So, I took my car to my trusted mechanic to have a simple synthetic oil change a few months back. Fast forward to a few days ago, I'm driving on the highway and my car dies. I tow it to the mechanic, thinking its a simple battery or some other minor issue.
He calls me yesterday, and ask anxiously if someone has serviced or messed with my truck in the last few months. I tell him no. He says that the plug from the oil tank was missing and there were absolutely no oil in the truck. I tell him, THEY changed the oil last, still have the sticker from their shop. He stops at his tracks and tells me he'll call later.
He calls me later and says that after a lengthy diagnosis, the engine is completely shot and the truck is likely totaled.
I do have comprehensive commercial auto insurance but unsure about if it will cover occasions like that.
Special snowflake details: What makes the thing extra frustrating is that the mechanic is very experienced and been around for 2 decades. He has fell on hard times, got cancer, got three months of chemo and a huge medical debt to pay for it, and is going to close shop by the end of the month. I guess he was frazzled, heavily medicated and was scatter brained. Getting a lawyer and try to recover my cover will likely cost a lot in lawyer fees and is likely to yield nothing, as I'm pretty sure the owner is going to declare bankruptcy. He is a great honest guy, but totally messed up this one time. I feel sorry for him and don't want to kick the men when he is down, but this is my only mode of transportation, paid in full, and is worth 14k. Am I totally SOL? Do I have any recourse? What should I tell my insurance company?
Thank you so much redditors, I am a loss, super angry and anxious about the prospect of losing 14k worth of car due to somebodies negligence/incompetence.
Edit: Checked the receipt. Oil was changed a month and six days ago. Stayed at at family at Christmas and after talking with them today, they said after I left there were a puddle of oil on their driveway. My best self diagnosis is that they just didn't tighten it enough and it slowly leaked through the course of the last month and a half.
Submitted January 13, 2017 at 12:58PM by cartrouble999 http://ift.tt/2jfFugD
