I'm P!$$ED!!! Food City SUCKS!!!
 

I'm so pissed, I can't sleep.

My wife has a BRAND NEW 2006 Chevy Cobalt that hasn't even had its first oil change. It's a nice little car and, up until the wind storm we had a week or so back, looked sweet.

She came out to find 3 or 4 shopping carts piled up on the passenger side of her car, tipped over and leaning on each other and her car. Her passenger side looks like she was in a pretty good accident, not just a couple of dings. She lets the manager know and they file a report.

One of the guys that works there saw the carts hit her car and also saw one of the dipwad baggers riding on carts and playing around instead of collecting the carts.

Today we get a letter saying that they're not going to fix her car. They said that it was an unfortunate accident caused by the weather.

I'm no lawyer or weatherman, but it seems to me, in the 15 years I've sat through monsoonal weather, that this storm didn't just "happen", it built up and they all (the Food City people) knew it was coming. You can always tell when one is coming. The parking lot should have been cleared of carts BEFORE the 40+ mph gusts started. I say it's neglegence on Food City's part. I can't call their "Risk Management" phone number in the morning, because it's the 4th and they're closed.

So, I'm supposed to just accept their answer and either pay it out of my own pocket (first estimate is for $1400... It's that BAD) or let my insurance take care of it, pay the $500 deductible and have my rates go up... I think not.

If it was the manager's car, it would already be fixed, on Food City's dollar...

They are responsible for upkeep of their carts. It's called negligence. They are just hoping you will go away.

Unfortunately all of the stores around here have signs posted in their lots stating that they aren't responsible for damage caused by unattended shopping carts. That may your saving grace, if one of the workers were playing with them.

I would say the possibility of shopping carts rolling into a vehicle while it is parked in a parking lot is a well known hazard when using a lot that is open to the public, and not something the owner of the lot should be responsible for. If I were a business owner, the only way I would pay a claim of this nature is if you could prove to me the damage was caused by cart attendents who were "jacking around" while on duty.

Add in the weather related event you mention and you'll never receive a dime in compensation from the courts, should you choose to pursue it.

Not to be an a-hole or anything, but I'd be more pi$$ed at my wife for parking like a dumb-a$$ in an area where this would happen than I would be at the owner of the lot! I have the same conversation with my wife and it simply goes in one ear and out the other....:fyi:

Your insurance rates shouldn't go up is the damage was caused by weather. All my hail damage claims over the years haven't made my rates increase.

edit- BTW the insurance company you have should go after the grocer's insurance company for damages. Give it a try calling yours and see what they can do for you.

It wasn't caused by a kid playing, it was caused by the fact that he was playing INSTEAD of gathering the carts BEFORE the winds picked up to 40+mph. There were no less than 5 carts piled up around my wife's car when this happened. Like I said, it's not a small ding or dent. The whole side of her car is bashed in. I can usnderstand the fact that one might get a small dent or ding from the occasional stray cart, but to beat to hell by 5 carts at once. Plain and simple, Food City's employees were negligent.

I just got off the phone with one of their (Food City's) adjusters. After explaining the details (including the fact that one of the baggers was seen playing on carts instead of gathering them and that I could get a signed affidavit from the employee that witnessed it. To which, BTW, her reply was... Get this... "Kids will be kids." Will that stand in a court of law?), the amount of damage, and the fact that the store manager agrees with us that it's a bunch of BS that they won't pay, the adjuster is going to get with the adjuster whose claim this is and their supervisor and they're going to "See if, as a good faith gesture, pay our $500 deductible."

Hmmm... That's strange, wouldn't paying ANYTHING be admitting fault?

Will a storm damage claim make my premium go up? I have Progressive.

No; it simply means your a pain in the butt and they dont want to listen to you anymore. :)

Yer probably right. I guess sometimes it pays to be an A$$...:devil: