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An Insurance Question: Resolved!

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stolen
4K views 58 replies 36 participants last post by  shawnmasterson 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
My 4 yr old snowblower was stolen from the repair shop. The shopowner handled all the insurance and police stuff. The insurance company sent a check to him, which was for my original purchase price minus 10% per year depreciation. ( it's 4 yr old = 40%.. ouch!)
My question is: Is this check mine? He wants to give me a replacement unit which is about the equivalent value (in his opinion) but it is a older machine. On the upside, it has a B&S motor, mine had a Chinese Honda knockoff motor. This replacement is bigger, in width and hp.
If you've been through this type of incident, how are things supposed to go? I should probably insist on grabbing the check, but I really don't want to slap another $500-$800 with it into a new machine.
Suggestions, guys? I want this all to go down as drama-free as possible, without getting scrawed.
 
#5 ·
Sounds to me like the Check is yours my Friend, but I would take the machine!
For example, our Vehicle got grazed by the Plow Driver this Winter, and I received a check for damages… which promptly got given to the Collision Center to get it fixed… It was a no gain, but no loss deal…
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
hold up now guys…. not so fast.

he paid for the insurance and he will pay the increase in premiums next year. The check is written to him.

Now, you deserve to be reimbursed and made whole again. You can have a conversation and barter to the point where there is a meeting of the minds. he can't force you to take the older snow blower anymore than you can force him to turn over the insurance check.

It's just and offer. If you feel the older unit isn't quite a fair trade, then barter…. ask for a little money too.

Or say no thank you. I would like a better unit. How about taking a cash offer and You come up with a little money and go get yourself a brand new TORO? Now there's an idea. Snow blowers don't last that long anyway.

WORK IT OUT. He benefits either way. you are using it on his property, right?

just a counter point guys…all ideas need to be considered.

fyi - when you get older, you remember every god damned bridge you burned. life is mighty short, turns out.
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks for the great replies!
This would have been easier if the snowblower was stolen out of my own garage.
More difficult to negotiate with two parties involved instead of just one.
Being the entrepreneur that the repair guy is, it's logical to assume he'd try and make a little $$ off my misfortune.
The big issue is to be standing in my driveway with a check in my pocket, and no snowblower. In my mind, I could take the check, add an equivalent amount of cash to it, and get a nice Ariens or Toro (great suggestions, guys!). But at the end of the day, my bank account would be like as if the thieves simply withdrew the money themselves.
At the end of the day, I either wind up with an older snowblower of unknown overall condition, or pay more money to have a snowblower of choice in the shed, which is what I had in the first place.
 
#11 ·
PK,

I have a 2-stage Ariens and think it's a fine machine. I'd pay a few extra bucks for the Subaru Robin engine though. After trouble with fuel systems on a few B&S engines, I made the switch. Five years now, zero maintenance needed. I treat the fuel with Stabil. At the end of the season, I just shut the fuel valve and let it run until it stalls. The next season, I add some fresh gas and go.

It seems to me as though the safe bet would be to get the cash and get a new model. At least then you should have many years of trouble-free use. If cash is tight, ask for some warranty on the used model being offered.

Good luck,

Tim
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Your old machine was in his care and trust when you brought it to him and he should make you a satisfied customer..

I know nothing at all about snow blowers but if you want to accept the replacement unit he is offering you should ask that he provide a 100% parts and labor warranty for however number of years you think is fair.

This means no additional out of pocket expense for you and if it does need repair it is cheaper for him to fix it.
 
#14 ·
+1 to Greg's advice.

Remember, you're not the one who paid for the insurance and dealt with the insurance company and police.

He's been "made whole" by the insurance company and now he's trying to do right by you. Get a WRITTEN contract that spells out the circumstances, what he's giving you physically, and what assurances he's giving you that the unit will operate satisfactorily and reliably for a specified period of time.

Herb
 
#15 ·
The 10% deffered price reduction is his insurance claim to him, however as retribution to you, shouldn't he owe you the full price of what you paid when you purchased it, showing him your receipt, then bargan with him according to your conscience, of what your willing to recieve from him.
 
#16 ·
This is an interesting one. I don't know exactly how theft claims and insurance work in Canada, but here is my best guess. You don't have an insurance claim, the repair guy resolved that with his. You have a contractual/business relationship with the repair guy. He needs to be able to replace the machine that you brought in to him or give you what it was worth. You should get out of the deal whatever you think is fair, but not worth more than the machine you brought in. I wouldn't take the check unless you were planning on upgrading to a new one anyway or if you can't work anything else out. If he doesn't have something else to offer as a trade, then Greg's idea is great. This is a repair shop after all. They should have a pretty good idea how the machine will work and be able to back up the warranty. If they won't consider the warranty, consider that a good sign you don't want that machine.
 
#17 ·
Completely unrelated to your question but…
Is the repair place reputable?
I'm no "Columbo", but how does a snow blower get stolen in the first place?! Why wouldn't a Thief/Thieves steal a couple of chain saws, or tools, or cash, or anything a little easier to transport and conceal?
If they were specifically targeting snow blowers, why wouldn't they steal from a place that offered New ones, rather than a repair shop? How did they know whether it was still broken, or repaired? Was it already repaired?
What else was stolen?
The more I think about it the more fishy it sounds…
All the best to you PK! The Man definitely owes you, one way or another, simply because it was your Property that was taken!
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
NO matter what ! when your property is in his care he is respnsible to make good any damage theft that occurs whilst your goods are on or in his property.He has a nerve imho offering you an older machine he is trying to get rid off.Ask for a cash value for your loss , obtain three quotes from independent companies to say what realistically your machine would have been worth, taking into consideration fair wear and tear over the years, then see if his current cash offer is in line .Remember he had no right to accept an offer from a third party I.E the insurance company,that fell way below what this figure would be, and if he has done so without your input and consent then he should make up the difference .At least that's how it would work here in the UK.Have fun and I do hope that you can BOTH find an amicable solution to your problem. Alistair
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey, thanks again, every one! Hey, very perceptive, LittleCope!
i'll go into a bit more detail about how this all happened. I had fueled up the blower when it was -11 C (12 F)and a bit of snow slid off my gas can into the snowblower tank. I saw it, not able to do anything about it, so I put in one can of drygas, and intended to run out the tank. A change of plan after 10 more minutes of run time, and I put the blower away in the shed. The next day, it was -30 C out, (-22 F) and the thing just would not start, except to run on whatever bit of primer was in. The repair shop I called was the authorized MTD repair depot. He came and picked up the snowblower, and instructions to purge the tank, and possibly rebuild the carb if necessary. He picked it up in the evening, and parked the truck inside his building, with 2 other snow blowers, for the night. At 9:15 AM the next day, he rolled out the truck into his lot. By 10:15, MY blower was gone. A truck had parked beside it, and my snowblower was freighted onto the other truck. They ignored the other two on his truck. There were four bags of trash tossed off the other truck to make room for my snowblower, the cops opened a bag and saw a summons for speeding!! With the owners name on it. The cops went to that person's house, his first words: " I called about my stolen truck three days ago, about time you got here!!! " Everyone agrees, my unit was either sold for scrap @ 9 cents a pound, Sold to a hock shop for less than $100, or went to parts unknown. Sad part of it all, it might even start and run if brought inside a warm building! This business, although located in the hell's kitchen of Winnipeg known as the 'North End', he's never had an incident in his 19 years there. The guy certainly seemed reliable, he was more shook up than I was over this.

There are street gangs all this town, and in fact I can't leave a snowblower out in the yard for a 10 minute coffee without fearing it to be gone when I go back outside! And we live in a 'good' part of town! Kinda tells me to get a junky-ass snowblower, I looked at a Yamaha 12 hp rubber-track blower, it would kill me to see a nice one like that disappear from the yard! And, so it goes…
Thanks, one and all for the moral support and encouragement!
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
I agree with a part of EVERY comment above

But, I think your are probably just plain wrong about a comment you expressed.

"Being the entrepreneur that the repair guy is, it's logical to assume he'd try and make a little $$ off my misfortune".

Why is that a logical assumption ????

Unless this guy is in the 1% of crooked "entrepreneurs" ...or, unless you know for a fact this guy is a bum…..

.....Most small business owners would take it in the shorts to keep a customer happy. Then, add in the fact that that he knows it was stolen off his property for which he is obviously responsible to secure. AND, It is quite possible he sincerely thinks, or knows from years of experience, that the older but bigger machine is actually a better unit than is/was your 4-year-old machine.

So, unless you personally know this guy is a bum, then maybe you are not giving this guy enough respect or credit….....even if you do not "like" his offer.

My REAL point:

A couple hundred bucks on a snow-blower really is a big deal.

A couple hundred bucks, either way is a very cheap commodity as part of being able to say you are proud of yourself.

I am NOT advocating allowing yourself to be abused or steam-rolled or cheated. NEVER let that happen.

But, this situation has a lot of the "coin-flip" in it

You asked for suggestions….... and got them…......so, consider them all…........but, at least to me, the important thing is to feel good …...in your inner-self …....as to how you handled the situation.

Have NO inner regrets when you look back, 6 months? 2 years?? 20 years?? at how you conducted your
self in this deal.

A couple hundred bucks IS a lot of money in certain situations

A couple hundred bucks is chump-change when part of having zero regrets, and are content, now and forever…... with who and what you are.

No specific suggestions….......they are all listed above.

Just me thinking out-loud.
 
#21 ·
IMO it doesn't sound like the guy is trying to take advantage of you. He's probably willing to work to keep you satisfied. If you decide on taking a used one from him I'd try to get a service deal of some sort like Greg suggested.
 
#22 ·
Here is my 2 cents. The insurance is for the shop owner, not you. Here in Texas, you are due to be made whole by the shop owner. This means the equal snow blower, or the value of your snow blower at the time it was stolen, in the condition it was stolen. What his insurance company thinks it is worth is irrelevant… so you don't want the check. You want the value or equal. It seems to me, he has already done the ground work to find a working machine to replace yours, that was not working at the time. I, also being here in Texas, don't know that much about them, but that seems to me that the shop owner is trying to make right by getting you a working machine. If you wanted cash I would go the route of getting estimates and etc.. but IMO not having to spend all the time trying to find a machine etc.. etc.. is probably not worth it. Take the machine he is offering, and guilt him into a couple of tune ups on it if it ain't right.
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thank you, C+, for your insight.
I want to get this whole mess over with, whatever it takes! It's just that there's little hope of recouping any value if and when I decide to go new, there's little or no trade-in leverage. And I really would like the heated hand-grip option, wow what a difference it makes! So, I'll get hosed, either now or later. I'm hoping that this replacement he's offering is substantial enough to last, I can use hand and foot warmers in my gloves and boots…This unit is typical of ones seen on CL for about $200 less than what he values this replacement machine at. Yeah, I'm confused.
And don't get me started about a very bad incident at my Chevrolet dealer this week… denying that my Z71 makes starter gear-clash noises that they refused to address, a stuck or collapsed lifter noise they refused to look at, a block heater that they refused to verify as being unoperational, and generally insulting my intelligence. Cripes, the truck is two years old, and still under warranty! I'm hammering out a letter to the Regional Customer Service Office in Ottawa as we speak. LOL, that's why I only buy vintage WW machinery… I can abide an old machine asking for parts… but not a near-new vehicle! Done venting… Thanks all!
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks, guys, yeah I generally seek to avoid confrontation in these situations, and usually end up simply being quietly dissatisfied.
Whenever I try to be assertive, I generally end up not much better off, and get left wondering why I bothered standing up in the first place. But the repair guy just about told me that I'm getting a used blower… not the check. He wants to move that B&S unit…he can't possibly have that much dough tied up in it.
 
#25 ·
I say if the insurance people gave him X for your machine he should give YOU X for your machine. IT WASN'T HIS MACHINE!!!! It's not your fault he doesn't have good security or cameras there to deter theft. I say demand the check and look for a new small engine guy.
 
#26 ·
If it were me, and I felt the machine he is offering is close to being equal, I'd probably take it. You may need a snow blower tomorrow, plus you don't want to put more money into a new one.

I agree that he still needs to make good, but I would probably skip the hassle and cost of shopping for a new one.

Maybe take the replacement and ask for a "bumper to bumper" warranty and/or free maintenance for a year or two.

Just how I feel. Good luck and glad I don't own a snow-blower. Hope to get rid of my snow shovel soon too!
 
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