Action News Investigation: Philadelphia man in fight with city after Streets Department truck damages car

But an East Falls person reported he was still left with a hefty repair invoice following his motor vehicle was strike by a Philadelphia recycling truck.

Nicholas Nehez reported the sound was deafening.

“I listened to crunch, crunch,” he reported.

The instant he appeared outside his window on Creswell Avenue, he immediately noticed his car or truck staying mangled. The recycling truck was hooked up to his 2002 Mercedes Benz wheel properly.

“We experienced to thrust the motor vehicle in excess of so that the components of his wheel would pop out of the fender,” claimed Nehez.

Nehez could not travel his auto following the April 2020 accident and it later on failed a point out inspection. The harm estimate was approximately $5,000.

“I obtained a few estimates. I failed to go for the upper end, the gold-plated one,” he claimed.

Nehez mentioned he quickly alerted the metropolis, but it took months prior to it sent a claim acknowledgment. And when they did, he got lousy information.

The city’s initially offer you was just $1,500.

The city’s explanation?

“We are only heading to do this a lot due to the fact the carpet is filthy and there is a scratch on the back again bumper,” recalled Nehez.

He balked and the claims department finally bumped it up to $2,200, which was still not adequate to include the restore.

“Gosh, just resolve the auto, maintenance the problems that you did and I will be content,” said Nehez.

The city’s lowball offer appears to be the norm.

The Action News investigators did a deep dive into the Philadelphia Streets Department motor motor vehicle mishaps for the earlier 10 a long time ending in 2020. The town had extra than 2,300 claims.

We observed much more than 50 % of closed statements had no payment.

And when the city does fork out, most settlements were being underneath a $1,000 with the median payment becoming a little more than $600.

It is unclear how several of all those payments included the whole price tag of weakened autos or assets.

A city spokesperson informed Action News it built a “truthful offer you” on a 19-yr-old car or truck, and that it pays the lesser of the genuine funds value for the claim or the depreciated worth of the car or truck at the time of the decline.

Simply just place, the city suggests Nehez’s motor vehicle isn’t really worth additional than a $2,200 restore bill.

The town reported it works by using a accredited auto appraiser or capable vehicle restore store to determine the charge of repairs and makes use of Kelly Blue Book to ascertain the total worth of a motor vehicle.

But when we put Nehez’s VIN number into Kelley Blue Ebook it showed his vehicle is worthy of among $4,000 and $7,000, much additional than the $2,200 the town is however providing.

“I never see why I have to engage in a discussion of how significantly the auto is value,” mentioned Nehez. “There is an object, they harmed it. They acknowledge they destroyed it. It is in the law enforcement report. Take care of the automobile.”

Nehez explained he now programs to just take the town to court, but that clock is ticking.

The town has a statute of constraints of two decades to file a lawsuit and it looks the town can drag its feet.

We located a number of of the claims with the metropolis took far more than two many years to resolve.