Complaint Review: Budget Truck Rental - Arlington Virginia

BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL:

1. PROVIDED ME WITH A BROKEN DANGEROUS TRUCK

2. REMOVED THE TRUCK WITHOUT NOTICE JUST PRIOR TO USAA INSURANCE COMPANY SENDING A FORENSIC ENGINEER

3. BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL HAS NEVER RETURNED EVEN ONE PHONE CALL OUT OF OVER 70 CALLS MADE.

4. BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL DID NOT EVEN TRY TO INVESTIGATE UNTIL TWO MONTHS HAVE PASSED. WHICH OF COURSE ALLOWS FOR ANY COVERUP.

5. BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL AS OF JULY 11, 2003 (NEARLY 5 MONTHS AFTER INJURY) STILL HAS NOT TO GIVEN ME INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR INQUIRY. CLAIMS INVESTIGATORS WILL NOT RETURN CALLS..

6. BUDGET TRUCK RENTAL (THEIR INSURANCE DIVISION) REMOVED ORIGINAL INDEPENDENT ACCIDENT INSPECTOR AND DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE EVENTS IE. IN HOUSE. THIS OCCURRED FIRST WEEK IN JULY 2003 - 4 MONTHS AFTER SERIOUS INJURY.

Dear Staff,

I rented a faulty truck five months ago and when the lift gate broke my neighbor was injured and was hospitalized with internal injuries for three months, and budget did not even send a sympathy card. In fact Budget is allowing unsafe trucks out of their 1200 Eads St Virginia address.

Budget rented me a faulty truck that caused serious harm to my friend, they took the truck so that USAA mechanical forensic team could not examine the truck, Budget hid the truck preventing examination, Budget stalled constantly on their investigation ( we are now five months past accident).

The original investigator who worked for Budget was taken off case with no reason given. This investigator when I complained about Budget not returning phone calls told me that Budget does not return his either.

This investigation has been in progress for five months. This change of investigators implies that the first investigator either was not competent or has found Budget at fault.

Budget Trucks are death on the street, Budget does not support the customer and Budget needs true investigation before someone dies. Below is my story.

Claim bud-0359404

Gary Schrader against Budget truck rental

Statement of Gary Schrader / Budget Truck Rental

February 24, 2003

I rented a 24' truck with a lift gate. Rental agreement 4659169. First vehicle #906931 broke down before I left the rental parking lot. When I showed up to the rental center in Arlington Virginia, the truck was not ready. The first truck brought forward had a broken lift gate, no turn signal.

Second truck was #902971. I had explained to the service reps that I required a lift gate to move a heavy object weighing 1900 lbs. The manager (a short, bald male- middle eastern) assures me that the lift would hold 3000 lbs.

I leave the 1200 S. Eads St Location around 10:30 to 10:50 A.M. - drove straight to location at 6879 Lee Hwy. Arlington Virginia 22213. I arrived at this location by 11:40 A.M. and parked the truck. At 2:00 P.M. a freight truck off loaded directly to the rear of the Budget truck with a pallet mover. The Milling machine G3616 Grizzly was strapped down.

The truck was left in parking lot until 7:15 P.M. when I loaded the pallet mover in the rear section of the Budget truck. I arrived at 129 Roland Court in Vienna, Virginia 22180 at 7:40 P.M.. The truck was backed into the driveway of this residence. As I was removing the outer shipping container my neighbor, (name with held) arrived home, coming from work time approximately 8:05 P.M. 10 minutes later (name withheld), came out to help me - he was dressed in work clothing. My older son, Cameron Cookmeyer, age 18 had joined us also giving us a work force of three.

(Call neighbor) had center position, moving the milling machine with the pallet mover. I had right flank position and Cameron had left flank position. (Neighbor), with the pallet mover was to set the machine on the lift gate, then the pallet mover was to pull back into the truck bed leaving the milling machine on the lift. Cameron and I were to control the flanks of the machine then I was to lower the lift to the ground.

Trouble happened when the weight of the milling machine was placed on the lift gate. The main part of the pallet mover was on the truck bed and the two arms of the pallet mover were under the Milling machine when the milling machine was lowered 4 inches to rest on the rear lift gate. Immediately the lift gate fell 2 inches down, but this caused two problems. 1. The arms of the lift gate were trapped under the pallet. 2. The resulting drop of the lift gate caused the milling machine to slant a few degrees off the center toward the rear of the truck. I was on the rear bed of the truck stabilizing the machine from over leaning. At this time the neighbor jumped off the truck to the other side of the lift gate to get a better look at the situation. At this point, about one minute after the lift gate dropped 2 inches and the neighbor was at ground level at the left end (looking out the truck bed) Cameron was on truck bed left end helping me stabilize the machine. Immediately after neighbor hit the ground, the life gate fell another 6 inches causing the machine to tip to the rear and slide off the lift gate.

Neighbor from reflex tried to base the machine against falling but was unable to stop the slide of the 2000 lbs. machine toward the end of the lift gate and immediately falling toward the drive way 4 feet below. The machine fell on the neighbor and trapped him between the ground and the upper section of the machine.

The middle section of the machine hit neighbors pelvis. The machine fell front portion down with the table landing on the Admirals pelvis. The upper ram was locked at 90 degrees to the table. The motor pulley control lever was resting on the neighbors head and was pushing into his skull.

I braced the ram motor and head with my knee and Cameron came around to help lift the machine off of neighbors skull. My younger son Kyle, age 15 years came out of the house and helped to lift the ram about an inch so that neighbors head was freed. The neighbor wiggled his head free and Cameron dragged his body out from under the machine. The machine weight caused my knee to give and the machine came to rest on the ground.

The neighbor was moved by Emergency Rescue Team of Vienna to Fairfax Hospitals trauma center. The Admiral was in pain, suffering from traumatic shock, had endured a 6-inch laceration adjacent to his patella, L4 Vertebra was cracked, the pelvis was fractured in two places and he was having internal bleeding. Neighbors injury required two weeks of in-hospital care, pelvic surgery, and a multitude of catheters, IVs, pelvic supports, leg cuffs and stitches at Fairfax Hospital and a third week at Mt.Vernon Hospital for physical rehabilitation.

The force of the fall of 4 feet on the 1690 lb. machine caused damage to the machines power box and caused the central axis of the machine to be bent. A milling machine must be within .01 inches of true, and deviation away from this will destroy the precise alignment that this machine must have to maintain exactness.

I called the Eads Street location of Budget to talk with the manager. I was sent to an answering machine. I left a message detailing what took place, told them the truck would need to stay at my residence until the investigation was settled. I left a message that Budget was allowed to run their own investigation and that I would not move or touch the truck. Budget never contacted me. On the morning of February 25, 2003 at 10:00 A.M. approximately I called Budget for assistance to look into the mishap, after eight phone calls I finally got in touch with Tammy Hill (1-800-551-5998) who told me the claim would be looked into by their insurance carrier. The Claim Number was RA 33436 - telephone number for claims. 1-800-617-2672.

I contacted the Vienna Police department about 3:00 P.M. on the 25th and gave a statement to Patrol Officer Anthony R Clingerman.

I contacted my insurance company, USAA, and talked to Richard Romine by phone 703-266-7203 and gave him a taped interview. Mr. Romine came to my home two days later and took pictures of the accident scene and the truck. On February 28, 2003, a Forensic Engineer, Mr. Walter Laird (804-285-7870) contacted me concerning his investigation into the accident. We made an agreement to meet at the accident site on March 3, 2003. I called Budget and told them to leave the truck because an engineer was going to evaluate the mechanics of the lift. The afternoon of February 28, 2003 Budget now quietly sent a tow truck for the 24' international truck. However, the tow people get caught by my 16-year-old son -- now with a phone in hand I tell the tow operator that the truck needs to stay at the accident site until everyone concerned can inspect the vehicle. The tow operator tells me over the phone he understands that the truck needs to stay, then takes the truck anyway. The engineer goes to the budget rental office two days later to inspect the truck and they tell him that it has already been leased to someone else.

All documents as pertaining to purchase of milling machine, transport documents, Budget Rental agreement, complete information about the machine, phone and in person interviews with your insurance investigator and forensic engineer, has already been provided. I called USAA to authorize release of all photographs taken two days after the accident, along with USAAs forensic engineer report. The rental of the pallet lift was documented by my American express payment as to amount paid and name, date of rental company. Plus the only standard pallet lifters the company had were hand pushed and rated at 5500 lbs., a catalog picture of available lifts has been sent to the adjuster.

Gary

arlington, Virginia
U.S.A.

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