Driver hit chicken, wants us to pay for new bumper

[Big Orp]

Not sure if this is the best place, looking for advice.

We live on a country road with a 20mph speed limit. People never do 20, usually in excess of 40. Today someone hit one of our chickens in the road, stopped and said the chicken did damage to their bumper. My partner told them to get an estimate, but he thinks it's going to cost us upwards of $1,000.

Where do I start in figuring this out? I'm guessing we have no choice but to pay for the repairs. We spent $1,500 partially fencing the property, but the chickens came through the carport.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

No little chicken is going to dent a bumper. Turkey maybe but not a chicken. It's a scam don't pay any thing.

 

[KayTee]

Our insurance company has said because the amount is so small ($500), it's not worth the time to argue or fight the claim. They would just pay it. We already asked him if it would cause our rates to go up, he said yes.


The letter we had from their insurance said we will get a bill shortly. I think my partner is waiting for that to come before doing anything else.

Hang on - YOU'RE the customer. The insurance company can't go around paying out claims against you if you dispute liability. (If they did that then anyone could claim against your insurance for any tiny thing at all, and there would be nothing you could do about it!) They can only settle a claim if you accept liability or if you deny liability but a court finds you liable anyway. You pay your premiums for them to act on your behalf, and it sounds as if they're not doing that - they just want the simple way out. The car insurance company said the same thing to my friend - they wanted a settlement rather than disputing the claim because it wasn't a huge amount, but my friend insisted that they refuse to pay the claim and let it go to court.

Can't you find a consumer advice group who might be able to help you? (In the UK we have the Citizen's Advice Bureau and also an Insurance Ombudsman, but I don't know what you have in the US) It would be better to get advice now, so that when you get the bill from their insurance company you will already know what to do next.

Good luck.

 

[01steven]

I would file a police report. If you continue with the individual's game you will loose. with a police report you probably will stop the scam amd save yourself some money for next Christmas.

 

[flockanuts]

I repeat what I told you in the private message!!! $27 is a WHOLE lot cheaper than $500 and insurance won't go up either. Unlike medical insurance, there is no such thing as a pre-existing condition!!! They WILL give you the BEST advice!!!!!

 

[buckbye]

I repeat what I told you in the private message!!!  $27 is a WHOLE lot cheaper than $500 and insurance won't go up either.  Unlike medical insurance, there is no such thing as a pre-existing condition!!!  They WILL give you the BEST advice!!!!!

...care to explain? This post is a bit confusing.

 

[flockanuts]

...care to explain? This post is a bit confusing.

I didn't want to do an advertisement on here for my work-at-home company so I sent them a private message. A 40+ year old company has insurance, like medical or car insurance, but for lawyers and identity theft. If you want to know more, send me a private message because I don't want to get kicked off for being out of line.

 

[WhiteLeghorn2]

Not sure if this is the best place, looking for advice.

We live on a country road with a 20mph speed limit. People never do 20, usually in excess of 40. Today someone hit one of our chickens in the road, stopped and said the chicken did damage to their bumper. My partner told them to get an estimate, but he thinks it's going to cost us upwards of $1,000.

Where do I start in figuring this out? I'm guessing we have no choice but to pay for the repairs. We spent $1,500 partially fencing the property, but the chickens came through the carport.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Well that idiot should not have been flying down your road lol. How do you dent your car by hitting a 4 pound bird? He must've been going 50 MPH.

 

[MaPa26]

Quote: I keep following your thread, Coralietg. Your experience has raised a lot of questions. My husband and I have discussed your situation. The next time I see our insurance agent, I am going to inquire about how a situation like yours would be handled by our company. I checked the laws in our state, and as far as I can tell, a dirt, gravel or sand road (that is what we have) doesn't have a "speed limit" unless it is posted. The basic rule is to not travel faster than road conditions and weather allows. So of course we see a LOT of idiots who travel too fast for a sand road. They have no concept of what it is like to lose control and slide helplessly on sand, evidently, so they will continue to "speed" and gamble with their lives and the property of others.

One night my husband and I were coming home and waited to turn onto our road because of an oncoming vehicle. This van turned onto our road and immediately tried to excelerate for all he was worth. He immediately lost control of his vehicle (he was less than fifty yards from the intersection) and started to fishtail. His rearend clipped the mail and newspaper boxes belonging to a neighbor, smashing her newspaper box to smithereens. He stopped; probably to clear his head a bit. Seeing how fast the van tried to go when he turned, we had hung back to see how the drama would unfold. The van sat there so long, we finally decided to go around and go home. I did get his license plate number, just in case. I wanted to call the sheriff, but my husband talked me out of it. We lived just a few hundred feet further up the road so we went home, leaving the van sitting there. It finally went on down the road, but this time at a MUCH slower pace. That is just the way some people drive around here on these roads. School buses do have a limit for these types of roads. They are not to go over 45, but I know I've seen drivers pushing that limit! We just have no way to prove it when we see it. I guess I was just fortunate to witness the accident in front of my house when the teenage girl lost control and crashed into the utility pole across from my house, narrowly missing my mailbox (it would have done more damage to her car than the pole, I fear.) Large cedar trees helped slow her down, thank goodness. When her parents came by, shortly, to see how/where she had damaged her car, I was out there and pointed out the tracks in the road that showed that she had fishtailed three times back and forth across the road before going off. She had told her parents that a large truck had "run her off" the road. The fact is, that large truck had just pulled out of my next door neighbor's driveway and had NO speed yet. I think she had to scoot over for it but was going too fast when she hit the deeper sand at the side of the road. I am glad she wasn't hurt, but I think about how close she came. I hope she learned her lesson about speed on a loose surface road!

 

[TTracy]

I too have been following this thread.
My earlier advice was not to pay a dime, and I haven't changed my mind!!
I wonder about the insurance company just paying out without any investigation, esp. when their own member is doubting the situation. I also wonder why the insurance company is even involved with an amount of $500.00, unless their deductible is lower? Mine is $500.00 (auto) and $1000.00 (home) so my insurance company wouldn't be involved, it would be my responsibility

A quick google search will inform you the average size of a random run of the mill hen is between 5 to 7 lbs. The speed that the driver would have had to be going would be considered criminal in my state. Bumpers are made to ABSORB impact, so she was driving fast enough to hit a hen (who was in the air, considering the average height of a chicken and sedan) and DENT/LOSE part of her bumper?

Also lets not forget that chickens are birds and have HOLLOW bones?? Not a lot there to do much damage. (Unless I missed something and this was a large meat bird?)

 

[NinjaRooster]

I'm pretty sure that unless that was a frozen bird shot out of a cannon, that car would have to have been flying!

At normal speeds (say, 25 mph), the most damage I could see happening would be a small scratch or two if it got its claws up to the bumper; but not much else from an under ten pound feather covered bird.