don't trust the other shop in the harbor at this point. It's been a few days and I'm still waiting for an answer from the claims guy. I've been emailing the claims guy rather than phoning b/c I want everything in writing as much as possible. One of the guys at the drive shop also alluded to the fact that the insurance company may not be responsible for the work done this second time at the harbor (removal, shoring, drive removal, etc). So I'm a little nervous that the insurance company may try and screw me on this. As far as I'm concerned this whole mess is due to the original accident and the insurance company's choice on how to deal with the repairs. I'm also extremely concerned about further damage that may be cause to the drive coupler from the engine misalignment. The drive coupler on the Bravo 3 is very susceptible to damage when the engine is not properly aligned. That repair requires pulling the engine and $2-3K to fix. So you can see my concern. I would like to have an independent shop review the repairs when this is all done but I'm guessing I don't have a leg to stand on in compelling the insurance company to pay for it. Any thought on this whole mess? thanks in advance. |
Insomniac wrote: Well, I'm back to rec.boats after a long hiatus...Been busy. So, the gods of boating finally evened the odds and I nailed a piece of wood in the San Juan's (WA) on Father's Day weekend (June 19th). No hull damage but drive damage. I was able to limp into a local harbor where the boat was shored. It was determined the impact broke my upper pinion shaft and caused bearing and gear damage. The insurance company decided to send the drive out (Bravo 3) to be rebuilt rather than replace it. The drive was then shipped back to the harbor, put back on the boat, aligned (supposedly) and returned to the water. The whole process took about a month. (To long in my opinion). So I used the boat two weekends and noticed the drive seemed loud which I reported to my claims guy. My drive fluid reservoir also went empty on the second trip. I filled it and hoped that it was just a burp and settling. So last weekend I used the boat and was planning on bringing it back down to Seattle (about a 90 mile trip) but again my drive fluid reservoir went empty. So I went back to the harbor and had the boat looked out. Turns out a seal in the drive had gone and the fluid was leaking into the bellows. The drive was again removed and shipped to the shop that had rebuilt it. The shop claims that the seal went due to either engine misalignment or something else putting pressure on the drive. So it appears that the mechanics at the harbor either did not due an alignment or did it incorrectly. I'm trying to get the insurance company to either send one of the drive mechanics up to the island to reinstall/align the boat, or have the boat transported down to them at the insurance company's expense. I do not have a trailer and I don't trust the other shop in the harbor at this point. It's been a few days and I'm still waiting for an answer from the claims guy. I've been emailing the claims guy rather than phoning b/c I want everything in writing as much as possible. One of the guys at the drive shop also alluded to the fact that the insurance company may not be responsible for the work done this second time at the harbor (removal, shoring, drive removal, etc). So I'm a little nervous that the insurance company may try and screw me on this. As far as I'm concerned this whole mess is due to the original accident and the insurance company's choice on how to deal with the repairs. I'm also extremely concerned about further damage that may be cause to the drive coupler from the engine misalignment. The drive coupler on the Bravo 3 is very susceptible to damage when the engine is not properly aligned. That repair requires pulling the engine and $2-3K to fix. So you can see my concern. I would like to have an independent shop review the repairs when this is all done but I'm guessing I don't have a leg to stand on in compelling the insurance company to pay for it. Any thought on this whole mess? thanks in advance. You probably need to consult a lawyer familiar with insurance. He would need to examine the policy document to see what exactly is covered. You may have legal actions against the shop that did the work IF you can show it was incorrect. |
What did the insurance co do wrong in good faith they paid to have the work
done, did they pick the repairer or did you? You have the right to have who you want to fix it, they have the responsibility to pay for it, seems like this is what happened. It's not the fault of the insurance co that the repairs went wrong. Who did the repairs are responsible not the insurance co! "Insomniac" wrote in message ... Well, I'm back to rec.boats after a long hiatus...Been busy. So, the gods of boating finally evened the odds and I nailed a piece of wood in the San Juan's (WA) on Father's Day weekend (June 19th). No hull damage but drive damage. I was able to limp into a local harbor where the boat was shored. It was determined the impact broke my upper pinion shaft and caused bearing and gear damage. The insurance company decided to send the drive out (Bravo 3) to be rebuilt rather than replace it. The drive was then shipped back to the harbor, put back on the boat, aligned (supposedly) and returned to the water. The whole process took about a month. (To long in my opinion). So I used the boat two weekends and noticed the drive seemed loud which I reported to my claims guy. My drive fluid reservoir also went empty on the second trip. I filled it and hoped that it was just a burp and settling. So last weekend I used the boat and was planning on bringing it back down to Seattle (about a 90 mile trip) but again my drive fluid reservoir went empty. So I went back to the harbor and had the boat looked out. Turns out a seal in the drive had gone and the fluid was leaking into the bellows. The drive was again removed and shipped to the shop that had rebuilt it. The shop claims that the seal went due to either engine misalignment or something else putting pressure on the drive. So it appears that the mechanics at the harbor either did not due an alignment or did it incorrectly. I'm trying to get the insurance company to either send one of the drive mechanics up to the island to reinstall/align the boat, or have the boat transported down to them at the insurance company's expense. I do not have a trailer and I don't trust the other shop in the harbor at this point. It's been a few days and I'm still waiting for an answer from the claims guy. I've been emailing the claims guy rather than phoning b/c I want everything in writing as much as possible. One of the guys at the drive shop also alluded to the fact that the insurance company may not be responsible for the work done this second time at the harbor (removal, shoring, drive removal, etc). So I'm a little nervous that the insurance company may try and screw me on this. As far as I'm concerned this whole mess is due to the original accident and the insurance company's choice on how to deal with the repairs. I'm also extremely concerned about further damage that may be cause to the drive coupler from the engine misalignment. The drive coupler on the Bravo 3 is very susceptible to damage when the engine is not properly aligned. That repair requires pulling the engine and $2-3K to fix. So you can see my concern. I would like to have an independent shop review the repairs when this is all done but I'm guessing I don't have a leg to stand on in compelling the insurance company to pay for it. Any thought on this whole mess? thanks in advance. |
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