| Not sure who's at fault - US DOT? My dealership? - or not
What is the name of your state? Michigan
I'm not sure who's liable, if anyone's at fault or not, and I only want whatever may be due to me, nothing more, but here's my complicated story.
On or about April 25, 2004, I was headed eastbound on I-94, near the Detroit Metro Airport when my 2001 Volkswagen Beetle hit a 3" or so chunk of concrete or asphalt (There had been highway construction in that general area recently, although the area was not currently zoned construction with the requisite 45 MPH speed limit.) Nonetheless, I am sure I was going no faster than 55 or 60, the speed of the surrounding traffic.
Now, I saw the chunck before I hit it, but since I didn't have the time or space to maneuver my car around it, I judged that the safest thing to do was to avoid taking the impact on one of my tires, since that might have lead to a blowout. Therefore I let the car "straddle" the chunk of concrete or cement.
The result was that it damaged the oil pan to the extent that it blew out the engine (this after having heard the chuck knock against the underside of the car, and driving about 50 more yards trying to find a safe place to pull over - and trying to figure out what was happening when I saw my dashboard lights go on, because I wasn't expecting it to result in anywhere near this extent of damage.)
Well, I had to have the car towed back to an auto mechanic. Although my car was no longer under warranty by this time, I was still using my dealership as my auto mechanic, figuring it was better than using some fly-by-night place. Up until then, I had been satisfied with their service, but this was all about to change.
The dealership told me the whole engine would have to be replaced, pretty much for the reason I described above. (I admit, I had been a little confused when I first heard the chunk hit the underside and saw the dashboard lights come on - I admit I might have been able to pull over a minute or so earlier and possibly avoid this extent of damage, but then maybe not - and anyway AM I REALLY THE ONLY PERSON WHO'SE EVER MADE THIS TYPE OF MISTAKE - especially when I'm trying to balance all kinds of other things such as work and school so I can maybe get a better job that pays enough to live on? I do try to drive carefully and nonrecklessly). And isn't the US department or Transportation or whoever they contracted to do the repairs a little bit liable for not cleaning up from their repair work? But I wouldn't even know how to begin to sue them, and admittedly I should have probably filed a police report at the time, but I didn't because I was just so overworked and stressed from everything in my life and not even feeling very well physically - just trying to get through each day - I'm sorry - I'm not perfect. I just feel the US DOT ought to be well-organized enough to have some kind of cleanup procecdures in place, and that the fact that I could have done better at gathering documentation about what happened (and I do still have the insurance report after all) doesn't mean the US DOT should get off scot free if they are this careless.
But maybe it's the auto mechanics I ought to be going after: My insurance paid for them to install a junkyard engine in the car. Now I should admit to one other thing I did wrong: About a month later there was a big flood in my region, and I was again having to get through a workday even though I had a throbbing headache. Now I would have taken the day off if I had been so sick I absolutely couldn't drive, but I get fairly frequent headaches, especially when the weather changes, and I try to work through them, because I'm trying to do the right thing and not cop out - sometimes it's hard to know what's the right thing to do.
So anyway, as I said, this was about late May, and I drove though a storm puddle that I saw plenty of other cars driving through, but my Volkswagen is pretty low to the ground, and, as I’ve learned since, probably shouldn’t do some of the maneuvers other cars do. Anyway, it damaged the turbo, so I had to get this repaired.
Well, since this time I’ve had the car back at the dealership practically every two or three weeks. I know a junkyard engine isn’t very reliable, but every two or three weeks is ridiculous. This last time, I took it in (last week) because I had started developing problems in which it stalled the first few times I started it up and tried to back it up. Well, Saturday, after having been told by the dealership that the problem was with the cam shaft and that they had fixed the problem, my husband and I went to pick up the car. Well, the thing wouldn’t even start up at all!!! The dealership was, of course, closed on Saturday (have you ever known of any car-repair place that is open OTHER than times when most people have to work?). This means that today, before work I have to go back to the dealership, give the key to them and tell them to get their act together.
I’m beginning to think the dealership is trying to fleece me. Maybe they’re the one’s I should be going after as much as, or moreso than the US DOT or their subcontractor.
Probably there are things everyone – certainly myself included – could have done better
I know there’s things I could have done better in the above two situations, but I’m JUST TRYING TO GET THROUGH MY LIFE AND ALL THE THINGS I HAVE TO JUGGLE AS BEST I CAN. In other words, I may not have a legal case against the US DOT or my dealership, but I need to try to find out if I do. Again, I know there’s things I could have done better, like get a police report for the April 25 chunk incident or not drive through the puddle, and yes, I need to accept that for my carelessness I’m going to lose some time and money – but I didn’t expect it to be anywhere near to this extent - I’m doing the best I can in my life – how much more can I emphasize this – I’d never drive if I thought I was so ill or so stressed I was going to do any kind of injury to someone else!!!! PLEASE DON’T CONDEMN ME OUT AND OUT AS A BAD PERSON EVEN THOUGH I REALIZE THERE’S THINGS I COULD HAVE HANDLED BETTER!!! I’m just trying to see if there’s anyway I LEGITIMATELY – and NOT ILLEGITIMATELY - can ease some of my own stress in terms of time and money, reliable transportation so I can hold down a job, etc. and to do this, I want to see if I still have any legal rights in this matter, and if so where to even begin in terms of establishing documentation, liability, etc. I’m moderate income, but probably not poor enough to qualify for free legal help, but not brilliant enough to act as my own attorney either. I’m not trying to make excuses for myself, and I really don’t enjoy looking for someone to blame – I’M JUST TRYING TO SURVIVE MY LIFE IN ONE PIECE WITHOUT THE STRESS TOTALLY WRECKING MY HEALTH, MY JOB, MY FINANCES, ETC., so court action is an avenue I need to investigate even though I hardly know where to start, or whether this is a state or federal issue, etc. etc.
Just please please please don’t condemn me as a human being for having made some mistakes because I didn’t hurt anyone except myself, and I never knowingly would. |
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