CFI wrecked my trailer. They don’t want to pay for it

This is what I’m looking into this week to get back on the road.

 

“Potential revenue” is an understatement. If you’ve got hundreds of weeks worth of past settlements that show “X” amount of revenue, you can pretty confidently assume that future revenue would have occurred at a certain dollar amount if the accident didn’t happen. It’s just a matter of what time frame is best to look back at. This happens to be during one of the hottest freight markets in a while. So I’m looking at my most recent settlements to determine what revenue would’ve been had the accident not occurred.

 

I completely agree with you on this. I don’t feel like it would be right for them to cover lost revenue for the extended repair time frame. I only ask them for 8 days of lost revenue which was how long it took to get the trailer to a shop, let the shop work up an estimate, get the estimate over to CFI, and determine CFI wasn’t going to take care of it.

CFI never responded when they received the repair estimate which they received on day 3. I called them on the 4th day about it and they said it was in a format that they couldn’t open on their computers (excel). At that point they told me they also couldn’t open my trailer registration document on their computers (jpeg image) that I had sent them on the first day we setup the claim. They never told me they couldn’t open either file. I had to call them to find out. And it took me less than 5 min on an iPhone to convert everything to a pdf format which they could open and send it to them.

After that they said they needed time to review it. So, on the 8th day I called to check on the status and they said they haven’t had time to review it yet and they would get to it when they were finished with other claims in front of me. They wouldn’t provide any timeframe. That’s why I only asked them for 8 days of revenue. Beyond that I asked them to cover a trailer rental which is a very low cost option relative to lost revenue. Someone else mention loss of use for the asset itself while the trailer was being repaired. I never ask them about that, but if I have to come out of pocket to get attorneys involved for something as insignificant as this because they won’t do the right thing, I’m sure CFI’s bill is going to be even higher.

This whole thing could’ve been settled with a couple phone calls and emails back and forth within 4 days of the claim being filed if they just communicated like normal people.

 

I don’t have my own authority. I’m leased on the a carrier. Like I said earlier, I reported it to our safety and accident dept at the scene of the accident. They determined I could not haul any more freight after the load that was on the trailer was delivered. I asked them and the shop that’s doing the repairs about bending it back and they both told me it’s illegal to bend an ICC bumper back to its original form. My carrier is going to need to see an invoice that the repairs were completed before they’ll let me haul freight with it. I’m sure the temporary fix would’ve been a better option while waiting on parts.

What others have posted about just welding on a new bumper and tack welding the aluminum panels that were cracked would’ve probably been the best route if I could go back in time. I’ve never been involved in an accident before, and I was, and still am, dealing with a non-responsive mega carrier, so that played a role too.

I really do appreciate all of the feedback and advice. If something like this happens again, I’m going to look at a temporary fix just to get DOT legal if there is an extended timeframe for getting parts in. Like I said, I’m a first timer.