Drivers frustrated over car damage from road work
James Martnick loves his car. He alleges the rocks along State Route 27 have obliterated his paint job, chewed up the bumper, and dented his doors. He also had to fix cracks in his windshield.
LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – James Martnick loves his car.
He’s been driving it, modifying it, improving it, maybe obsessing over it since he was 14.
“It’s been in several shows, won several awards,” he told FOX 35 News.
But the drive to work every day? That, he does not love.
“It’s horrible. It’s horrible. It’s bad,” he said. “Like going through a minefield.”
He alleges the rocks along U.S. Highway 27 have obliterated his paint job, chewed up the bumper, and dented his doors. He had to fix cracks in his windshield.
“Three days later, going down the same road, ‘Bam!’ Smacked it again, cracked it again,” said Martnick. “I’m at the point where I’m not even going to fix it anymore until they’re done with what they’re doing.”
He isn’t the only one FOX 35 heard that from – far from it.
“I’m still riding around with three chips in my windshield,” a woman named Caren Morell told FOX 35’s Marie Edinger.
Robin Holliday told Edinger the same thing.
“I’m not going to replace it because it’s just going to happen again,” she said. It’s an effort in futility.”
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The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) told Edinger the gravel was due to wear and tear on the road; a process called ‘raveling’ where stones loosen from asphalt. But the drivers Edinger talked with don’t buy that.
“As they’ve been doing the construction, there’s been so much debris that’s been left in the roads,” said Corinne O’Neal.
All of the people FOX 35 talked with for this story filed claims with FDOT asking them to pay for damage to their cars.
“[I] contacted them, and they basically told me to go kick rocks,” said Martnick, adding he didn’t intend the pun there.
FDOT told claimants they have a maintenance agreement with the construction company, which includes indemnification of alleged negligence. That just means FDOT is not liable and that the claimants would have to contact the construction company directly.
However, the company denied claims, citing a Florida law that drivers with comprehensive insurance – also known as full coverage – don’t have to pay a deductible to get a new windshield.
Two things about that:
First, what if, like car insurance agent Caren Morell, you’re in a car with only Florida’s minimum insurance requirements: personal injury and liability?
“Out of pocket, it cost around $400,” she said of her new windshield.
And, even if you do get the windshield for free, Morell says you could see other impacts.
“The claims experience will follow you from carrier to carrier,” Morell said. “It will impact some people’s insurance rates.”
“I don’t want to put another claim in for insurance – we can barely afford it how it is without putting claims in,” said O’Neal.
Fox 35’s Marie Edinger called and emailed the company responsible for the construction, but have not received a response.
So Edinger looped back around with FDOT, and the agency went back out to the site themselves.
A representative for FDOT said they saw “a few areas on the south end of the project that could use some extra attention…” but said while they were there, the road “looked very clean… Showing clear signs of a recent sweep.”
But the drivers Edinger talked with say they want those street sweeps to happen more often.
“I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s right,” said O’Neal.
“It irritates me to no end,” Martnick added.
The Department of Transportation says they hope to have the project completed by this Fall.
FDOT also said the asphalt is getting replaced with a more durable material, to prevent raveling in the future.
When the project is all said and done, that stretch of the road will also have new curbs and gutters, and new pedestrian signals.
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