I now hate roadside mowing crews!

[Captain Ducman]

Driving on a busy 8 lane divided highway yesterday, windows down, pano open, just a great day with my wife when I look over briefly and see lawn maintenance crews on working the roadside. It was as if time slowed down, I see the inevitable unfolding... WHAMMM!! A big rock flew across my hood and bounced off my windshield. I pull to the side to see how much damage. Windshield is fine but the hood, not so much. It was right in the crease and all the way through the paint/primer to the aluminum. I pulled back to where the crew was working to ask them about their insurance. One worker says "yea that sucks, we break windows all the time" the other "no way that was us". They go get the owner, he sides with the "no way" employee, tells me it will wet sand out. All I want is his insurance information as his truck boasts "licensed and insured" he won't budge. I call the sherif, it boils down to a he said - he said. So now I'm out my deductible, 20% of the rental bill, HAVE TO BUY GAS, and quite possibly (per my agent) a rate increase for filing a claim.

 

[yobigd20]

I'm assuming you don't have paint protection film like XPEL Ultimate? If not, this is exactly an example why you should have at least the front fully wrapped. I had a similar situation years ago, but because it was an incident that "wasn't my fault" , my insurance did not go up at all. But every insurance co is different ...

 

[doctorwho]

It's a battle scar, wear it proudly:smile:

 

[jthompson]

I had that happen years ago in a brand new truck...EXACTLY as you described. Time slowed down, and it is almost as if I could see the blade whirring around on the mower and then a rock being picked up and slung out at high speed, denting the side of my truck. But I did not bother to stop, because I knew already what you know now. There is no way to provide that roadside crew was responsible. It totally sucks...but I like Doctorwho's advice!

 

[AudubonB]

Forensic geology can be your friend - and I am not kidding. The problem here is that you likely would need to locate the offending stone. But I like that statement from the worker you provided first. An affadavit like that? Seems to me it could work very well in your favor.

 

[kevincwelch]

I'm assuming you don't have paint protection film like XPEL Ultimate? If not, this is exactly an example why you should have at least the front fully wrapped.

No way Xpel would have protected the car from that injury. Those are gashes in the body.

 

[dratifk]

I do the opposite of what others do when I see Lawn Cutting crews. I punch it instead of slowing down. My rationale less time exposure means less chances. With snow plows I just slow down and fall way back. The salt and crap coming of their tracks can do a number. But I also have a Dash Cam and XPEL ULTIMATE Wrap.

That Sucks. Sorry for the Damage. I think its going to cost a Bundle to fix. And no I could not just live it and I don't think you will either.

 

[ABVA]

Driving on a busy 8 lane divided highway yesterday, windows down, pano open, just a great day with my wife when I look over briefly and see lawn maintenance crews on working the roadside. It was as if time slowed down, I see the inevitable unfolding... WHAMMM!! A big rock flew across my hood and bounced off my windshield. I pull to the side to see how much damage. Windshield is fine but the hood, not so much. It was right in the crease and all the way through the paint/primer to the aluminum. I pulled back to where the crew was working to ask them about their insurance. One worker says "yea that sucks, we break windows all the time" the other "no way that was us". They go get the owner, he sides with the "no way" employee, tells me it will wet sand out. All I want is his insurance information as his truck boasts "licensed and insured" he won't budge. I call the sherif, it boils down to a he said - he said. So now I'm out my deductible, 20% of the rental bill, HAVE TO BUY GAS, and quite possibly (per my agent) a rate increase for filing a claim.

Thanks for sharing your unfortunate experience. I am seriously thinking about installing a Dash-cam.

 

[DuncanWatson]

Thanks for sharing your unfortunate experience. I am seriously thinking about installing a Dash-cam.

You and me both. This is just one of many reasons.

 

[dratifk]

As I've stated else where go with the Mobius Dashcams for around $65-80 dollars each. They don't have GPS like my Blackvue 550 but GPS doesn't work well in Tesla and we all know why.

 

[HankLloydRight]

As I've stated else where go with the Mobius Dashcams for around $65-80 dollars each. .

where and how do you have it mounted?

thanks.

 

[dflye]

GPS doesn't work well in Tesla and we all know why.

I think that is true for some GPSr, but isn't something that applies across the board.

I use a Garmin Oregon 400t (handheld GPSr with topo / street maps) in my Model S on a nearly daily basis (since the S nav system doesn't allow one to upload custom points of interest, whether singly or in bulk) Other than the Garmin sometimes taking a while to initially synch up or losing signal if I leave the GPSr in my lap vs on the passenger seat, it behaves fine.

However, on one all day road trip where a friend was trying to use their GPSr (the kind typically found used in autos w/o built in nav), it was never able to get or maintain a signal of any kind.

Would be nice if someone in the nav industry could speculate on whether there is some chipset or antenna difference in the receivers that is somehow affecting some models and not others.

 

[NoMoGas]

Driving on a busy 8 lane divided highway yesterday, windows down, pano open, just a great day with my wife when I look over briefly and see lawn maintenance crews on working the roadside. It was as if time slowed down, I see the inevitable unfolding... WHAMMM!! A big rock flew across my hood and bounced off my windshield. I pull to the side to see how much damage. Windshield is fine but the hood, not so much. It was right in the crease and all the way through the paint/primer to the aluminum. I pulled back to where the crew was working to ask them about their insurance. One worker says "yea that sucks, we break windows all the time" the other "no way that was us". They go get the owner, he sides with the "no way" employee, tells me it will wet sand out. All I want is his insurance information as his truck boasts "licensed and insured" he won't budge. I call the sherif, it boils down to a he said - he said. So now I'm out my deductible, 20% of the rental bill, HAVE TO BUY GAS, and quite possibly (per my agent) a rate increase for filing a claim.

You are not out. Go to small clams court. The standard of proof is 50.1% more likely than not and you called the sheriff and confronted them immediately. That is a relatively strong case. Also file a "Notice of claim" against the State/County that hired the work crew. Squeaky wheel.

All these stories have convinced me to install cameras in my MS

 

[jerry33]

No way Xpel would have protected the car from that injury. Those are gashes in the body.

I'm not so sure about that. I have something similar and the paint armour was damaged but not the paint. (Suntek, not Xpel)

 

[kevincwelch]

I'm not so sure about that. I have something similar and the paint armour was damaged but not the paint. (Suntek, not Xpel)

Then it wasn't similar.

That wasn't caused by a little pebble, which Xpel handles nicely at 70 mph. This was a multifaceted rock that gouged the hood. Presumably Xpel would have lessened it, but by no means prevented it.

 

[retinadoc]

Somewhat OT. I had a patient who was driving at 60 MPH, driver's window half open. He passed a roadside lawnmower, the dislodged rock hit him squarely in his left eye, and ruptured the globe. I was able to put it back together with no improvement in vision due to concussive retina damage. The velocity of these projectiles must be approaching bullet speed. A BB would have caused less damage. No way Expel would have made any difference.

 

[kevincwelch]

No way Expel would have made any difference.

I wouldn't recommend covering the globe with Xpel either!

 

[Captain Ducman]

Thank you retinadoc (and all the other responders). My wife and I were talking today if we had been 1-2 seconds earlier to the scene the projectile would have come right through her window, that was rolled down, and hit her square in the head.

LIFE ALTERING.

Extremely thankful,
Steve

 

[Captain Ducman]

Oh yea, the world should be made out of "black box" material not x-pel

 

[HankLloydRight]

Thank you retinadoc (and all the other responders). My wife and I were talking today if we had been 1-2 seconds earlier to the scene the projectile would have come right through her window, that was rolled down, and hit her square in the head.

LIFE ALTERING.

Extremely thankful,
Steve

A few years ago around here there was the story of an innocent driver on I-95 that was unfortunate to be downwind of a big bolt that broke and flew off a garbage or two truck.. penetrated the windshield and hit them in the head. Died instantly. So yeah, one or two seconds in front of, or behind that bolt, and they would have lived (likely).