New JD4520 cab is destroyed

[eepete]

All this major stress cutting was with some help to both catch pieces being cut off so they didn't damage the tractor and to someone to call 911 if...

So what's pretty amazing is that the ROPS post was not bent, the paint wasn't even broken. That's a tough hunk of metal ! The interior of the cab has looked better, but notice that the frame and fender are intact. The switches and 3 PT hitch height lever, along with that entire plastic molding that hold them, need to be replaced but there is no structural damage- even the fender came through without a scratch! This is also why the remove had to be done carefully. If that post had shifted when de-constructing the building, it would have fallen into this area and taken out all the SCVs including the joystick and possibly bent the lower cab frame.
So two glass panes broken, two OK, guess that makes this a OS/CAB hybrid

So there it is free, ready to be towed to the dealer.

So on the plus side, in a month or so I get the thrill of having the same new tractor delivered twice, and I can stop worrying about getting that first scratch

Some minor lessons on living life here too. When things go wrong, take a deep breath and if no one is hurt and it can be fixed with money it's gonna be OK. Be sure your stuff is insured. And don't expect some outside entity to come swooping in and make it better, grab control of it. If I had not starting the extraction process and put a tarp on the tractor, the rain we had would have damaged the top section and interior of the cab. No good local business to do the de-construction, and doing it slowly prevents thousands of dollars of damage. Little bites and big cribbing kept the process manageable and safe. Volunteering in life gives you more than you put into it. Skills learned working with buildings in the fire department help me pull this off, and friends made helped at critical times. Plowing the neighbors driveway the day before meant they had the time to help me. It all comes around. Part of why this is a nice site is I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one.

The recovery of joints in my body should be done in a week or so...

Pete

 

[Dargo]

Oh my! That's gotta give you a sick feeling looking at your new tractor banged up. Thanks for sharing the pictures. I honestly hope you come out better with State Farm than I have. I've been with them for 26 years for my home and all my vehicles and umbrella. Until 2 years ago I never had a single claim. Then a woman lost control of her pickup and rammed my wife and kids in her Honda Civic on the interstate. Fortunately the little Honda protected the passengers like a champ as it was destroyed going down a 30' drop into the woods. The other lady had State Farm insurance as well and she readily admitted fault and was just happy she didn't hurt anyone. The police didn't ticket her but provided us with a complete accident report along with specifically stating who was at fault.

Fortunately I was in a position to buy my wife a new car an not wait for State Farm. The only thing they did fast was proclaim the Honda a complete loss. (no kidding, it was crushed everywhere) I was pretty well smoking mad after they still hadn't paid me anything 2 months after the accident. They finally paid a fair amount (the Honda was only 6 months old), but it took them right at 3 months to pay me. My only other claim with them in 26 years was right at one year ago when we had an ice storm that took out a transformer and sent thousands of volts into my home blowing out pretty well everything that was hooked to an outlet or wired to the house (A/C units and furnaces etc.). State Farm pulled some fine print that said that they don't pay over $1000 for anything that isn't hard wired into the home. That means refrigerators, deep freezers, big screen TV's, computers, welders, plasma cutters etc. etc. etc. were only covered for $1000 max each. With a thousand dollar deductible, I still ended up being out of pocket over $20k in expenses. And, again, it took months for State Farm to pay.

I'm actively looking to move everything to a different insurer but with two claims with State Farm in the last 3 years, all other companies are a lot higher. It doesn't matter that I paid premiums for over 23 years and had no claims, only the last 3 years seem to count. I sure hope you come out better with State Farm than I have. With all I have insured, they have already collected more in premiums in the last 3 years from me than they paid out on both claims. I've had it with their 'fine print' garbage and the inexcusable delays in paying claims. Again, sorry for your loss and sorry for my little rant. I just thought you may want to know about my experience with State Farm so you can watch them. Good luck with your recovery!

 

[ovrszd]

Pete, as a fellow insurance consumer, (aren't we all) it's very commendable
that you wish to return only to the functionality you had. So many times in
this situation,there ends up a bigger, better building in place, with
all sorts of new toys inside. We all pay premiums that cover
these losses. But when you see it taken advantage of it makes you wonder.
Especially when there are multiple claims by the same people.

I had a complete loss last year. I didn't determine the value of my losses. My insurance company did thru a contractor called Claims Plus. Claims Plus decided what my tractor was worth. The value they placed on it allowed me to shop effectively and buy a bigger tractor. I have no regrets or apologies for that. And I certainly don't feel like I took advantage of anything. My premiums are based on that type of coverage. My insurance company certainly didn't give me a cheaper rate based on an agreement to buy a lesser tractor.

 

[ovrszd]

eepete, I'm sorry for your loss and understand the sleepless nights and stress. The unknown in dealing with the insurance company will be the worst part. Takes a lot of communication to figure out where you stand. They should pay a maximum amount for cleanup. Mine was $750. I hired my wife's cousin who has loader and dump truck capability to haul my mess away after we dug thru everything. In your case it looks like you will salvage everything except the building. Again I'm sorry for your loss.

Here's some pictures to make you feel a little better. I stood in my yard at 2 a.m. and watched helplessly as I lost my building.

 

[eepete]

Richard, I won't use someone else's misery to make me feel better, but I'll sure commiserate with you! I have three days and $180 in the extrication. Seeing how they deal with that will let me know what sort of response I'm in for. Don't really care if they pay for my time or not, it was worth it to insure that there was no more damage and that everything is repairable with no long term annoying things like bent frames.
I've got a contractor quoting on demolition and hauling it off so I can be ahead of the game when the adjust shows up.

I've seen a lot of shops burned down. It's always very sad because a shop has years of work, organization, parts, and little doo-dads used to get the job done that are about impossible to itemize. A home, by contrast, has bigger things that are easier to itemize such as furniture, but then it has things that are truly irreplaceable such as heirlooms and pictures.
So a shop is hard to itemize the contents, but more replaceable (except for antiques and vintage equipment). A house is easier to itemize, but has items that can never by replaced, like Aunt Trudy's holiday serving platter that has ground hogs dressed up as elves.

I've had a few people say that if their place is ever on fire, just let it go- the insurance will cover it. They don't want to deal with anything other than a total loss. But I've never seen anyone with a total loss that didn't loose things that are irreplaceable. I think it's just one of those things you have to go through, and I hope that most people remain ignorant of the experience. When we can save a room or two, or bring out some items and save them people are comforted by having a little something.

I've always felt that insurance was for the big events. If I popped a pane on the cab out in the field, I'd just pay for it. And it's difficult figuring out what amount and type of coverage to get. Full replacement, depreciated value, what level deductible, etc. People I've heard of that got dropped had lots of little claims for patio furniture destroyed in a storm, or a small appliance that went during a lightning storm. Most of the time, they have paid extra for a very low deductible, and I think that aids in this mentality.

Coming back from a fire call, a person ran a red light (after the person in front of me turned on the green OK) and hit my 10 year old Ford Ranger with 75K miles on it. No insurance, no registration. The person claimed I ran the light, a witness came forward. Didn't hurt that my driving record was clean, theirs was heavily soiled. So I'm covered by my uninsured motorist insurance and have a claim that was out of my control. So I got $5K from the insurance co. to replace my old truck. It cost $20K to replace it. But if it wasn't this way, every time some wanted a new vehicle they would drive into a tree. So we all pay for other peoples silliness. It's just a question of if that's shared by all through higher premiums, or shared by a few when they make a claim. We have full replacement cost on the house and contents (property). Anyway, between some peoples greed and the need for corporate profit it's quite a complex topic that we all have to deal with. So having to deal with it all at the same time you're looking at a pile of what used to be is very difficult.

Dargo, it's real important in life to be able to sit on an emergency pile of cash. Hard in the early years, but a goal to move towards. It gives you time ability to get back going quickly, and then take whatever time is needed to work with the insurance company. As for the "only the last 3 years count", only in a society run my sales people and not real people.
I'll have to check my fine print on the "wired to the home" liability. I've got big honking MOVs in each of my breaker boxes, and anything that's not a lightbulb is on a plug strip. The computers are on a central UPS. But all those things won't fare well in a multi kilovolt event. I'm just trying to ride out the spikes. When my Ranger got tagged, it took about 6 weeks to get the $$s. I had the new truck a few days after the accident. It's probably sad that I consider that par for the course. I'll continue posting to this thread as things move from recovery to the paperwork.

Pete

 

[Dutch445]

I had a complete loss last year. I didn't determine the value of my losses. My insurance company did thru a contractor called Claims Plus. Claims Plus decided what my tractor was worth. The value they placed on it allowed me to shop effectively and buy a bigger tractor. I have no regrets or apologies for that. And I certainly don't feel like I took advantage of anything. My premiums are based on that type of coverage. My insurance company certainly didn't give me a cheaper rate based on an agreement to buy a lesser tractor.

Richard,
I don't have any problem with a fair settlement, and it sounds like
you made out good this time. I think I'm more bothered by the fact
that there are a lot of people out there intentionally defrauding insurance
companies that the rest of us have to pay for. ie a garage comes down,
large claim, new stuff inside, then the "new" garage comes down again and
again, new claim, more new stuff, although some of it is surely salvagable. could even be a different insurance company this time. there are certainly people that take advantage of their insurance.

 

[hpc]

Richard,


It me me sick too to see a beloved tractor sitting beneath the remains of
the barn. It made my stomach drop.

I truly hope everything works out and the insurance comes through quickly.

The very best to you.

Stay safe and be careful!

Lon

 

[ovrszd]

Dutch, eepete described the insurance plans very well. I have full replacement insurance. My premiums are set in accordance with full replacement. So me and the insurance company are rolling the dice. They are better equipped to do that than me. They will systematically win at this game. My evidence is their financial bottom line.

In my case I had purchased my Kubota used for $9900 two years prior. I listed it that way on my personal property list. I gave it a current value of $8500. The insurance company came back to me and said it had a replacment value of $18,200 and they would pay up to that amount. Now think for just a minute before answering this....... How much money would you have spent on a replacement tractor??? Same with my JD455, I valued it at $4,500, they said it was worth $9,900. I replaced my Kubota B2910 with a Kubota L4400. I replaced my JD455 with a JD2210. Both under their quoted value but well over my declared worth. If you feel that maliciously drove up your premium so be it. When you have a major loss you can report how you handled your claim.

I built back a bigger and better shop. That money came out of my pocket. I'm sure there are people that drive by and think I'm scamming the insurance company. But I assure you, insurance companies rarely get scammed and more likely squeeze out of paying for items out of ignorance of the insured or policy fine print. For example I found out my company would pay $750 toward cleanup by asking. They didn't offer that info, I had to ask for it. If I hadn't asked they wouldn't have volunteered the info.

The Jeep in the picture hanging from the backhoe bucket is a 2004 Rubicon with 20K miles on it and $40,000 invested to build it as a very capable rockcrawler. The insurance company paid me $23,600 based on a $5,000 cap on add ons.

We dug thru the ashes and saved everything we could find. I had 27 pallets lined up in my driveway stacked full of shop items. I did that for two reasons. The first was to prove my claim. The second was to shake my memory so I wouldn't forget big items. The insurance company never questioned my list of losses. They had Claims Plus assign a value and they paid me market value on everything within a month.

Now I buy replacements, send them my receipt and they send me the difference between market value and my replacement cost up to the amount they said was fair. A few times I've exceeded that amount. they've always paid the extra.

I had three types of loss, the building, the insured road vehicles and personal property. The building paid in two weeks. The vehicles also paid in two weeks. The market value on the personal property paid in six weeks. It takes them an average of ten days to send me a check when I send a receipt. I have no complaints.

My total claim will be around $165,000. That will leave me with a loss of around $40,000. The loss is based on small clauses in my policies. First as mentioned above is the cap on vehicle addons. The second and biggest ding was a cap on motorized vehicle parts and accessories of $500. I listed $17,000 of items and got $500.

My agent stood in my shop and looked it all over when he wrote my policy. He never mentioned either of these limitations. For that reason I am changing agents, same company, different agent. My insurance company is Shelter Insurance.

eepete, again sorry for your loss and sorry for the rant. Keep us posted on your insurance payout and especially on your rebuild!!!

 

[ovrszd]

Richard,


It me me sick too to see a beloved tractor sitting beneath the remains of
the barn. It made my stomach drop.

I truly hope everything works out and the insurance comes through quickly.

The very best to you.

Stay safe and be careful!

Lon

Lon, This was the second biggest crisis of my life. I still grieve over it. As eepete said there were things in there that I can't replace. A lot of my deceased Dad's tools. Also a lot of my deceased Son's things. Last night I got up at 1 a.m. and looked out the window to make sure the new shop was alright. I do that almost every night and have for the last eleven months. My folks lost their house to fire in 1950. My Mom still talks about things that she misses. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[AKfish]

Good to see the positive (and safe) direction that the recovery effort is taking...

And from the sound of things; ovrszd's "investment" with his insurance company turned out OK - albeit $40,000 on the short side - but, he's back in the tractor business, at least.

Enjoying the updates.

AKfish