Chris took a look at the mailbox today. He has extensive training in traffic collision investigation and based on what he observed, he believes the following type of vehicle is responsible for the damage:
Burgundy 2000-2007 Chevrolet Tahoe or Suburban, or possibly a Chevrolet pickup. The paint is flat, not metallic. Damage would likely be on the front bumper (center and driver's side) and possibly on the front quarter panel (driver's side). Part of the bumper will be missing, as well as a fair amount of paint.
Chris doesn't believe it was an "accident". He also doesn't think we'll see this vehicle in the neighborhood again. But please keep an eye out for anything suspicious and gather as much information as you can for the police.
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8 comments:
No need to collect anything for the police. As it was explained to me (by the cop who came to talk to me about the incident) unless I saw the driver running into the mailbox the police can't/won't do anything about it. A report wasn't even filed and it was explained to me that he would only write up a report if an insurance company needed one. My impression now is that no matter what happens in our community unless we catch the people red handed the police are pretty much useless. I will admit I have just moved to this state and this is my first encounter with the police from this state/city/area but wow what an impression I was left with.
Chuck
Chuck,
Sorry to hear that your impressions of our local law enforcement are not great. This is such a small (petty) crime that the Sheriff's Dept. does not have the time or man power to investigate something that has a small price tag to fix. It is protocol to only write the report for insurance purposes. With that I ask, do we have insurance yet? FYI for the new comers. This development has not had insurance for quite some time due to our developer going bankrupt and leaving us in a real bind. Thanks Chuck for trying to help with this incident..Chris too. Being a family member of law enforcement...I am very proud of the wonderful job they do trying to keep us safe! Is'nt it wonderful to know that for the important stuff they are there. As well as in our military.
Just in case there are those who don't think so...my name will remain anonymous:)
We do have insurance as of last week :) However, the HOA board is going to wait and see what it will cost to fix/replace the mailbox first because we're reluctant to file an insurance claim so soon. JC Higgins has contacted a company to take a look at the box. I'm hoping this can be done soon since it's an inconvenience to the neighbors who use that box.
Kind of strange to see an anonymous post that is kind. Normally they are snarky. So thanks :)
What is the deductable the HOA must pay with our insurance claim?
Regardless of whether the HOA pays for the entire cost of fixing the mailbox due to the deductable (which may be very high) or the insurance company also pays part of the claim, the cost will be added to our HOA dues. Vandalism is going to cost each homeowner MONEY. We need to develop an action plan to control it.
Jim,
I agree with you. We need a plan but how do you develop an action plan for something that happened in the middle of the day? I can home at 1 pm Thursday and checked my mail (the box was still whole) then I went back out to the box at 6 pm because there was no mail the first time. My wife, Michelle and I didn't see or hear anything (which is why we were so caught off guard about it). Do you have any suggestions?
While the HOA is negotiating with the insurance company, which we may decide not to do because it will increase our premium, there is a quick solution to promptly restore mail delivery.
The HOA has an inventory of several mail boxes that are in Phase 3 and a new one installed on 81st this Spring that can be used to replace the damaged mail box. There are only 4 bolts holding the mailboxes to the cement foundation. In my old HOA, a couple of homeowners installed the community type mail box after mail was stolen from our individual unlocked mail boxes. They fixed the bolts to make it very difficult to unbolt the mailbox without cutting tools. I will check with the Post Office today about the process of replacing the mail box. The job should only take 2 people about 2 hours.
Jim, that's a good suggestion. I'm passing it along.
Lindsey is checking on the deductible. She believes it's $5,000. Mark believes it's $500. So obviously this needs to be clarified.
And a quick update: JC Higgins emailed a quote to the board. We can have a professional company replace the mailbox for almost $1900. Or we can order the mailbox ourselves and have a neighbor install it for $1189. However, JC Higgins didn't seem to like my idea.
I like Mandy's idea since it would save our HOA about $700. But the only question I would have is can the damaged one be repaired for less than $1000?
If not, then count me in on the install. I still have some of the lumber to get that section of fence replaced as well...maybe this coming weekend we can try to tackle that.
Darin
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