Okay, no short way to tell this one. 6/10/06 My GF was driving our other car, a 2000 S4 that has 35 series 19's on it (not by our choice) towrds our house in Reno. As she drove over a blind crest, an unmarked ginormous pothole (a maintenance pothole, not a worn-out-pavement pothole) came into view just in time for her to react as she hit it......B-A-N-G! Flat spots on both front wheels and the teuton now pulls right, hard. She was going under the speed limit in fact, and there was no marking this pothole which was 4" deep. Pictures were taken immediately, and we returned later in the day (she was driving home at 5:30 am after working as a sleeptech all night....she needed some sleep) for more pictures in better light. Well....when we returned to the scene, there was a cone marking it off, but still not very well.
Chapter two....
City of Reno risk management was phoned. They claimed no involvement with this pothole which was cut and dug by SOMEONE. It had spray paint markings all around it. The power and gas company was phoned, "not us"....the water company was called, "not us". Hmmmm....well, after a visit to the city offices, we came across the permit (with a reference number) for the dig via the risk manager....permit was pulled via the power company. The power company was visited, again "not us". The "fingers" now point at some private construction entity that was cutting pavement and digging on a city road.
1. Now, wouldn't you think that on a city maintained road, that they would know or have record of who is digging in their damn tarmac? Rat smell #1.
2. If the permit was located and identified as the power/gas co (Sierra Pacific), what measures could one take to confirm that it either was or was not them, I mean, SOMEONE had to pull a permit to dig in a damn public road. How many different permits for the same piece of road, on the same dates could exist? Rat smell # 2.
3. This issue is now going on an entire month without a formal claim being filed, since we cant pin down who to file a claim with. We have pictures, estimates, the whole s***aree. Both of us are way too busy dealing with school (nursing for me, MCAT training for her) to be able to deal with all this run around, and neither of us has room in our budget for a lawyer.
4. We were trying to sell the damn car at the time, and have had an ad running. Sweet ride, but its just too much car for two students to own, german maintenance costs FTL 60K mi ($1000 washer pump R&R; $1000 ABS module rebuild; $450 rear brakes; $1000 fuel pump R&R) We aquired the car on a fluke, as neither of us are rich, and live on scholarships and loans.
5. Has anyone had any sort of experience similar to this? Can you offer any advice short of automatic weaponry? Should we get the risk management team out to see the dig site (which is now filled in) so we can confirm that we are talking about the same location? We were very specific, it is at the intersection of Taylor and Forest in the rightmost southbound lane and we have pics of the pothole and the damage, which have been shown to Reno Risk Mgmt. I'd post pics, but I have no idea how to post pics.
Any advice appreciated, as well as comic relief. This scenario is just one big bag of dicks.
