Water truck damaged driveway

[911 Rod]

Hey Guys,

Tough one here.

I had a water truck come in to fill the pool and they damaged the driveway.
It was pretty much screwed already, but usable. Now, not so much.

It's 150 ft long. They turned the front wheels and pushed it up by the road. Then the weight of the truck wheels pushed the length of the driveway down 1/2".

He said he would fix what's damaged.

You can't patch it, the whole driveway needs to be done. $5,000!

How much do I expect him to cough up?

Thx

[Rot 911]

That is a tough one. Guy should have known what his truck should be able to drive on without damage, even a drive that is in rough shape. On the other hand your drive was in rough shape. I would say no more than him paying 50%.

[911 Rod]

I phoned him and he tell's me he heard from his guys and told them no more driveways. lol

[911 Rod]

Hard to see in the pics

[911 Rod]

[daepp]

I am not sure if this argument "holds water", but if you ordered the delivery, isn't it up to you to ensure that the vendor has a suitable path for delivery?

Me, I think I'd try to get 10 to 20% of the cost out of him, then I would pour a strong, steel reinforced concrete driveway - 3000 psi or better!

[911 Rod]

Both the owner of the pool company (they ordered the water to install a new liner) and the owner of the water company stated they shouldn't have driven on the driveway.
A second load was brought in and they pumped it from the road.
This is just a ****ty situation. I would rather it didn't happen.
I can't afford any amount for a new driveway. The liner cost $4,000!

[Jagshund]

Any 'before' pics of the driveway?

[Shawn 357]

The driveway looks like it has been in bad shape for a while judging by the condition and amount of grass growing through the center where the asphalt is broken up. If the driveway was in good shape to begin with I would expect the guy to pay for the repairs. The guy could put cold patch down to make up for the 1/2" that the truck sunk in the driveway but the driveway will still need to be torn out and replaced soon anyways.

Either way the crew should have known not to drive a heavy truck on what looks like a couple of inches of asphalt.

[stomachmonkey]

He does not owe you any more than the repair of the damaged section.

[Neilk]

What a timely thread... Was driving on the highway in Ohio today and saw a tanker with "pool water" written on the side. I just assumed everone used a hose to fill up a pool. Guess not.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

You can't patch it, the whole driveway needs to be done. $5,000!

How much do I expect him to cough up?

Thx

Who says no patch? I guess my city didn't get that memo.

He can "cough up" whatever he negotiates with his ins co.

[LakeCleElum]

If I owned the water truck, I'd swing by loaded the next hot day and smooth it out a bit. No more than that. Pretty shabby driveway to start with......

[ckissick]

The driveway needed to be replaced before, and it still needs to be replaced. Although the truck driver should have known better, I wouldn't bother him about it. It doesn't seem fair to make him pay for something that needed replacing, anyway. But that's just me.

[Brando]

I'd say ask for maybe 25% tops... But don't demand a dime. From the pics posted it looks like a cheap "surface layer" of asphalt. Not real concrete or a reinforced slab like most are.

[Gogar]

That's unfortunate; but I don't really think he owes you much. A good attempt at fixing the pushed-up part would satisfy me.

Or a discount on the pool-fill-up?

It's kind of like if someone crashed into my rusty 1991 pick-up. I couldn't reasonably expect a new shiny pickup as compensation.

[EarlyPorsche]

I don't know if I would have the heart to ask him for any money unless it was substantially worse before. This is more of a fairness argument than a realistic argument. I don't know what to tell you and opinions will vary but in my humble opinion, I wouldn't pursue any money from a guy when my driveway was already damaged. I'd figure that normal wear and tear plus the added weight of a water truck were all it had left in it.

[Danimal16]

I gotta say that I don't see the problem. How old is that driveway? Also, Asphalt MUST be fog sealed to keep water out from underneath it. You have aligator cracking that can indicate the driveway's existing condition, that the asphalt surface was not properly maintained or that you have an existing subsurface failure. Also you have non-confined edges that are just a matter of time before such an event would occur. What really shows the paved surface condition is the weeds. The subgrade and the wearing surface were shot to begin with. This is what you are going to hear from the insurance adjuster and any pavement engineer.

That is a fair assessment of what happened and you will be pushing sand against the tide due to the existing condition.

Good luck anyway.

[red-beard]

Are you serious? I wouldn't ask for anything. You wanted the water delivered and the driveway was already in very very bad shape. And it wasn't really a proper driveway, anyway; that looks like an inch of asphalt on top of dirt.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by Neilk

I just assumed everone used a hose to fill up a pool. Guess not.

Thats what we use here.