Keeping Your Insurance Company Happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NJmB1F2mdE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-45s1zScPUY
Texas court to rule on Veyron crash blamed on pelican
In 2009, the YouTube video below, of a $2 million Bugatti Veyron supercar diving into a lagoon in Texas, went viral.
So did owner Andy House's explanation for the crash: he said he was distracted by a low-flying pelican and swerved off the road.
Thing is, looking at the video, it's hard to make out any pelicans.
Now his insurance company is taking House to court because they think the saltwater dip was intentional, that he did it for the insurance money, reports CarScoop. A jury in a Texas court has been asked to make the call.
House took out an interest-free million-dollar loan from Lloyd Gillespie to buy the 2006 Veyron, then got collector-vehicle insurance from Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company [PIIC]. He named Gillespie a loss payee.
The crash, which happened just a few weeks after House signed up on the policy, was deemed intentional, and not an accident, by the PIIC when they conducted their investigation.
They also determined he'd invalidated the policy terms by using the car as an everyday driver, and not a collector vehicle; House had put 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) on the Veyron since he had it insured.
Their evidence House purposely put the car in the drink? Testimony from the cameraman who shot the YouTube video, who says he saw no pelican; the lack of skid marks on the road leading to the water's edge; and the fact witnesses say House didn't seem that upset over the loss of the vehicle immediately following the incident.
Furthermore, they think House meant to cause irreparable damage to the engine by leaving it running for 15 minutes while it sat in the water. House says he'd left the car on because he was fending off mosquitoes.
To top it off, PIIC claims they've a confidential informant who tells them House offered to pay him money "to steal the car and burn it, making the disappearance of the vehicle appear to be a theft so that Mr. House could obtain the insurance money." When the informant confronted House post-crash, he was offered hush money to keep quiet.
We're not going to speculate on whether House meant to put the car in the water or not, but we've got to ask: do you see the pelican?