Texas Woman's Car is Totaled During Oil Change
Lisa Steuer McArdle
· 3 min read
.webp&w=3840&q=1)
You usually don’t expect to have to put in a
car insurance
claim after an oil change, but that’s exactly what happened to a woman in Texas
. After bringing her new 2020 Ford Escape for the car’s first oil change and some warranty work at Tomball Ford, Tiffany Walker got a call that something had happened to her car.
The Texas mechanic’s accident
While Walker’s car was at the dealership, a mechanic reportedly took it out after some repairs to diagnose some other issues, when another driver allegedly failed to yield right of way.
Apparently that driver turned in front of the mechanic and caused him to hit another driver, a claim that is reportedly supported by the police report.
According to reports, the dealership said the other driver’s insurance should pay for the damages. But the insurance companies decided that the driver was only 70% at fault.
Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
No spam · No long forms · No fees
Liability car insurance
While we aren’t sure what kind of car insurance each driver had in the story,
liability insurance
is good to have for a situation like this. That’s because liability insurance protects other drivers involved in an accident that you cause. In other words, if you hit another person’s vehicle or property, liability coverage will help cover the cost of any medical bills or property damage that arises from the accident.
Liability insurance has two basic components:
bodily injury liability
(BIL) and property damage liability
(PDL).The bodily injury liability portion covers you as the at-fault driver, paying for any ongoing medical expenses, funeral costs, or lost income. It also helps cover any legal fees arising from a lawsuit.
Property damage liability helps cover the costs associated with repairing vehicles and property damaged in an accident that you cause.
Car insurance in Texas
Texas, where this incident took place, has proportional liability, which means that the insurance companies assigned liability to all the drivers involved in an accident.
With that rule, the company of the driver who hit the mechanic determined their client was only 70% responsible, and reportedly believes the mechanic was 30% responsible, saying he could have avoided hitting the other car if he wasn’t somehow distracted.
Unfortunately for Walker, the mechanic advised her to deal with the insurance company herself and did not want to claim it on their own insurance, according to
KPRC 2 Houston
. The mechanic did end up providing Walker with a rental car for three weeks.
Get covered with Jerry
Jerry’s free app compares quotes from over 40 different insurance companies for you in under a minute, making it extremely simple to compare different policies. Without any long forms, Jerry will send you quotes that compare to your current coverage.
Plus, as a licensed broker, it takes care of your insurance needs from start to finish. The app also monitors your car insurance rate every six months on an ongoing basis.
