I recently ran in to what I believe is a pot hole on the freeway or perhaps a debris on the freeway. It was late night an couldn't really tell as I wasn't paying too much attention. Anyway my stock rims have small indentation on each and the tire become flat and damaged from driving it flat. Can the rims be be covered by my insurance company as well as the tires? I'm assuming under my comprehensive. I don't want to call and report this unless it's covered.

 

if you can get your insurnace to pay for that type of damage I would be surprised.

 

Sorry about your luck

I was fortunate to have a 5 year wheel and tire warranty thrown in on my purchase and in case this ever happens to me I'll be thankful its there!

 

One would typically file a claim with the town. However, you mention you were on a highway and I'm not certain who is liable at that point.

 

I guess I'm SOL on this one.. Anyway, greatly appreciate the feedback from everyone. I will just have to take it as a loss.

 

It's actually easy you just put a claim in with caltrans. They have a budget just for that, although it might be empty by now with this whole "thing" we got going on here in the state. The website is www.dot.ca.gov and up top it has tabbing and run the mouse over contact us and select damage claim. It explains it all on there what to do. The trick is proving the roads did it and where. I had it happen on the Altimonte earlier this year and it bent all four rims on my E55. I have the SL65 rims on which run about 10k for all four so I wasn't happy at all. It cracked the rear tire which caused a tire failure from low pressure and blew it out. I was doing about 65 which dropped the beast to the ground and breaking the shock and rear bumper. Sad thing is you can't brake when that happens since ABS kicks on because the blown out tire is just spinning and will lock up immediately. NOT FUN let me tell you! I did the insurance claim and found out about caltrans claim afterwards. They put it down as an at fault accident since I was the only person involved and I am suppose to avoid the road conditions according to Cali traffic laws (I call BS). You can still do the claim but only for what you paid for since you already collected on the damages from the insurance. If you file for the full refund to repay the insurance company you need some letter saying you are filing on their behalf/ My insurance USAA didn't know what it was and said don't worry. They didn't want to pursue it but at the same time they weren't going to ding my record or rates either. Hope that helps and if you have anymore questions feel free to ask! Sorry for the essay!

 

Thanks Mike for your reply. Very helpful. I'm sorry to hear the mishap but glad you were able to square it away. So I can file it with my insurance then. I assume its covered under comprehensive? And did they pay for the entire cost of the rims plus tires?

 

Mine paid for everything that was damaged minus my deductible. They wouldn't cover replacing other tires that didn't blow out though. Just the rims since they are unsafe to install back onto the car. I tried to explain how the differential can be damaged if the rear tires have different tread but they didn't care. I can't complain since I paid about 1k and they covered the 14k it was for four wheels, a shock, and new bumper.

Oh side note I don't know what rims you have on but my insurance tried to repair mine. Luckily Mercedes has a scam on their two piece wheels. They don't sell rivets so if the rim is chrome and damaged you can not take it apart to re chrome it as it can never be put back together. Depending on what you have on your car that tidbit might come in handy before you file a claim??

 

Thanks Mike for the additional info. It was my stock rims that was damaged. Left image on my signature. I suppose it can still be fixed and repainted. I don't know if its bent but it doesn't seem to be. I got a quote for repair and repaint for $150 each rim. Kind of a bummer that they didn't replace the other tires for you but I guess that kind of makes sense. I'll have to buy new tires for the other 2 also since they are worn and won't be even with the driver side. Maybe I'll just sell them after I get the other 2 fixed.

So this was under comprehensive?